Burn Night 2020: Live From Home

Burn Night has always had a special meaning to Burners. It’s the spectacular culmination of our event in the desert… a time we all come together to build that special energy that happens nowhere else, and a time we release the old to start dreaming in the new. 2020 is no different — even though it is.

At my first Burn in 2003, I fell in love with the 10 Principles. This kicked off a chain reaction of inspired community projects: I started Silicon Village to bring my region together on playa, the Burnal Equinox celebration to bring us all together halfway between Burns, and Playatech to engage us in all 10 Principles by making furniture puzzles together.

I’ve brought art to my beloved Black Rock City every year since 2004 as my gift to you. But this summer, I found myself distraught without a project for the playa, and longing for that feeling of pre-Burn anticipation. I imagined you might feel the same way.

We needed a way to come together around the burning of the Man, no matter what challenges we may face. That lit the fuse to find the people like me who were inspired to ignite Burn Night: Live From Home, an event many others have helped co-create. I hope your creative spirit and our growing momentum can make Burn Night: Live From Home the most radically inclusive Burn Night ever. I encourage you to invite people who are completely new to Burning Man culture, and to welcome participants who have previously faced barriers to joining the community in Black Rock City.

Start building your Mini Man or creative structure! Read on for all the details you’ll need to dive in and organize your very own distributed, globally connected Burn.

Planning Your Burn Night: Live From Home

This year, our annual great circle around the Man will expand like never before — it will encompass the whole planet in an around-the-clock global Burn celebration, and you’re all invited. We encourage you to start planning your Burn Night now! Design a ritual of culmination and release, build an effigy and safely gather with friends, create a performance, light a candle, celebrate Burns gone by… however you wish to make Burn Night your very own.

To create Burn Night: Live From Home, we invite you to build small effigies everywhere, host mini burns within your local COVID-safe groups, and ignite them time zone by time zone starting at 9pm local time on Burn night, in accordance with local health and safety requirements and good sense. All of these events worldwide will be streamed in a mass online portal where we can all chat and connect in “camp” watch party rooms. Each time zone will be featured for one hour of Burns, some more and some less, depending on the number of submissions.

Share Your Burn With the World

However you choose to Burn, share the spirit of your celebration with the global Burning Man community: document your effigy build; tell wild Burning Man tales; make music; create art; commune with nature. But if you do choose to Burn an effigy, make sure you have all the necessary fire safety materials on hand!

You can livestream your Burn Night celebration in real time, or record it in advance. To broadcast your Burn, you must register in advance on the Burn Night: Live From Home website. Fire Conclaves, we want your fire artistry too! We’ll be accepting a limited number of pre-recorded Burn and fire art videos — you’re encouraged to submit early.

In-person attendance at your Burn is up to hosts. Please practice Civic Responsibility and share the experience safely within COVID-safe guidelines. Burn Night: Live From Home is a round-the-clock family-friendly experience — do not live stream adult content! In light of the current situation with wildfires in many parts of the world, reconsider what it means to Burn: light a candle, burn a Mini Man in a fire safe container, or simply Burn in spirit by sharing your Radical Self Expression and creativity. If you do plan to light a fire, we ask that you check and respect local fire regulations to make sure your fire will not conflict with “No Burn” or “Spare the Air” days in your area.

Join Us for Burn Night: Live From Home

Burn Night will roll out hour by hour across the world. Tentative scheduled start time is September 5 at 9pm NZST in New Zealand (2am PDT). Then we go westward with 9pm start times in each time zone, culminating in the US West Coast and Hawaii, with a tentative end time of 2am PDT on September 6. The schedule will be adjusted based on submissions. Don’t miss the special Fire Conclaves ceremony and compilation of Burns when The Man would normally burn in Black Rock City, starting at 8:30pm PDT!

To attend, join us at Burn Night: Live From Home on September 5, starting 2am PDT, or anytime during the round-the-clock, round-the-world burn stream. Be sure to create a Burn Night profile if you want to chat with other participants, start or join a watch party with your camp, or drop in and visit other camps during the Burn.

Want to Help?

It takes a community! We need pre-production and live help (content directors, video editors, moderators, tech, support, etc.). Fill in this form to gift your skills to the global Burner community.

All Burners and Burner-curious are invited to pARTicipate online — no tickets, costs, packing, travel, or dust involved. Instead, consider making a contribution to Burning Man Project — perhaps what you’d spend on a fun night out?

No matter where we are, the Man will always Burn! But not everyone has had the opportunity to circle around the Man in Black Rock City. This year, for the first time ever, the Man will burn everywhere. So get ready, The Man burns (all of them!) at 9pm (wherever you are) on September 5, 2020!