Burning Man LIVE

The end of the world? we have been practicing for decades. As more people look down the barrel of climate change, we have something to say (and do) about it. What must change for it to be better for the ecology for Burning Man to exist, than for it not to exist?Our 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap declared that in a half dozen years we will become carbon negative and regenerative. How? Stuart talks with David Festa, who brings 30 years of experience to figure out how. Black Rock City and regional events around the world are unique test beds, living laboratories for embracing new technologies and practices. The Burning Man community is vast, diverse, and creative - and can ripple out into the culture to help induce a new era. Medium: Burning Man Project: 2030 Environmental Sustainability RoadmapBurning Man Journal: Year Two Update: Progress On BMP’s Sustainability RoadmapStay tuned for part 2, the Road to Regeneration, with Laura Day, Associate Director of Event OperationsChristopher Breedlove, Director of Civic ActivationMatt Sundquist, Director of the Fly Ranch Project  LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll believe in love.Stuart and Andie take a wild ride with author and philosopher Caveat Magister. They discuss how to transform daily life with psychomagical experiences. They illustrate the power of art, ritual and play, and the magic of love. They reveal the secret sauce of Black Rock City, and the triumphs and failures of experience design. They explain engineered disperfection, miracles without religion, and nightlife as a spiritual pursuit. Caveat is one of the few who comprise the Philosophical Center of Burning Man Project. For a dozen years he has been a people-person at BRC’s Media Mecca, then the lead writer for Burning Man’s education program, then the author of a book about Burning Man culture. His new book is a deeper cut on the phenomenon: “Turn Your Life Into Art: Lessons in Psychomagic from the San Francisco Underground.”journal.burningman.org/author/cmagisterfascinatingstranger.comThe Scene That Became Cities: What Burning Man Philosophy Can Teach Us About Building Better Communitiestwitter.com/BenjaminWachsLIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Life happens. Art happens with life. The arts are a big impact area of Burning Man culture. Burning Man Project funds artists each year through our Global Arts Grants and BRC Honoraria. The pandemic put a pause on 2020 grants. Now with no Black Rock City for a second year, we feared the arts grants would also be a no. However, thanks to generous philanthropy, Burning Man Project is funding a million dollars to 59 art installations from eight countries and 14 US States, for placement wherever is clever. Bringing the art to the people!Stuart and Andie talk with “Weapons Grade” aka Gloria Beck, senior project manager of Burning Man’s Art Support Services. They also speak with 4 of the recipients of this year’s Global Arts Grants: Jen Lewin, Cosmos (New York, NY) jenlewinstudio.comJules Nelson-Gal, Unbound (San Francisco, CA) unboundarts.orgAntwane Lee, The Solar Shrine (Chicago, IL) solarshrine.orgLeeroy New, (Manilla, Philippines) leeroynew.comThey tell tales of getting things done when things are tough to do. They talk out how the pandemic pivot affects the artistic process. They share about creating art from kitchens and bedrooms, to TikTok and virtual reality - and the magic born from people exploring interactive art in public spaces. “I'm just fascinated by how diverse the world is and how diverse people are in their abilities. This is highlighting human ability.” Jules Nelson-Gal LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Black Rock City. We sometimes call it an unnatural disaster zone. We cooperate, survive and thrive in one of the harshest environments. Each year we iterate new ways, and we do it all because we want to. Black Rock City attracts people who are resourceful, or it turns them into people who are. The resilient burner community does disaster relief well. The nature of most residents of Black Rock City is reflected right there in the 10 principles: Radical Self-Reliance, Communal Effort and Civic Responsibility.Here in the US, the State of Texas is home to Flipside, the first and longest-running Burning Man Regional Event. Texas froze in February. Very unusual. A series of devastating winter storms collapsed the power grid and the water system. The burners of Austin Texas were some of the first to respond with mutual aid in their community. In this episode Kate Ludlow, Stephanie Vyborny and Clovis Buford share their stories of resourcefulness and support, and a Frito Pie party amid the chaos! LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

It’s true. Really. The United States has an Institute of Peace. It’s also true that they partnered with Burning Man Project to create a new podcast called Culturally Attuned, about how we can all work effectively across our world’s cultural divides. That podcast complements USIP’s online, self-paced course on Cultural Synergy. Stuart talks with the Executive Director of the Institute about cultivating the skills to do good work in a diverse world. They share an episode featuring Kim Cook, Burning Man Project’s Director of Strategic Initiatives. The title of that episode is: Stay in the circle: Patient listening can connect across cultureshttps://burningman.org/culture/partnerships/https://www.usip.org/culturally-attunedhttps://www.usip.org/academy/catalog/cultural-synergyLIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Andie talks with artists Fab 5 Freddy and Rachel McCrafty about diversity in and around the Burning Man world. Rachel is the executive director of ACE Makerspace in Oakland and Freddy is a hip-hop pioneer, filmmaker and a board member of Burning Man Project. They discuss tokenism, bridge-building, and how people with open sensibilities can widen the path for those who have not felt welcomed before. In the same way that a forest fire creates space for biodiversity, we as a community have the opportunity to intentionally reinvent our shared culture, on and off the playa.burningman.org/culture/diversity-radical-inclusionthecraftyavenger.comfab5freddy.comLIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Operating far outside the lines of what he calls the “humanitarian-industrial complex,” freelance culture hacker and FreeSpace founder Mike Zuckerman goes into refugee settlements around the world, and works with their citizens to create spaces that better serve their communities.While the NGOs wrung their hands over how to deliver aid in the COVID-19 pandemic, Zuck spent most of 2020 on the ground in Uganda, with the people of Nakivale, a refugee settlement of 120,000 near the Tanzanian border.Together they built civic spaces including an amphitheater, a library, a radio station, and a Virtual Reality room in a shipping container, which they used to connect Nakivale to the Burning Man online multiverse.Zuck brings lessons from Black Rock City to other temporary spaces around the world, helping displaced persons overcome “agency deprivation disorder” and reclaim their innate powers of self-reliance and self-expression.mikezuckerman.comfreespace.ioopportunigee.orgto.orgwearealight.orgourhabitas.com/riseburningman.org/culture/burning-man-arts/grants/globalLIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG  LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (And boy has it been a year!) Following in the footsteps of show-biz luminaries like Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, and the cast of Star Wars, we hosted a HOLIDAY SHOW (non-denominational) in front of a live online pseudo-studio audience. Stuart and Andie entertained guests:Santa Zero - originator of the now-infamous SantaCon phenomenonMrs. Claus - founder of Burning Man’s first-ever theme camp, Christmas CampTubatron and his Flaming Tuba performing a Hanukkah songReverend Billy and Savitri D of the Church of Stop ShoppingAnd it wouldn’t be the holiday season without Caveat Magister selling us on Decommodification. Join us for how Krampus cramps us, how COVID is an 8-foot-tall dominatrix, how “Gifting” is so close to “Grifting,” and how the Cacophony Society is so Kumbaya now, in our final episode of 2020.Reminisce with us, and celebrate and speculate.Portland SantaCon 1996 / “You’d Better Watch Out”Cacophony Society: Santasm, Santacon, Santarchy, ad nauseumReverend Billy and the Church of Stop ShoppingWhy People Dress Funny at Burning Man (2003)Peter Doty Obituary (San Francisco Chronicle) LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Does Burning Man really trigger transformative experiences, and if so, what does that look like? Stuart and behavioral scientist Kristen Berman go deep on the psychology of change, and what that looks like in Black Rock City and beyond. Can participating in a Burning Man event really make you more generous, more tolerant, more civic-minded? What’s the role of the 10 Principles in all of this, and how important is the physical environment of Black Rock City?  Kristen Berman is a behavioral scientist who’s explored human behavior at Duke University, at Google, with her consulting firm Irrational Labs, and at Burning Man’s Black Rock City event. She’s the author of Keeping Up With the Joneses at Burning Man and the co-author of Hacking Human Nature for Good. And of course, she’s got a great TEDx talk.https://kristenberman.com/LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Fly Ranch is in the middle of nowhere, and yet it's the center of the universe for many bugs, birds, animals, and, uh, thermophiles. Down the road from the dry lake bed that hosts Black Rock City, Fly Ranch is 6 square miles of hot springs, ecosystems, and a unique variety of life, from wildflowers to wild horses, antelope and mountain lions, eagles, and cicadas.Stuart and Logan talk with Dr. Lisa Beers (aka Scirpus) about her work as the Burning Man Land Fellow for Fly Ranch, and all the life, death and artifacts on the 600 acres of the Fly Ranch.Dr Scirpus explores the flora, fauna, and everything else she finds at "Fly." When not smelling the sagebrush, she manages the Environmental Compliance team for the Burning Man event, and studies wetland ecology throughout the world.In this charming conversation, Scirpus reminds us that fairy shrimp are real, and scorpions are real, and she lets Stuart believe that jackalopes are real, but not squirrelopes. Logan's not buying it either. Platypuses, though? If you’ve never met one, how can you really know?And you haven’t tasted mezcal until you’ve had a botanist tell you how bats pollinate the cactus.flyranch.org/https://www.instagram.com/fly_ranch/https://www.facebook.com/groups/flyranchhttps://medium.com/beyond-burning-man/writers-emerging-at-fly-ranch-reflection-3da8da91d3ehttps://medium.com/beyond-burning-man/burning-man-project-2020-environmental-sustainability-report-df757260c9c5https://lagi2020flyranch.org/https://journal.burningman.org/author/scirpus/LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG