Do you gift snow cones? Host show tune singalongs? Love to tango? Lead random parades to nowhere? Whatever you love to create, YOU are invited to bring it to Center Camp — an acre of beautifully designed, communal shaded space in the beating heart of Black Rock City.
Center Camp is holding space for spontaneous offerings and walk-up creators of all kinds. At any given time you may meet (or be!) a tap-dancing platypus, java-slinging cephalopod or rhinoceros puppeteer. It’s an ANIMALIA circus inspired by YOU.
Fill out this form to tell us what you’re bringing to Center Camp, and to request resources that will help make it sparkle.
Fill out this form to tell us what you’re bringing to Center Camp, and to request resources that will help make it sparkle.
You don’t need to fill out a form to come and get playful with everyone. BUT if you’re creating something that will be anchored in time and space, or that needs power, tell us about it. We may be able to reserve a spot and support your electrical needs in one of our shiny new Activation Bays.
Are you an artist? Plan an installation or experience, drop in with your work, or create a masterpiece on the spot. Fill out this form to tell us all about what’s in your imagination, and what you plan to bring!
Already part of a fully-interactive theme camp? Shake things up in the center of town with a pop-up experience. Want to test out a new offering or experiment? Or want your camp’s gifts to reach a wider audience? Bring it on down.
Will you be in open camping? Or maybe you keep a low profile in walk-in camping but have ALWAYS wanted to do a little interactive pop-up? Bring your unique flavor of playa magic into the heart of the city or test run a new idea — it’s like having a fully shaded theme camp (without the logistics).
Are you a dancer, yogi, performance artist, circus impresario? Come out and play, dance, tumble and teach beneath Center Camp’s vast shaded panels.
Do you build, produce, MC, stage manage, decorate? We’re looking for builders, artists, decorators, musicians, wranglers, ringmasters, stage managers and more.
Volunteering in Center Camp is fun and we’d love to have you. Learn more here, then fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire in your Burner Profile — be sure to tell us you’re interested in Center Camp!
Whatever you love to do, show up, bring your thing, and your dusty friends. Center Camp is a giant rumpus room for dusty humanimals of all stripes and species to gather, play, and meet their neighbors.
Cover image of Center Camp (Photo by Susan Becker)
Here’s an idea, why not serve coffee and Chai? I’ll bet that would bring a lot of people to Center Camp!
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Or YOU can serve coffee and chai?
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It’s interesting that you refused to post my reply to your comment. I suppose you didn’t like the fact that I found your cheery little challenge to be disingenuous and condescending given the fact that the REAL issue is that the BMorg fumbled this badly and is now engaged in a lame attempt to save face. That the BMorg doesn’t have the guts to post messages like this speaks volumes.
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Interestingly, we did not receive your reply. So we definitely did not delete it. Let’s blame it on the internet gremlins. Post it again, s’il vous plaît.
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Agreed!
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Center Camp jumped the fence when the Café’ was removed.
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Agreed!
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Absolutely!
The local coffee shop is about as close to a communal setting as vanilla America gets. It is a shame the BMORG doesn’t want to participate anymore [I will particularity miss my order of abuse].
It would be great if a theme camp can step in and take over, but that will take planning and cooperation.
Perhaps a Pirate Shop can set up just outside Center Camp? I’m sure some sort of fund raiser can still be made: Then everyone gets a coffee! Why should the alcoholics get all the free drinks?
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Hearing that one of the “bays” within Center Camp will provide a space for camps to do “pop-up” beverage service of all kinds at all hours. Coffee, chai, Pinot Noir, slushies, whatevs. An easy way to lure people in and provide gifting and engagement along the way.
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Bring back the cafe. The place is dead without it
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Agreed!
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How about bringing back anonymity and follow the 10 principles that I was taught at my first burn 11 years ago. Permission to do and the right to not be exploited. That was a great thing that greedy people have turned to shit. Practice what you preach Bmorg. Eat a whiteout for last supper.
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When the coffee went away the wind barrier was greatly reduced – made Center Camp a much less attractive place to hang out – please consider putting the wall back up on the windward side.
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The Wall is back up!!!!
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Done.
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How about the Borg gifts the city with misting or swamp coolers in center camp so people without RVs don’t get heat stroke? The city has been getting hotter, and we always come prepared to try to deal with it – but If you’re looking for something useful to do with center camp that will actually have an impact, this is it.
Oh, wait. I forgot. It’s only “gift to the community” when the Borg wants something. Otherwise it’s “radical self reliance”. Convenient.
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Thank you for sharing a photo of Bill Cass and his friendly dragon, Copper!
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Speaking Friday at 2PM. A fun philosophical jaunt called The Solarian Myth.
Maybe I will bring some iced chai to gift?
See you there for the discussion about love, intellect and how maybe it is a fiction that can help build a sustainable humanity in this beautiful solar system!
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Magnificent. See you there <3
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Without coffee all you’ll hear at Center Camp is the crickets singing.
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I’m confused. The form for center camp art looks similar but slightly different to the one under https://burningman.org/event/participate/art-performance/creating-center-camp-art/ … Which one is the right one? Or are the activation bays additionally to the already existing art space in center camp?
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If you are bringing art, fill out the art form. If you are bringing something other than art, fill out the form linked in this Journal post.
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Center camp without coffee. Maybe the coffee temple without sacrament. Such a loss.
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In 2022, Center Camp was like a dead zone in the ocean. You took away the drinks and almost nobody went. Want to make Center Camp vibrant again, bring back the drinks.
[and don’t absolve yourselves of this disaster by guilting us into doing it]
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Everyone misses Center Camp Coffee. Especially the people trying to host things in the space, who thrived on the foot traffic. Without coffee, it’s just a tent without enough content. We are best when we fail fast and become better for it. Good luck.
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C’mon org. It’s not too late to bring the coffee back. It’s what most people want and would make a lot of folks very happy.
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This will be my 25th Burn and Center Camp has been an integral part of my experience there beginning with the 1997 Canter Camp of hay bales under a small wooden structure. Coffee was an integral part of Center Camp because it replicated a café in the sense that folks gathered around a cup of something and waxed philosophically over it. As Center Camp grew into the behemoth we now now, maybe it got more costly and complicated to dish out all kinds of libation options. If that was the reason for nixing the Cafe, why not just serve hot or iced brewed coffee, hot water for teas and maybe a hot chai. That’s it. No espresso drinks. Easy, simple, faster lines, and folks can still sit around a cup and share stories and watch the shows. Oh, and yeah, the big windbreak on the western side sure made it nice to be out of the wind.
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Desperately begging people to come and do interesting things at Center Camp and hope to attract people now that the coffee is gone. Please, get over it. People aren’t going to show up to see whatever cool thing people bring. That’s not the way the event works.
Begging people to come provide coffee? Sure, I bet some camps could come by and provide coffee for a couple hundred people before their resources are exhausted. That would last what, an hour? 30 minutes?
Though I was a bit younger, Larry Harvey and I were informed by the same cafe culture scene. A cafe was a common ground, wheee everyone could come and meet, hang out, talk and make friends. Having a big space and saying “Hey, there’s art, come and hang out” does not fulfill the same function, at all. It just doesn’t – it’s like the city teen rec centers that had couches and pool tables and ping pong but no one went to anyway.
Hanging out with a cup of coffee or whatever is a completely different experience than hanging out with nothing in your hands. I don’t want to write a psychological dissertation as to why that is, it just is, you all know it’s true.
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A cup of coffee in hand…
“Don’t get philosophical, it’s just the way it is.”
– KellY
Absofuckinglutely.
Get a clue, BMORG. Simple, regular coffee. Iced or hot.
It’s not rocket science.
It’s our culture.
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I have a wildly mad idea of trying to arrange and gather as many people in BRC as possible for a group photo. The idea would to be to take a panoramic photo but also have a drone take video of the mass gathering. Center camp sounds like the best place for the gathering to happen.
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Center camp was a haven to get a break from the heat, the coffee and Chai was a godsend. It was also a great easy place to meet people waiting in line. BM has its own cliques and meeting people isn’t as easy for everyone. Last year the back wall was open, and it just sucked in the heat. It was empty and sad. Bring back coffee and chai.
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I agree it’s about the waiting on line, the chance to chat with your neighbors, exchange compliments or gifts. It’s absolutely about a moment of reliable caffeine my ADHD ass is dependent upon, a moment of quiet in the chaos.
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Bring back the coffee center camp is a vast wasteland without it
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Center Camp last year without coffee was like a failed theme camp. It wouldn’t even be placed this year.
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Miss the cafe. It had gotten too big – too elaborate – but a simpler version would work and be nice.
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I like it better without the coffee cafe
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Please bring back the cafe!
It’s the reason we gather there.
I’ve had many morning, afternoon, and late night special moments at the cafe.
And honestly the best dirty chai I’ve ever had!
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Cafe por favor…
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A link to Larry’s philosophical defense of coffee in center camp from this very publication:
https://journal.burningman.org/2013/11/philosophical-center/tenprinciples/commerce-community-distilling-philosophy-from-a-cup-of-coffee/
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Re: reinstatment of the Cafe… Hmmm, how much has BMorg reflected on the 20 or so comments so far advocating for the reinstatement of one of the cornerstones of the BM and BRC Culture? Would it influence change if 200, 2000 or maybe 20,000 Burners chimed in? How about respecting all who have posted; and instead of reinforcing whatever held beliefs there are for the elimination of the cafe, you envision what’s possible with having it. As someone posted: if it was strongly advocated for by one of the founders and we’ve experienced all of the good it has and can produce in the future (which includes honoring nearly all of the principles) , then find a way BMOrg.
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^^^^This 100 percent!!!
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Agreed!!
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It was always so nice to walk around and look at Center Camp art, and meet and greet fellow Burners with that nice hot cup of joe in hand. Center Camp Caffeine – . nothing quite like that in the world!
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What a waste of time building Center Camp without the Cafe. Last year it was a ghost town. It used to be my favorite hang out. I can’t figure out who thought this could possibly be a good idea. 2022 should have been a real eye opener about the importance of the Cafe. If it’s a money thing just simplify the menu.
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How many burners need to ask for the cage to come back to make it a reality? It seems a lot of people agree that this was one of the most communal and special elements of burning man. My favorite part of each day for sure: so nice to just get an iced drink at any hour and chat with fellow burners at center camp. Especially with babies/children.
Definitely some of the magic is lost without it which is why so many people are requesting it. Please, please bring it back! I personally don’t find much reason to go to center camp without it.
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