Burning Man organizers announced yesterday that the festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert will not go ahead for the second year running. Burning Man brings in $60 million each year to the local economy, according to Burning Man’s own economic analysis. 2020 was the first time since the festival began in 1986 that it has had to be canceled. Burning Man will return in 2022.
All of us at Burning Man Project have been busy projecting all the possible scenarios that would allow us to bring our desert city back to life in 2021. The variables are many, and our capacity to overcome challenges is high. It’s what we do.
But, although here in the United States we may be feeling the weight lifting and the light at the end of the tunnel brightening, we are still in the pandemic, and the uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have.
We have decided to set our sights on Black Rock City 2022.
Burning Man is Wherever (and Whomever) YOU Are
Many of us yearn to return to that dusty place to rekindle our imaginations, our sense of place, our sense of self, and above all, our sense of belonging. But we’ll let you in on a secret: Burning Man is not canceled. Burning Man is happening right NOW, all around you. “Going to Burning Man” simply means tapping into the 10 Principles and creating experiences and opportunities and connection at the local level.
- Related: What is Burning Man?
Not sure where to start? We’re preparing a handy (if irreverent) Cultural Survival Guide to help you bring your Burner gatherings to any place on the planet this summer. We’ll share that and a few fun items to take with you in a few weeks.
In the meantime, you can connect with Burning Man culture by:
- Gathering with your friends, crew or community.
- Connecting with your Regional community, participating in a virtual or in-person Regional event, finding your local Burners Without Borders chapter, helping out your neighbors.
- Supporting the fully funded 2021 Honoraria artists to build their art wherever they are on the planet— from Moscow to Guadalajara, Manilla to Brooklyn. Find out if Burning Man art is being built in your backyard! And then help it show up in your community or out in the world.
- Planning a Burn Night celebration! “BURN WEEK: Global Live Stream” invites you and your crew to live stream your Burn Night around the globe on Saturday, September 4, 2021. Start organizing now!
- Participate in Virtual Burning Man August 21 to September 5, 2021. Share your event, performance, workshop, theme camp, mutant vehicle… or jump in and contribute your mad skills. Here’s how to get involved in Virtual Burning Man!
- Log into your Burner Profile to tell us about the impact-driven projects and initiatives you’re creating out there in the world. Your information will help us map the future!
- Roll up your sleeves and join us in Burning Man Hive Labs. Connect with others and discuss Burning Man’s evolving culture around sustainability; Radical Inclusion, diversity, and equity; health and safety; and participation.
- Jump over here to see all the ways you can participate NOW.
can you get the the study? i tried to get the study from the burning man website and was rebuffed.
i would be interested where that 60m estimate comes from and where it goes. i assume the largest portions go to the police for monitoring the traffic into the site, next would be for cleaning up after the event has left thousands of pounds of garbage in the dessert, then gas stations and liquor stores. my guess is that this doesn’t actually benefit local/small business in reno. is the local economy better for having burning man? i would support Hot August Nights and rib fest before your self indulgent party.
i haven’t been a participant in burning man since 2002. but what it was is not what it is. private sites/influencers/grandstanders have changed the soul of the event. the entire concept of burning man rails against what it has become. thank you corp douchebags and your money for ruining the soul of what burning man represented in the beginning.
time to start a new event that represents the core values that burning man originally embodied.
Hopefully this kills burning man