Burning Man LIVE

Katie Hazard leads Art Management for Burning Man and the committee that grants more than a million dollars to artists each year to create art that’s first stop (and sometimes only stop) is Black Rock City. She shares about some of the grant recipients that align with this year’s Black Rock City art theme (ANIMALIA). She and Stuart Mangrum discuss Burning Man’s art movement in relation to, and som...

As a founder and co-producer of one of the largest and oldest Burning Man events, Monique Shiess has a lot going on. AfrikaBurn does too. Started in 2007, it averages 10,000 participants annually in recent years.  Monique shares its origins with Stuart and Andie. From the EDM scene, gallery spaces, queer community, and producers of “weird gatherings,” they birthed AfrikaBurn with roots in anarchy,...

Athena is a wanderer, an adventurer, a muse. She is Regional Contact emerita from Los Angeles, founder of their nonprofit The LA League of Arts, and a founder of BRCvr — a crown jewel in the tiara of our multiversal experiences online. Athena talks with Stuart about how Radical Inclusion and Immediacy foster human connection, and about how a balance of decommodified spaces and commercial spaces ca...

How are films shot in Black Rock City? Why? And really, HOW?  "Profiles in Dust" is the most prolific video troupe that dares to document the dynamic Burning Man events. Since 2011 they have produced 50 mini-documentaries, profiling the inspirational creators in the scene, and behind the scenes.  Terry Pratt is their nominal leader. He talks with Stuart about the joy and the turmoil, and adventure...

What happened at BRC? What didn’t happen? Why did it seem that we couldn’t get back to interdependence?  After the traumas of the pandemic and political vilification, we somehow didn’t trust each other at BRC. Or if we did, we didn’t seem to know it, or feel it, or enjoy it.  Andie Grace swaps stories with Buck Down, a 25-year Burner, Gate Manager, musician, and author of the wildly popular articl...

The kids ask the questions this time. These longtime Burners have participated in BRC most of their young lives.  6-year-old Teapot offers sage advice on the radio. Teen brothers Atticus and Colby interview deep-rooted DPW adults :      Coyote is the city superintendent of BRC, and author of the book, Built to Burn: Tales of the Desert Carnies of Burning Man.      Melissa Waters is an office admin...

More and more studies are happening at transformative events around the world. This summer a research paper was published about how transformative effects of these gatherings are lasting. This 5-year experiment compared findings from a half-dozen mass gatherings.  The results explore generosity and altruism, describe collective effervescence, and consider the biases of self-selection and psychedel...

We’re back from Black Rock City, and we miss it already. If you miss it too, or you missed it altogether, here are some sounds and sentiments of being there.  BRC is filled with amateurs, people doing it as a labor of love. When things go wrong, we celebrate it as a glorious opportunity to adapt, or simply as things going the way they go. When the going gets tough, and it’s tough going in the worl...

When Candace found Burning Man in 1996, she jumped right in to help the media tell the whole story of Black Rock City, not just the sensationalism. She also jumped right into culture jamming, twisting iconic characters, from Cacophony Society’s santas to public pranking as porn clowns, and playfully pushing people in immediate theater.  She also brings the transformative power of interactive art t...

Listen in as longtime Burners talk about the aspects of thriving in Black Rock City: mental, physical, material, and relational. Andie, kbot, Molly, Stuart and Vav explore: · socks secrets · FOMO variants · saying yes and saying no · giving and accepting help · No Friends Monday · and all else! Featuring cameos from other longtime Burners: Anjelika, Chef Juke, Crimson Rose, DA, Dave X, Halcyon, KJ...

Who can share about the beginnings of Burning Man Project’s Board of Directors, the Meta-Regional Committee, and a blacksmithing collective? Kay Morrison can. Who can tell of getting banned from a country, cooking at Fly Ranch, and hosting a croquet match between Army burners and Navy burners? Kay Morrison can. She laughs with Stuart Mangrum about how everything in Black Rock City (in VR and in IR...

It’s really real. Makers are making. Planners are planning. Crews all over the world are creating installations for Black Rock City. Katie Hazard, Head of Burning Man Arts, speaks with ten of the 400 artists whose work will rise on the playa. Hold onto your headlamp: We’ve got an alien drive-thru, a library for solar power, and architecture that defiles the laws of physics. We’ve got stories from...

For 25 years now $teven Ra$pa has directed discussions for Black Rock City and Regional communities. Hear him and kbot explore why this Burning Man thing is so important for humanity and the world. BRC is a city of imagination, a social experiment, organically cultivated and running on pure encouragement. They discuss the inspired interactions that allow for reinvention big and small for one and a...

When dynamite is aged the wrong way it gets sweaty with little crystals that can cause spontaneous explosions. Dave X. Man of fire, bacon, and “the ponytail of approachability.” An enigmatic shaman of fireworks, flame effects, and deep thoughts, his stripper name is Sweaty Dynamite. His spiritual calling is to bring joyful, fiery experiences to the masses. His secret weapon: a thick binder. Huh? M...

In May, staff and core collaborators gathered to disclose what’s new and true in the big community experiment that is Black Rock City.   How Center Camp changed Turning down turnkey camping The bumper crop of inclusive art The hive platform for teaching, learning, and up-leveling leadership Listen as they share about jobs, classifieds, and the Survival Guide, about behind-the-scenes machines for e...

Stuart talks with 'Burners Without Borders' co-founder Tom Price, then shares an interview from the deep well of 'Culturally Attuned,' a podcast by the US Institute of Peace in collaboration with Burning Man Project. Tom talks about community resilience and his attempts to bridge cultural gaps around race, color, privilege, and the legacy of colonialism. He extols the need for humility and persona...

Tyson Yunkaporta is an artist and scholar of the Apalech Clan in Australia. Caveat Magister is a Burning Man philosopher. They explore ceremony, circumstance, and how art is not about the object. They talk through the power of play, mining the margins, and what indigenous peoples have known that modern people are rediscovering.  They discuss Black Rock City, Regional events, and the impact of Gift...

Laugh and learn in a collage of conversation with 'Chef' - Matthew 'Chef' Kwatinetz, Senior Director of Nevada Operations and Board Member of Burning Man Project. He shares with Stuart about the ongoing work to convert our Nevada properties into year-round hubs for bringing Burning Man culture into the world. So much more than an infrastructure project, our teams are busy upgrading Gerlach’s servi...

Director of Burning Man Project’s Philosophical Center, longtime co-conspirator of founder Larry Harvey, Cacophonist, playa newspaper publisher, billboard liberator, art theme writer, and suspicious character (according to paranoid people), his most realistic alias is Stuart Mangrum. He holds our legacy, and helps guide our story, while occasionally philosophizing. A Communications Strategist name...

If Black Rock City were a ship, Charlie Dolman would be its skipper. The SS BRC is already taking shape in the dry docks of our collective effort, and at some point later this summer it will slide into the dusty seas of northern Nevada. As the event operations director, Charlie leads a crew of leaders responsible for pretty much all aspects of city infrastructure, and for planning for just about e...

People all around the world create annual events that align in principle. Some have over 10,000 participants like events in Israel and South Africa. Some have under 20 participants, like “Melting Man” in Fargo, North Dakota. They are collaborative art experiences, celebrations, healing rituals, mutual aid, and fun for a good cause. For 2 decades our global community has been bringing people togeth...

The vibe is real. Playa magic. Secret sauce. Atypical serendipity. Whatever you call it, it’s being studied by social scientists around the world and written about in the annals of academia.  The vibe is real, but that doesn’t mean we must deny our Dada roots. We can yield a toilet plunger like a royal scepter. We can celebrate porta-loo beautification, and its absurd juxtaposition, as a legit art...

How can we bring the magic back from BRC and Regional events? How can we connect and reflect year round? Radio.  Out of BRC's BMIR (Burning Man Information Radio) came the internet radio station Shouting Fire, which provides real world radio for Regional events, streaming to listeners everywhere. It’s now the Global Burner Radio Network connecting Texas to South Africa, Michigan to Argentina, Denm...

Lifelong social justice educators Shirley Strong and Simone Torrey share about Beloved Community, an inclusive interrelated space based on love, responsibility, compassion, shared power, and a deep respect that transforms. They also talk with Stuart about a new community engagement and learning platform. It’s not social media. It’s not e-courses. It’s a versatile hub of like-minded interactivity. ...

Let’s take a trip from Burning Man in 1994 to Sotheby’s Auction House in 2021; from the Department of Mutant Vehicles to the Radical Inclusion, Diversity & Equity stewardship; from Oregon to Nebraska to Las Vegas; from a sense of wonder to BRC 2022. Listening to this may inspire you to do something you hadn’t considered before. Burning Man Culture: Radical Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Burning Man...