GLC 2016: Money, Art and Burning Man’s Future — It’s Time to Talk Hurty

Today, GLC participants are rocking up for their first day in the land of plenary. 

With two unconference sessions, four plenary sessions, and 41 breakout workshops, there are many juicy topics planned and even juicier topics and conversations that are yet to reveal themselves.

How could they not? Take 500 Burners from the around the world, add one part principles, two parts passion, three parts pet rocks and god-knows-how-many pet peeves. Shaken AND stirred. And hey presto: Radical Education, baby!

So far, we’ve highlighted Burning Man’s not-so-final-frontiers and the trouble with bubbles.

On Saturday afternoon, our resident scribe Caveat Magister, Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey and Education Director Stuart Mangrum will lean even further into the winds of Burning Man change to explore the Renaissance theme and the touchy topics of money, art and where we grow from here.

“We’ve reached a point where questions of how Burning Man culture interacts with the 21st century economy are unavoidable. They have always been there, but they are front and center now,” says Caveat.  

“Art and money had a completely different relationship in the Renaissance — and Burning Man definitely has a different relationship with both of them than the default world.”

According to Caveat, it’s not only important to lean into the winds of change, it’s time to lean into the pain.“This conversation is walking into a place where we often don’t go because it hurts,” he says. 

And where does it ouch?

“What do people get in shouting matches about on Burning Man’s online forums? ‘Why are ticket prices the way they are?’ ‘Why do vehicle passes cost what they cost?’ ‘Are we funding enough art?’ ‘Should we be funding art differently?’,” he says.

“This is where the anger is and there is a strong incentive to not talk about these money-related issues. In fact, we are very good at talking about some aspects of Decommodification — we’re very good at talking about Gifting — but I think we’re kind of bad at having conversations about money and economics. It’s a taboo area.”

But this need to have the icky community conversation (we’re crossing all body parts for no hammer and tongs) has become even more imperative as Burning Man explores its new frontiers as a nonprofit.

“If we limit the question to ‘how do we move the money around for art?’, we’re really not asking the significant questions,” says Caveat.

“Burning Man is now trying to do work in the world that will be funded beyond ticket sales. So the question is foundational: how do you fundraise for a nonprofit in a decommodified way? What does it mean? What does it even look like? That stuff has to be invented. The question of what kind of relationship a community dedicated to art should have with money has to be asked, and it’s important that we do it in a way that is legitimate to the community.”

And the da Vinci’s Workshop theme, with its Renaissance context, is providing the platform to ask these questions and “think out loud” to GLC participants and the broader community — and to invite them to do the same.

“The idea of doing da Vinci’s Workshop was not initially about money or economic questions, but as soon as it became apparent that questions of patronage are central to the Renaissance, Larry said: Let’s walk towards this conversation,” says Caveat. 

But he warns: “We’re not going to have immediate answers. Nobody’s going to leave the GLC saying ‘this is the plan’.” 

Wanna hear more on this particular confab? Stay tuned for more news and views from the conference. In the meantime, take a gander at The Burning Man Philosophical Center’s blog series on the Renaissance as well as Larry’s latest post, which explores some of the issues that will be raised at the session.

About the author: Jane Lyons

Jane Lyons (a.k.a Lioness) believes it takes a special kind of crazy to drive the foundation years of a Regional Burn, and she classes herself among those crazy dreamers and (over)doers who are sweating it out around the Regional Burn globe. After her first Nevada Burn in 2009, Jane spent five years knee-deep in the development of Australia's Burning Seed and its community. She built and managed Seed's Communications Team for many years, helped kickstart Melbourne Decompression and ran a range of other local events. But her Burner communities and collaborations stretch beyond the confines of her country. She helped build Temple of Transition in 2011; has worked on other big art projects on and off playa (including the Temple for Christchurch); and has run theme camps and built art at Nowhere, Kiwiburn, Burning Seed and Italian Burning Weekend. She now spends her time supporting Burning Man's Communications Team.

3 Comments on “GLC 2016: Money, Art and Burning Man’s Future — It’s Time to Talk Hurty

    • Jon Mitchell says:

      Hi there, Peter. The Global Leadership Conference is a gathering of Burning Man Regional Network organizers to learn and share with each other. There’s more info right there in the link on the word “GLC” in the first line of the story.

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  • Timeless says:

    I’ve developed an funding device that doubles as fun, long-term investment that I think could be the missing link. Larry Harvey best describes Fundiversify: “It appears to be a hybrid in which private possession and community experience might generously overlap.”

    This funding vehicle leverages a fact that can drive the coming Renaissance: Playa Artifacts can gain monetary value by their proximity to our remarkable community. That includes Compressions, Decoms and extended sharings in public spaces, where they resonate our community values as well.

    Burning Man’s current philanthropic drive is brilliant and timely. Linking money with gifted artisans will explode our principles onto a world stage. Already BRC feats are astonishing but just imagine what such geniuses will do with robust financial support. We’re talking change driven by art on a global scale , it’s called Renaissance and it’s awesome to fathom.

    Meanwhile, as career chainsaw sculptor of huge monuments 4 decades plus, playa artist of 10, my skills and resources are tuned like a fiddle to leave epic markers that will inform and inspire for centuries. I have maybe two decades to carve monuments left and these will be my most significant.

    Yet just outside in my door lies The Man encased in a wooden tree stump… Yep, THAT Man. He’s slated to burn just in front of the great Temple like a 30 foot freaking Liberty Torch but alas, I’m self-funded…kinda. Time and daylight is precious but the project is idle a beautiful spring day like my studios …waiting for funding. Funding to stand the twin cypress stump roots up, release The Man encircled in carved flames, get him to the playa, hollow him with fire and cart him all over hell from there. Today I spend another day at the computer — fundraising like a damned politician.

    You can help by clicking my name, reading and sharing the link, personally if you know someone who’d love to help but also on social networks and blog sites. If we can make Fundiversify work here I believe its principles can fortify portfolios and liberate artists for decades — and help drive the coming Renaissance…

    Bravo Larry and friends, you’re doing a great thing and history will record our success!

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