After a break last year, Opulent Temple are returning to the Playa in 2014. They have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them get a new DJ booth. They’ve raised about half of the money they need, with 35 days to go.
The new booth will be called ‘Armagan’, which means ‘the gift’ in Turkish. The concept fits in nicely with this year’s theme: a reference to the caravansaries along the Silk Road which ran through Turkey, allowing the exchange of treasures among different cultures.
From Syd Gris:
You may have heard OT is hoping to build a new ‘3.0’ version of the iconic O Pod DJ booth for BM this year. It’s an interactive fire art price called ‘Armagan’. Just for kicks, we applied for an art grant and were turned down…, in part because they said they don’t want to get involved in funding anything at a sound camp. So we’re taking it to the people with a Kickstarter campaign.
If you got something out of Opulent Temple over the last 10 years, maybe it’s time to give something back – the money you give will benefit everyone who gets to enjoy their stage at Burning Man, this year and in the future too. They got no love from the hippies with the art grants, well maybe we Burners can show them some love. $20 is a bargain just to see Carl Cox, let alone all the other amazing music they bring to Burning Man. Welcome back OT, we love you!
Here’s their Kickstarter campaign:
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Please help us build the new Opulent Temple DJ booth, Armagan, for Burning Man 2014 and beyond! #armagan
Sacred Dance to World Class Music
Opulent Temple, the longest running large scale sound and art camp at Burning Man, is asking for your help on our first ever Kickstarter campaign to help us build a new DJ booth. The new booth will be called ‘Armagan’, which means ‘the gift’ in Turkish. The concept fits in nicely with this year’s theme: a reference to the caravansaries along the Silk Road which ran through Turkey, allowing the exchange of treasures among different cultures. Since 2003, Opulent Temple has given the Burning Man community the gift of a “space for sacred dance to world-class music”. We are asking you to support our efforts to bring you an even more epic year by contributing to this campaign.
We are 100% Community Funded
As you may or may not know, Opulent Temple is 100% community supported. We raise the money to put on our production solely through fundraising year round and camp-member contributions. We don’t have corporate backers or millionaire donors to fund our efforts. And although the Burning Man Org gives anywhere upwards of $800,000 to fund art projects every year, unfortunately they don’t provide support options for sound/art camps at all. This is despite the fact that the sound/art camps are a key reason many people attend the event from all over the world.
BMORG Does Not Fund Soundcamps
Why not apply for a Burning Man art grant, you may ask? We did! We have applied in previous years, and this year we applied again. Though art in camps do not qualify for art grants, art on the open playa does. We were hopeful we would get a little something – given our dance floor placement (open playa), the established BM art world pedigree of our partners, and that this year’s design was an interactive fire art piece, but we were unfortunately turned down again. While we were not expecting to get anything, it would have been nice to even get a token nod of support such as $1000 on our grant proposal, but they essentially said they don’t want to get involved funding anything at sound camps.
So, as always, it’s onward, as we are hoping to get the support of our community’s to help build Armagan.
ARMAGAN, The Gift, O-Pod 3.0
For this project, OT’s artists and fabricators are partnering with Sean Orlando of the Five Ton Crane art collective who built the Gothic Raygun Rocketship, and Orion Fredericks of Fata Morgana fame. It will be a 3.0 version of the iconic O-Pod that will take our familiar aesthetic but add different design elements, Steampunk nuances, enhanced flame-effect cannons and special lighting.
The video also shows a new interactive piece we’re calling “Salome’s Chamber”, a contained “dance box”, where dancers at Opulent Temple must perform their own version of the “Dance of the Seven Veils”. This raised platform is connected to electronics that measure dance steps. When a certain number of steps are achieved, participants will see a light go from red to green on a control panel that then allows them to control the fire poofer effect on the booth. After a duration of time, it goes inactive again and the dancing must be started all over again to re-charge the poofer. To bring you the quality production Opulent Temple is known for, our budget for this year is $170,000, which includes the budget to build Armagan. This Kickstarter campaign is just a small part of the money we’re trying to raise this year, but a very substantial contribution.
If we meet our stretch goal of $40,000 on Kickstarter, we will also use funds raised to help us pay for two new visual screens for 3D mapping projections. We want to give you a brand new front of house design this year that will once again take your experience to the next level.
We Need Your Support
Every year, we create Opulent Temple as a forum for peak experience, community development, and inspiration in the hopes it will serve as a road map for what’s possible in the so called “default world”. It’s not just about partying. We feel social change will not happen without all of us doing our part to elevate our collective spiritual center of gravity. It’s our responsibility to nudge our own evolution to catch up with the outpaced growth of technology without the soul getting left behind. Through the years Opulent Temple has hosted an array of amazing talent in the dance music world. They have become part of our community and played for free for us at Burning Man because they believe in our vision, and because we give them an amazing platform for an unforgettable night. This includes such varied names as Carl Cox, Bassnectar, Tiesto, Infected Mushroom live, Armin Van Buuren, The Crystal Method, Aphrodite, Christopher Lawrence, Sharam from Deep Dish, Stanton Warriors, Elite Force, Meat Katie, Lee Coombs, DJ Dan and many, many other talented artists. We can’t wait to tell you who will be playing inside Armagan in 2014! Help us make our vision a reality and come share in the fruits of your contribution.
Thank you for supporting us over the years and on these future projects. We couldn’t do it without you!
Love,
Opulent Temple
Risks and challenges
We have an ambitious fundraising plan for our total budget that includes events in San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Portland, Boise, and Seattle. Even with all that, we need this Kickstarter campaign to make this project happen, and every dollar helps make this project a reality.
We have developed a production and fulfillment system to ensure everyone gets their Kickstarter rewards in a timely manner. We are very excited about our rewards, which go beyond the traditional knickknacks and t-shirts, and into the realm of transcendent experiences that you will remember forever. We really hope you can make a donation, even $20 bucks is very helpful!
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[Now back to Burners.Me…]
People wonder why we say BMOrg doesn’t represent the Burners. Well, here we have another example of why. People travel from all over the world to go to Burning Man, it wouldn’t be a party without music…and yet, BMOrg won’t spend even 1 of their precious non-profit dollars to help out the sound camps. They can charge $400 a ticket now because of the DJs that have played there, it makes them competitive with the other EDM festivals. They won’t pay for any of the DJs themselves, not only that, they won’t pay for any of the sound equipment, or any of the logistics costs related to that, or any of the art displayed at sound camps. Not even a measly $1000, to a crew that have been contributing one of the biggest elements of the party since 2003.
Burning Man isn’t made by BMOrg, people – I know that’s hard to believe when the kool aid tastes so yummy, but it’s the truth.
Burning Man is made by Burners, and Burners have to help each other. That’s what makes it special. You might not be able to make an art car or a giant fire-shooting statue, but you can contribute to one of the main music stages. If you appreciate Opulent Temple, please support them.
