The Burning Man Festival near Gerlach and Empire in northwest Nevada was held over the Labor Day weekend 2022 resulting in a massive 9-hour traffic jam. Here's what car-culture looks like.
9-hour traffic jam leaving Burning Man (Russian)
Black Rock City is a parking lot.
 |
| Burning Man Festival Parking, 2022 |
How do Burning Man visitors pay for city services? Black Rock City charges admission to the festival event.
Attendees
Organized and promoted by the Burning Man Project - the equivalent of Visit Laguna in Laguna Beach, this festival of arts is held annually on the playa desert in Nevada. In 2019, 78,850 people participated, then influenced by Covid in 2021 the unofficial event had an estimated 20,000 attendees.
Festival
"An underground gathering for bohemians and free spirits of all stripes, Burning Man has evolved into a destination for social media influencers, celebrities and the Silicon Valley elite."-NPR Each year the festival is organized by the Burning Man Project around a new theme. Participants are invited to build art projects, activities and events in that theme. Artwork includes experimental and interactive sculptures, buildings, artistic vehicles, theatric performances and other media.
Participation is a key precept for the community, much like Laguna day-trippers there is much controversy in the community over the problem of non-participatory influencers and elite at the event.
Admission
Regular admission (2016) for individual tickets is $424. CNBC (2016) estimated the total cost of attending could range from $1,300 up to $20,000. Money magazine (2017) estimated an average total cost of $2,348 to attend.
Meanwhile, the regular admission price has increased over the years, Nevada lawmakers have modified the entertainment and sales tax code to include nonprofits like Burning Man Project, the festival tax burden is absorbed in the admission price.
City Services
Firefighting, emergency medical services (EMS) mental health, and communications support is provided by the volunteer Black Rock City Emergency Services Department (ESD). EMS units are funded by local, provincial or national governments.
Enforcement
Black Rock City is patrolled by various local and state law enforcement agencies as well as the Bureau of Land Management Rangers. The cost of enforcement is carried outside Black Rock City, BLM is funded by the federal government
Burning Man also has its own in-house group of volunteers, the Black Rock Rangers at no cost to the City. The Rangers act as informal mediators when disputes arise between participants.
Local Gerlach-Empire police issue $1500 citations for drug and alcohol abuse.
Commercial Philosophy
The organizers encourage festival attendees as self reliant individuals, to bring all living provisions termed radical self reliance. Cash transactions are not permitted between attendees. Cash can be used for a select few charity, fuel, and sanitation vendors: ice sales benefit the Gerlach-Empire school system, private portable toilet services and shuttles to the airport, private diesel fuel.
"To preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create
social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships,
transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from
such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for
participatory experience." -Wikipedia
How We Do It
With ticket sales nominally topping $6.4 million, Black Rock Project is well organized to be a profitable "nonprofit LLC" venture by covering visitor costs and externalizing their most expensive city services. There are no plans for parking structures or parking meters in Black Rock City.
Visit the Burning Man subscription page for RSS Feed, Facebook and Twitter links.
-LS
No comments:
Post a Comment