A big congratulations to The Burning Man Project for being named a finalist in bids for $15 milllion of grants.

(Chicago, IL, January 18, 2012) One hundred and twenty-seven organizations in 68 cities have been named finalists for support from ArtPlace, an unprecedented private-public collaboration of nine of the nation’s top foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks. ArtPlace supports creative placemaking with grants and loans, research and advocacy.

The selected projects represent the best of the more than 2,000 applications from across the country. Finalists were chosen for their potential to have a transformative impact on community vibrancy. Proposed projects run the gamut from temporary art spaces to permanent performance venues, from music festivals to art walks and from streetscaping to artist residencies.

ArtPlace expects to distribute $15 million in 2012. This year’s grant recipients will be announced in May. Last year, 34 organizations received a total of $11.5 million. 

So far, so good. Burning Man is down to the top 127 from 2000+ applications, and from the list looks like they are well placed to tick all the boxes (see below for full list).

I support Burning Man and hope they win the grant, so they can demonstrate to us all how the Burner principles make a difference in the Tenderloin. However, this new creation “Art Place” which is the source of all the millions makes my nose twitch with the smell of sulfur. In this day and age where “radical inclusion” instead has become a line to get on the World’s Biggest Guest list, and the unemployed 20% protest in solidarity with the 79% who have jobs to Occupy Wall Street, railing against the corruption of the elite 1% at the top of the pyramid…it is interesting to look at what kind of sponsors the new Burning Man Project wants to get into bed with.

Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Robina Foundation and an anonymous donor. In addition to the NEA, Federal partners are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council. ArtPlace is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions and managed by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Participating institutions are Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

So much for radical self-reliance and “economy without commerce”. This seems more like establishing yourself in the Establishment. Is this where the mysterious tickets went? Not to Burners, not to pure Birgins, but to all their new bankster buddies. Maybe if you apply for a new Chase Burner credit card, you’ll get a chance to win a Burning Man ticket and 1% cashback on all your  purchases of EL Wire?

The finalists are: