Black Rock City from afar on Burn night. Photo by Cameron Grant

Burning Man is excited to announce the launch of Burner Profiles, a system to help facilitate the flow of information we regularly collect from Burning Man participants for ticket sales, theme camp and art installation registration, mutant vehicle applications, What Where When submissions, and other things that people do and create for Black Rock City.

Initially, the Burner Profile will be used as part of the pre-registration process for ticket sales to Burning Man 2013. To create your profile and pre-register for access to ticket sales, the only information you’re required to provide is your first name, last name, email address, and mailing address. That’s it … the same info required whenever you buy Burning Man tickets. Read more »

Yeah, it’s like that …

We’re excited to announce the sales plan for tickets to Burning Man 2013. Burning Man is making 58,000 tickets available, 3,000 of which were already made available through the Holiday Sale. Details regarding the remaining 55,0000 are outlined below. You’ll notice we’re doing things differently this year. We’ve listened, we’ve learned a lot and we’ve worked hard to come up with a plan that we believe will meet the needs of the greatest number of people possible.

We’ve included the general gist below, but you can find all the nitty-gritty details on tickets.burningman.com, and answers to your questions in our Ticketing FAQ and spiffy new online ticketing forum.

PLEASE NOTE: Pre-registration is required in order to gain access to any of our sales for 2013. Once you’ve registered you will be able to participate in the first-come first-served sales. So … here’s the plan:

55,000 Tickets for Burning Man 2013 will be sold as follows (details below):

1. Directed Group Sale (10,000 tickets) – January 30 (Pre-registration required)
2. Individual Sale (40,000 tickets) – February 13 (Pre-registration required, February 6-10)
3. Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) – February 28-July 31
4. OMG Last Chance Sale (1000+ tickets) – August 7 (Pre-registration required, August 2-5)
5. Low Income Ticket Program (4,000 tickets) – Application required

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Directed Group Sale: 10,000 tickets
We are once again taking steps to ensure critical theme camp, art installation, and mutant vehicle crews gain access to tickets. In addition to supporting the core social infrastructure of Black Rock City, providing these groups with access to tickets early on will decrease demand (and therefore competition) for tickets in the main Individual Sale. 10,000 tickets at $380 each will be offered to these core crews on Wednesday, January 30. Group leaders will receive an email on Friday, January 11, 2013 with detailed information about how to provide their core group members with access to the Directed Group Sale. These tickets are transferable and eligible for STEP.

Individual Sale: 40,000 tickets
The Individual sale will make 40,000 tickets available at $380 each, with a maximum of 2 tickets per person. To participate in the Individual Sale, you must pre-register between Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 12pm (noon) PST and Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 12pm (noon) PST. Detailed information about how to register for this sale will be available in mid-January at http://tickets.burningman.com. This first-come first-served sale begins at 12pm (noon) PST on Wednesday, February 13th. These tickets are transferable and eligible for STEP.

NOTE: There will not be tiered pricing for this sale – all 40,000 tickets are $380. (If you’re curious about how this compares with the ticket prices for major festivals, please see “Where Does My Ticket Money Go?“.)

Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP)
We’re bringing back STEP to facilitate the secure, safe, hassle-free exchange of tickets. People wishing to purchase tickets may register to enter the STEP queue starting Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 12pm PST at http://tickets.burningman.com. When tickets are put into STEP by ticket holders, the person at the front of the queue will be offered the opportunity to purchase them (maximum of 2 tickets per person). STEP will close on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 12pm PST. Stay tuned to the Jackrabbit Speaks email newsletter for details about the STEP process. Tickets bought through STEP are transferable, but they are ONLY available for pickup at Will Call.

OMG Last Chance Sale: 1,000 tickets
For those who decide at the last minute that they Absolutely Must Go To Burning Man, and to further combat scalpers, we will sell 1000 tickets at $380 each, maximum of 2 tickets per person. In order to participate, you must pre-register between Friday, August 2 at 12pm (noon) PST and Monday, August 5, 2013 at 12pm (noon). Details for how to register will be available at http://tickets.burningman.com. This first-come first-served sale starts Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at 12pm PST. Tickets purchased through the OMG sale are transferable but will not be shipped — they are held for pick up at Will Call only.

Low Income Ticket Program: 4,000 tickets
Our Low Income Ticket program starts accepting applications on January 10, 2013 and will provide 4,000 tickets ($190/each) to those who provide proof of financial hardship, while supplies last. Our Ticketing department reviews each application and awards tickets to those who are best able to demonstrate need. Applicants should receive a response within 4-6 weeks of submitting their application. Visit our ticketing page for information about how to apply. These tickets are non-transferrable and must be purchased and picked up at Will Call in Black Rock City.
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OTHER THINGS TO KNOW …

Ticket Fulfillment – June 03 – July 15
Shipping tickets in the summer allows folks a longer window to buy and sell tickets through our Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP), helps put a damper on the scalper market, limits the amount of time scammers have to counterfeit tickets and sell them to unsuspecting Burners, and allows us to include a printed Survival Guide with each ticket. Tickets purchased in the Holiday Sale, the Directed Group Sale and the Individual Sale will start shipping in early June. We cannot give you an exact delivery date since that depends on where they are being sent, the USPS, and other factors outside of our control. But rest assured: you will receive an email when your tickets have shipped.

Don’t Panic! A Word About the After-Market
Each year, we see a lively after-market kick up during the summer, when many tickets change hands as people realize they can’t make the trip to BRC — and others realize they can. If you’re unable to get a ticket through one of the above means, don’t panic! The likelihood of your being able to acquire a ticket is quite good if you keep your ear to the ground and tap into your community. In 2012 tickets to the event became available in August, as they do each year.

What About Scalpers?
A big worry about tickets in 2012 was that scalpers had scooped up a huge number of Burning Man tickets. However, our research shows that less than 1.5% of the total tickets in circulation were available on scalper sites, which is extraordinarily low for an event as large as ours. In order to thwart scalpers this year, we will be weeding out known scalpers through the pre-registration process, and spoiling the market by selling 1000+ tickets on August 7th. But ultimately, stopping scalpers is up to you. As long as there’s no demand, they’ll be stuck with their supply.

Why Not Implement Identity-based Ticketing (Non-Transferable, Name-on-Ticket)?
There are valid points on both sides of this question, and it’s something we’ve thought about and discussed at length. In addition to logistical and administrative challenges (including increased wait times at the gate), non-transferable tickets would put an end to the acts of gifting that frequently happen with Burning Man tickets — we don’t want to see that tradition die. For more information, see this blog post from Larry Harvey.

Here’s the deal: we don’t know yet what Black Rock City’s allowable peak population for 2013 will be. Some of the details of agreements that impact that number have not yet been finalized, which means we don’t have enough data to determine precisely how many tickets will be sold and at what price. We are working hard to get our permits and agreements in place, and will be announcing the full ticket plan on Friday January 4, 2013. That said…

We know you’re super curious about some big questions, and we’d like to put your mind at ease about a few things right now: tickets will be sold first-come first-served — that’s right, no lottery. Secondly, purchasing tickets will require pre-registration so that we can weed out known scalpers beforehand. We’ll offer a robust Low Income Ticket Program, as we have in the past, and we’re bringing back the Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) to facilitate the safe, hassle-free exchange of tickets between people in the aftermarket.

So there are the big ones for you. We’ll have the rest — all the details — on January 4th. And with that, here’s information about the Holiday Sale …

Burning Man Tickets Holiday Sale
Early-birds can participate in our Holiday Sale, which allows folks to buy tickets in time for holiday gifting. PLEASE NOTE: Holiday Sale tickets are priced dramatically higher than our regular tickets will be and Black Rock City, LLC will donate 3% of the price of each ticket from this early Holiday Sale to the Burning Man Project, a new nonprofit dedicated to spreading Burning Man culture around the world. (In addition, Black Rock City, LLC makes other substantial contributions throughout the year to support the Burning Man Project, including contributing the proceeds from fundraising events and many other forms of support.)

So … here are the details for the Holiday Sale:

• 3000 tickets will be offered at $650 each for the Holiday Sale.
• In order to participate in this sale, you must pre-register here.
• Registration is open NOW and will close at noon PST on Wednesday December 19th.
• Those pre-registered will be able to participate in the first-come first-served sale on Thursday December 20th, starting at noon PST.
• You may purchase a maximum of 4 tickets per person.
• These tickets are not eligible for STEP, but are transferable (you may resell them on your own, if you wish).
• The only payment types accepted are Mastercard or Visa credit cards, or debit cards with either the Visa or Mastercard symbols. If you don’t have one of these cards, you will need to obtain a one-time use card.
• Physical tickets will be shipped between June 1 and July 15, unless you opt for pick-up at Will Call in Black Rock City.

(We will not be implementing identity-based ticketing (e.g. name-on-ticket) … for more information, see this blog post from Larry Harvey.)

As always, you can find find full ticket information on http://tickets.burningman.com, and answers to your questions in our Ticketing FAQ and spiffy new online ticketing forum.

This guy does NOT work for us.

When the peak population for Black Rock City 2012 was announced at noon on Friday of the event, the preliminary tally was 52,385, which seemed a bit low. We suspected there were more people in Black Rock City at its peak (which was actually Friday at 6am this year, by the way). So after the event, we went back and conducted a full and comprehensive audit …

After doing some pretty significant accounting and recounting, we determined that the actual peak population at the 2012 event was in fact 56,149. (Now, that’s not everybody who went to Burning Man, it’s just the peak population … a lot of people came late and/or left early this year, having planned ahead to avoid high-traffic ingress and egress times — did you notice the shorter wait times?)

Due to some new processes that were put in place in 2012, the count released on playa was low.  For fifteen years we’ve had a great record of recording accurate population tallies, and we place a high premium on capturing and reporting this important data.  We keep count because a) it’s really important for us to know how many people are out there (for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is production planning), and b) it’s required by our BLM permit requirement, as you’ve probably heard by now. Our population cap for 2012 was 60,900, and happily our peak population didn’t come close to bumping up against that total.

So there you are … we’re happy to be able to report the final population count for 2012 … and we’re glad we’ve worked out some kinks in our system to ensure proper reporting in the future.

I am excited to announce the hiring of Charlie Dolman, who very soon will assume the role of Event Operations Director for the annual Burning Man event in Black Rock City.

Charlie Dolman at Burning Man 2012

In this capacity, Charlie will oversee and direct event operations and logistics, and will play a major role in strategic planning to ensure the long-term success of the Burning Man event. Among other responsibilities, Charlie will oversee management of BRC event-specific departments, including Emergency Services Department, Department of Public Works, Community Services, Playa Safety Council, Art, and Café/Ice. He will also be a member of the Budget Committee, provide leadership to the Operations Team and serve on Burning Man’s Executive Committee.

A native of London, England, Charlie comes to us with 17 years of event-production experience, 12 of which he spent producing events of all sizes across Europe and the UK (and one in Zambia!). He co-founded and later served as Financial Director of The Secret Garden Party, an annual music and entertainment festival with 30,000 attendees. Charlie has extensive event-related experience in project management, logistics, safety, licensing, marketing, budgeting, crises management, and managing and developing teams. Most recently, he served as Projects Director for the MAMA Group.

Charlie first traveled to the playa in 2006 and has hasn’t missed a Burn since. He co-ran a camp on the Esplanade (The Flying Monkey Pub) his first year and has been instrumental in the leadership of several large-scale communal camps: The Untied Nations Embassy, the UnNatural History Museum, Burningdales, HMS XS, and in 2012, Terminal Y. Charlie is deeply committed to the 10 Principles and enthusiastic about this opportunity to facilitate their manifestation in Black Rock City and beyond.

We greatly look forward to working with Charlie, so please join us in welcoming him!

Burning Man Founders give their report-out at the annual Staff Retreat.

Last week, 60 Burning Man staffers got together for our annual Staff Retreat, an intensive 4-day offsite gathering wherein we examine the state of Burning Man (the event itself, our organization, and the worldwide growth of our culture). We examine where we stand, where we want to be, and how to get there.

This has been an annual tradition since 1999, when the meeting consisted of a small handful of folks. And while it has taken different shapes and forms over the years, this time is used to look at the challenges we’re facing, the successes we’ve achieved, and the goals we want to shoot for. We also bring in experts to help us develop the skills we need to succeed as an organization. And let me tell you, the work is practically non-stop. The group hardly ‘retreats’ from Burning Man; in reality we collectively dive even deeper into the work we do and the roles we play.

Walking through Burning Man’s history of staff trainings since 2001.

This year there were extensive discussions around growth … what challenges come along with the growth of both the Burning Man community and the Burning Man organization, and how can we manage them? What kind of pressures are the various Burning Man departments facing as a result of this growth? How can we work better collectively to address them? What leadership skills can we bring to the table to ensure that we deal with them effectively?

The group engaged in activities to help us deliver quality feedback to our co-workers, skill-building sessions to help us make better decisions, and opportunities to evaluate how we’re measuring up against our 5-year goals (and 3-year goals, and 1-year goals). We read feedback emails from participants about this year’s event in Black Rock City and discussed strategies for making improvements.

Megan reading through the Participant Feedback binder.

These discussions are always rewarding, but the best work is arguably done in the evening hours after long, full days of work sessions.  That’s when we’re able to connect with our fellow staffers, learn more about each other and what makes us tick, and build the bonds that allow us to work so well together … the connections which make us as much a family as we are a business.

Of course, being the Burners that we are, the evenings were peppered with impromptu bonfires, musical performances, storytelling sessions, irreverent card games, crafting, Tarot-reading, hikes, hot-tubbing, poker lessons, and just taking some precious time to enjoy each other’s company.

The “Stick Man” bonfire.

As intensive as each day was, the passion, dedication and brilliance that each attendee brings to the conversation is truly inspiring, and bodes well for Burning Man’s future. 2012 has been a challenging year to say the least, but the quality thinking shown at this retreat proved that we’ll be able to handle anything the future throws at us.

Burners Without Borders volunteers have been closely watching the relief efforts on the East Coast following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. Our hearts go out to those who are suffering in the aftermath of the storm. With millions of people affected by Sandy and with so many people without flood insurance, the recovery effort will be challenging and lengthy.

BWB has deployed an assessment team to New Jersey, led by BWB Co-founder and Director of Operations for Katrina, Richard Scott. During the 8 months BWB was deployed on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina, Richard’s incredible heavy machinery skills enabled BWB to gift over $1million worth of debris removal to the region. When Hurricane Ike struck three years later, Richard was there to remove destroyed houses, so that those affected could quickly recover and move forward with their lives.

This week, Richard will be meeting with our local contacts in New Jersey to tour affected areas that are not receiving relief assistance. BWB’s mission is to fill in the gaps of the major recovery effort, and we will be looking for the most effective way to accomplish this goal.

Richard is currently in contact with heavy machinery companies who have donated machines to BWB in the past. We are also looking into possibly creating a base of operations in New Jersey for a larger volunteer deployment.

We will be providing updates to this list as they become available.

You can also keep up with updates on the BWB Facebook Page.

How can you help?

1. BWB is currently seeking introductions to equipment rental companies that would like to support our efforts.
2. We are seeking a community center or public space in New Jersey to set up a base of operations for a potential volunteer deployment.
3. Do you have information about communities that are hard hit but receiving little help? We want to know about them.

E-mail sandyrelief here: sandyrelief (at) burnerswithoutborders.org with any information you have that can support the relief effort.

You can donate to the BWB relief effort by clicking clicking here.

[Marnee Benson is the Deputy Director of Black Rock Solar, the solar non-profit spinoff from Black Rock City LLC.]

And then one day in July, under a blazing Nevada sun, the veteran Black Rock Solar crew put the finishing touches on a gorgeous hundred-kilowatt array at the Desert Research Institute in Reno.  Not only would the array provide clean, renewable energy to the internationally-recognized research center for decades to come, it also marked the two millionth watt of solar installed since Black Rock Solar dedicated its first free array in the tiny, remote outpost of Gerlach some five years ago.  An array built by a ragtag team of DPW volunteers working for breakfast at Bruno’s, packs of cigarettes, and a bunk in the town’s dusty trailer park.  Well, that’s the legend anyway…

The 2007 crew on the playa during Burning Man. Photo by Marnee Benson

The Black Rock Solar crew in Gerlach, circa 2007. Photo credit unknown.

100 kW at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. Photo by Paddy McCully

 We’ve come a long way, baby

Now it’s 2012 and Black Rock Solar has one of the most experienced construction crews and professional project development teams in the state.  In the past two months alone the 501(c)(3) non-profit has commissioned six more systems, bringing the grand total to 53 and the number of individual panels installed by hand to 12,313.  Some, like the tiny 2.9 kW off-grid array at Urban Roots Farm, provide a small amount of power where it’s needed most.  Others, like the 200 kW array at Western Nevada College, are keystone systems at statewide institutions of higher education, visible to thousands of students and educators every day, helping to make solar power part of the right now rather than the maybe someday. Read more »