The Burning Man Project are throwing a free “donate what you want” event next month at their headquarters, to bring together Burners from a range of co-operative living situations to talk about their experiences.
Perhaps this gives us a hint of the direction the new “Burning Man 2.0” non-profit is going to take: permanent communities, where everyone is welcome and there is no commerce, everyone just gets gifted everything for free; there is no trash collection, you have to take it yourself to the next town; there are no other public utilities, you have to bring your own. Oh wait – there are port-a-potties. Just bring your own paper, soap, and water. In these BMOrg New-Topias, you live under the Ten Principles of Burning Man, but will get sued if you actually use the words “Burning Man” in any way to describe your community.
Is living on communes, the same as communism? Yes and no…perhaps if you attend, you might want to raise this Progressive issue with the “Mainstream Republican” Burning Man crowd.
Building Community through Cooperative Living
April 17 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Cooperative living arrangements have been popular in the U.S. for decades. These arrangements take many forms, from low-income options, such as squatter warehouses and affordable housing co-ops, to those requiring more capital, such as resident-designed cohousing developments. Faced with increasing home prices, the rise of the ‘sharing economy’, and a renewed focus on the importance of human connection, individuals are turning to cooperative living environments across the Bay Area and beyond.
Please join us for an evening of lively discussion focused on building community through group living arrangements. This panel will bring together Burners from a range of cooperative living situations to talk about their experiences—the benefits, the challenges, and the cultural consequences of creating and living in shared spaces. Our panelists will explore what it is about cooperative living they find compelling, and what elements are important in building vibrant community.
Please RSVP HERE
Panelists:
Raines Cohen, East Bay Cohousing
Nicole Sawaya, Project Artaud
JT Yu, Cooperative Roots
Jessy Kate Schingler, Open Door Development Group
Details
- Date:
- April 17, 2014
- Time:
- 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
- Event Category:
- featured
Venue
- Burning Man Headquarters
- 660 Alabama Street, 4th Floor (Note New Address), San Francisco, 94103United States
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As priorly stated, my presumption is, Larry is so delusional that he envisions a conference center and community centered around his ten principles, perchance upon Fly Ranch, where people can listen to talks and be awed by his brilliance, funded upon profits from the Burning Man event, and licensing fees upon other regionals around the world controlled by the Burning Man Project. That is, funded after they take the cash for the next three annums for utilization of their Burning Man(TM) trademarks, after their $28 million to $45 million seven annum cash out rubbish is completed in late 2016.
Contemplating upon their actions further, after that, by appearances, their plan is towards drastically reducing the size of the Burning Man party, thusly herding people who desire towards attendance at Burning Man, towards attendance at their community and conference center in lieu. Late stage capitalist supply and demand principles at their finest, a deviously brilliant plan. As has been oft stated in history, the finest predictor of the actions of people, is analysis upon their prior actions.
In addendum, burnersxxx, indications are the price for the Burning Man(TM) name is priorly set. As scribe wrote in 2011, ‘Until paid for their value’, of the name and trademarks, of the sale of the name and trademarks from their Decommodification LLC towards the Project in late 2016, provides indications upon a price of $12 million, the equivalence of four annums of their apparent prior salary, to $20 million, the apparent excess of cash generated by the Burning Man(TM) party of 2014 to 2016, for the name and trademarks. In addendum to tribute being extracted from the Burning Man party and the regional parties.
Alternatively, the Project board can listen towards and honour the wishes of contributing Burners who make the Burning Man party. Of which are you of the belief of to be more likely of an occurrence?
I don’t think they are going to try to shrink the size of the party. the vehicle tax indicates they are looking for ways to sell more tickets from the same amount of cars on the road.
one observation about the board of the Burning Man Project: there is no chairman. it appears to be a typical Burner case of too many chiefs and not enough indians. everyone talks themsleves up and demands to be worshipped as a chief, but when it comes time to make a difficult descision and publicly stand by it, everyone runs a mile and the disinformation campaigns begin.
I have served on many boards, from start ups to established businesses to public companies to non-profits. I have never seen or heard of an effective 17-person board, or one which includes 2 couples. BMORg have a corporate ethos of “decision by consensus”, a management style which has been called “the HP way”; i have never seen this management style be effective either. Will the Burning Man Project board of directors “Get Shit Done”? it seems like this will be difficult without clear and strong leadership. They are 0/4 so far (achievements/years). Can they muddle their way through everything, and muddy the waters enough that its not clear who is to blame for fuckups? the board seems perfectly structured to achieve that, and they already have such scandals on their hands as: the ticket lottery, the vehicle tax, the “we gave it all away except we didn’t”, the “we make royalties from movies and soundtracks”, the $150k vogue photo shoot, the Krug Dinner Party…same board, no-one gets in trouble, nothing changes. who should the board blame for these? the management team? Of which company? The decision-makers? Who was that, exactly? BMOrg, continue.
Much obliged, again, burners xxx, for your site, your posts, and permitting open commentary upon it. I am very respectful of your experiences, and I comprehend the rationale in support of your point of view.
Larry has repeatedly stated, Burning Man is an exercise in temporary community, and, after the events of 1996, Burning Man needed a government, and they volunteered to minister that government. As towards the future of governance of Burning Man, my two bits are, that the Burner community, whom has crowd sourced this awesome party for two decades, deserves great voice upon the decisions to be made. The Project, whom is now in charge, should change the ministry model from that of a top down controlled business excluding community voices, towards a community model, of gathering and being mindful of community voices through open discussions and meetings, as each other ciiy and community is ministered.
The local city government model is effective, with the sweeping of the streets and operations delegated towards a city manager whom has full authority, Charlie Dolman in this case, while the city board, prior to making their open decisions, must gather and be mindful of community voices, elsewise, they will be removed from their ministries. If the BRC LLC was mindful of Burner community voices, the mistakes of the past few annums, of which you enumerate, would be less.
I comprehend the rationale for their exclusion of the Burner community from decisions the past few annums, they were focused upon, by appearances, and, by simple maths upon their afterburn reports and public statements, their $28 million to $45 million cash out plan of 2010 to 2016, the Burner community would have been aghast should they have been of this knowledge. By these maths, each one of the six BRC LLC members, upon averages, receive more cash than Burning Man paid the artists, including the temple builders, over the entire history of Burning Man.
Burner community desires, by appearances, are, get the government ministries and ever growing rules book out of our way, distribute tickets towards those whom participate in Burner culture and Burner communities, direct ticket revenues towards the needs of throwing these awesome crowd sourced parties as opposed to towards the pockets and egos of solely a very few, restore the basic principle of ‘There are no Spectators, only Participants’, assist us towards the throwing of these awesome crowd sourced parties, and get the bloody hell out of our way.
I am of the belief they are going to shrink the size of the party, or, alternatively, perform another action extremely contrary to Burner desires, thusly, attempting to direct Burners towards whatever is their one hundred year plan, but that won’t be of occurrence until after their cash out attains completion in 2016, and their plan attains implementation a couple annums afterwards, they desire the cash from the huge party until that point in the timeline. Marian and Larry have stated that the Burning Man event is to stay about the same for the next few annums, but, afterwards, …
In addendum, as you listed in a prior post, Marian Goodell is President of the Burning Man Project, she is in lead, in conjunction of her alliance with Larry, and, has scribe has written, the six former BRC LLC share owners are in dominance upon the board by rationale of all other board members solely being appointed for one annum at a time. So, in agreement, it is the same dysfunction as the BRC LLC.
The 100 year plan, I was accurate upon my presumptions, based upon their statements and actions
http://www.flyranchprject.org
The roster of project members is impressive, each one filling a specific role, lawyers, developers, environmental, finance, and others. Larry Harvey is listed as Executive Director of the Burning Man Project, he has not stated that to us prior. Their intentions may be discerned from their statements upon this site, and upon the specific roles of the project members.
They do plan to utilize the profits from the Burning Man event, and purpose the Burning Man event, towards this endeavour, after their $28 million to $45 million cash out of 2010 – 2016, by appearances, based upon the afterburn reports and their public statements, is completed in 2016, in addendum to utilizing the tribute to be paid by regionals parties for the Burning Man (TM) trademarks. The land is large, over 16 square kilometers.
Typo
http://www.flyranchproject.org
Well why does burning man need more monetary support from us at 650 and 380 a ticket X 70,000 people? seems like you are already rich when you don’t even have to pay the artists or the the people working the event. You just made a multi million dollar business with such little overhead…. boast all is free after you pay your 400 to 1000 to go…. yeah now you want more money from us? why? I love buring man, but 400.00 a ticket is not really a deal. Can you prove what you have been doing with your millions?
one of the WordPress founders just wrote a personal check for $1.6 million to put blinky lights on the Bay Bridge – a temporary installation that is coming down after less than 2 years. Maybe BMOrg see things like that going on around them, and think “how do we get a bigger slice of that pie”. http://burners.me/2014/03/12/california-gleaming-worlds-biggest-light-art-to-stay/
With significant trepidation, burnersxxx, I believe you to be correct in your presumptions upon the path Larry wishes to lead the new Burning Man 2.0 non-profit, ‘Perhaps this gives us a hint of the direction the new “Burning Man 2.0″ non-profit is going to take: permanent communities, where everyone is welcome and there is no …’
Upon all that has been stated, from Larry and Marian, of ‘Burning Man for the next 100 years’, Larry’s repeated stating of Bohemia on the Charlie Rose show, the 10 principles ad nauseam, their ‘There’s never been any intention to give full control to the community’ – or any control, for that course, the rumours of them being of interest towards the purchase of the Fly Ranch purposed towards a conference center and community buildings centered upon the ten principles, ‘the Burning Man event is to stay about what it currently is for the near future, then it will change’, some Burners may not like the changes, Healing Late-Capitalist Cultural Trauma, cash will be redirected from some places towards other places, and other recent hints, my fears are that you are correct upon your presumption.
My presumption is, Larry is so delusional that he envisions a conference center and community centered around his ten principles, perchance upon Fly Ranch, where people can listen to talks and be awed by his brilliance, funded upon profits from the Burning Man event, and licensing fees upon other regionals around the world controlled by the Burning Man Project. That is, funded after they take the cash for the next three annums for utilization of their Burning Man(TM) trademarks, after their $28 million to $45 million seven annum cash out rubbish is completed.
Whereas, the Burner community desires are to not to be further thieved by their cash out plan, the Project to run interference from various government ministries for the purpose of permitting awesome, crowd-sourced, parties to occur, distribute tickets towards participants of the throwing of the parties as opposed to towards spectators, utilize ticket revenues towards the basic needs of the parties, restore the basic principle of, ‘There are no Spectators, only Participants’, and get the bloody hell out of our way.
scribe writes that he is of the belief Larry and Marian still hold firm control, with 11 of the 17 Project board members being appointed for solely one year at a time, thusly, being easily replaced should they not follow the wishes of Larry and Marian. I am of the belief the Project board members have responsibilities towards the Burning Man community, whom has crowd-sourced the main party for two decades at present, and the Project board has responsibilities towards halting the song and dance around possible conflicts of interest of Larry and Marian controlling the 501(c)3 non-profit Project board and the BRC LLC subsidiary, while payments are to be directed towards their Decommodification LLC. Did you notice Larry, upon the Charlie Rose show, stuttered and danced around this subject by stating he was the Burning Man founder, while promoting their Burning Man(TM) brand, without any indication he was upon the Burning Man Project board and still in control of the Burning Man event through his role upon the BRC LLC board?
$28 million. Of beginning in 2010, $7,200,000 of payroll for solely thirty employees and six BRC LLC board members as Senior Staff, leaves over $4,000,000 of salary towards the six BRC LLC board members. Times seven annums, through 2016, whether the cash be paid as salaries, or by other means. In addendum, it is mostly untaxed, in due of their donation of the BRC LLC, though plundered of cash, property, and trademarks, to the 501(c)3 Burning Man Project.
there used to be a utopian premise to the whole thing, and I’m all for reviving that. Can their pyramid/Apollonian crowdsourced committee-despotism model scale? Is it the best system of organizational control for whatever their 100 year plan is? This remains to be seen; I have some doubts, just as I have my suspicions about what the plan will turn out to be. I don’t begrudge them their profits, they’ve earned it, and no-one was forced to give them the money. The richer they get, the greater the tension will be between the starving artists who make the party and the yuppy-hippies enjoying it.
The slice of the pie that I’m not a fan of is the Kool Aid dispensing – and, even worse, the drinking of it, by a vocal minority of thousands of indoctrinated Orthodox Burners. The Ten Principles were introduced as guidelines and not meant to be all encompassing. Now they are cult-like rules and are meant to be all encompassing, not just for their party in Nevada, but for anywhere this type of culture shows its face anywhere in the world. A byproduct of this is it positions them as the rulers, when they say “Our principles” they mean “the principles which we are the creators of”, not “the values of this culture which holds us together”. In this interview Larry himself describes different cultural values to the Principles, and only listed 3 principles.
In the Kool Aid world, there’s nothing to see here, move along…we’re merely dogs barking in the night trying to squeeze a cancerous pimple on an elephant’s butt. And all will soon be gloriously revealed. Everything is all perfectly fine because they’re a “non-profit” (except for the for-profit businesses that hold the assets and earn 99% of the revenue). Being a non-profit automatically means everything they do is for the good of all mankind, as they’re happy to tell us on every occasion they speak to the press.
When Larry tells the story, as in this Charlie Rose interview, he makes them sound like heroes for giving this whole business away. But they haven’t actually done that. In fact, they haven’t done anything except a couple of blog posts, couple of quick comments to the media, and apparently 4 years of complicated legal/financial paperwork that appears to have cost them millions of dollars, and is still entirely hidden. Their Burning Man Project 501(c)3, one of the many for-profit and tax-free non-profit entities they control in their interstate web, has not made IRS filings according to Guidestar. We just have to take their word for it all, which is difficult given how many times their word has turned out to be different from the facts over the years. Like “we came up with the vehicle tax because we really want to reduce our carbon emissions”. There are many more examples, but I think we’re on the same page here.
Much obliged, again, burnersxxx, very good comment. We are mostly upon the same page, though I am of the mindset of they abused the community trust by taking far more than their fair share, over $28 million by my maths, through lack of information and lies of omission, few contributing Burners were of the belief of the event being a Capitalism winner take all business. Most of whom have contributed towards the throwing of the party, now are of the realization of the Kool Aid being poisoned, it is solely a vocal few to strongly defend it, especially upon the knowledge of Decommodification LLC and the vehicle levy. We are upon the same page of most all, especially upon the Burner community being deserving of much more respect and honour of their voices for 100,000 of us throwing the awesome party for two decades, and, especially upon, Burners and the Burning Man community being awesome.
The donation of BRC LLC to the 501(c)3 Project by the six former BRC LLC share owners was brilliant, by appearances, their pocketing of most all profits of the Burning Man event of 2010 through 2016, leaving little cash remaining upon the ledger to further pocket, though, by appearances, they might have priorly set the price for the Burning Man(TM) name upon the low side, without being of the knowledge of the increase of the value of their brand, once they sold tickets to all over the Internet. After nearly all cash is taken, how might they obtain additional benefit? Make the cash they pocketed deductable from taxation levies upon the donation. Awesomely brilliant advice they have received.
There is a simple way for all to benefit from the change to a 501(c)3, Larry and Marian should resign from the Project and from the BRC LLC, perchance, upon discussions with the Project board and, perchance, CA state 501(c)3 authorities, and the Project board to include and honour Burner voices upon the future of the event and of the culture.
Larry, and, perchance, Marian, will benefit of then being freed from potential 501(c)3 conflicts of interest, freed from any potentials of their large deduction from taxation levies being reversed, and Larry is then fully freed to promote their Burning Man(TM) brand, as an owner of Decommodification LLC, and receive his acclaim, which is what he desires. The labourers at organization HQ benefit by being freed to respect the wishes of the Burning Man community, by restoring the event and the culture to it’s former ethos. The Burning Man community benefits by having it’s voice heard again upon discussions of ministry of the event, and upon the future of Burning Man culture, and permitting of the occurrence of awesome crowd-sourced parties, without the top down control of the Project and BRC LLC remaining within their path. All are winners upon this scenario, Larry and Marian solely need to give up control of the Project and BRC LLC by resigning, as was the original plan of 2011, prior to their Bait and Switch.