Quick Update from The Man

The latest Jacked Rabbit has some interesting little morsels of information for us Burners to ponder. Specifically:

1. The “transition to a non-profit” is in the “final stages”, and it actually means “a non-profit is buying Black Rock City, LLC”.

2. The legal costs for the founders to cash out are going to be expensive, they need your help, please donate your money.

3. We can add selling calendars to the list of things BMOrg does to monetize Burner culture. T-shirts next?

4. They still haven’t worked out how much they’re going to increase the ticket prices to, although they’re “aiming” to keep them “in line” with 2013. If you want to pay more money for tickets, you can buy them in the first sale, vaguely described as occurring sometime in mid-January. Otherwise if you wait a bit longer you can pay the “normal” price. This sort of made sense when you could buy tickets as Christmas gifts, but now it just seems bizarre. BMOrg are blaming the delay on the BLM approving their 2014 permit, even though they announced in July that they had been granted a 4-year permit that would cover the event through 2016. The delay might actually be linked to the corporate restructuring maneuvers, and/or trying to increase the population even more than this year’s record 68,000.

5. Although we’re almost a third of the way through the year between Burning Mans, they still haven’t figured out what the theme is going to be for next year.

This edition of the newsletter was strangely missing from Burning Man’s archives, you can read it at the Naughty Nomad forum though.

PRELIMINARY 2014 TICKETING INFO

We know you’ve been awaiting information about tickets for Burning Man 2014, but the plan hasn’t been finalized. Why the delay? We haven’t finalized agreements with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the 2014 permit. 

So while we don’t have all of the details, here’s some info to help you plan:
1) There will be a Pre-Sale, but it will not happen until mid-January. As in the past, this sale will only offer the highest priced tickets.
2) The full ticketing plan for 2014 will be announced in early January on tickets.burningman.com
3) While details are still pending, our intention is to repeat the basic process and structure from 2013: all of our ticket sales will require pre-registration through the Burner Profile system, there will be a Pre-Sale, a Directed Group Sale, an Individual Sale, a late-season OMG Sale, and we will again offer the Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) and our Low Income Ticket Program. We are also striving to keep ticket prices as in line with 2013 as possible. While all of this is still subject to final changes, know that this is our aim.

In December of 2012 the Pre-Sale designated a percentage of the income to the nonprofit Burning Man Project. By not having this sale in December of 2013 we’re missing the opportunity to make this useful year-end donation to the Project. The leadership of the LLC are in the final stages of negotiating and completing the transaction that will make Black Rock City, LLC a subsidiary of the Project. Now more than ever the Project needs your support. Please consider making a donation to the Project as you look at your year-end contributions. You can donate online here:  http://bit.ly/bmpdonate

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THE BURNING MAN CALENDAR MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT

Screw Black Friday, Saturday localwhatever, Cyber Monday and all that … put your money where your heart is. Pick up a Burning Man 2013/14 wall calendar for your gifting pleasure this holiday season (order before December 9 to be sure it gets to you in time). It includes tons of gorgeous Burning Man photography.

http://bit.ly/16bLSKa

But wait … isn’t that … COMMERCIAL? *gasp*

Not really. We make this calendar every year so YOU can have a chunk of Burning Man memories tacked to your wall throughout the year — it’s a cultural conveyance. Do we make money on it? Once all the costs are calculated, barely. So don’t feel like you have to take a shower after clicking “buy”. It’s all good.