FROM: Star Ship Center Camp
TO: All Time-Traveling Creators of Black Rock City
MISSION: The Many Worlds’ Fair of Tomorrow Today
Calling all Citizens of Black Rock City!
The stardust has barely settled from our 2024 mission, and still the cosmic compass points ever forward. After years adrift in the dust, Center Camp reignited in spectacular fashion last year. The Canopy, once ghosted by time, shimmered again with strange delights, performances, and the unmistakable hum of human connection. Not only were there crowds, but the post-event survey and social threads were bursting with approval and accolades.
In post-Burn surveys, some 2,580 brave explorers rated Center Camp on a scale from “space junk” (1) to “Supernova” (5). The result? An average of 4 out of 5. This is an orbit of joy that Center Camp hasn’t enjoyed in many years, and it signifies a cultural revitalization occurring in the very heart of our beloved celestial City. Our social media signals confirmed it: where once there were murmurs of “meh,” now echoes of “MAGIC!” bounce around every comment thread. We did that. Together.
And now, comrades of creativity and captains of chaos, let’s notch the belt and chart a new course to 2025 — and beyond.
MISSION 2025: Black Rock City’s Many Worlds’ Fair
This year, under the banner of Tomorrow Today, Center Camp embodies the thematic expression as a living exposition of multiversal possibility — an interdimensional gathering of inventors, performers, storytellers, zone-creators, and time-traveling mischief-makers — the theme: The Many Worlds’ Fair.
Picture it: pavilions pulsing with imagination, interactive installations colliding in collective play, inventions past and future bending time and space, and actual fountains of playa magic. From Victorian contraptions to lunar dance-offs, from robot apocalypse calamities to regenerative utopian solutions — Center Camp is where timelines tangle and realities remix.
Welcome to the City’s beating heart. Welcome to the Many Worlds’ Fair.
CALLING ALL CENTER CAMP GALACTIVATORS!
This is an official transmission you will want to pay attention to:
The Many Worlds’ Fair needs you. Yes, you with the sonic silver top hat. You, with the interstellar kazoo. You, with the plan to teach robots how to do macramé. You, with your cohort of weirdos… prepare to WIN Burning Man.
Whether you’re a wandering performer, a camp looking to co-host a plaza-wide event, a rogue crafter with an experimental device, or someone with a compelling story to tell, Center Camp is ready for your weird, your wonderful, your wholly improbable.
We’re seeking:
- Engaging installations
- Workshops & maker stations
- Performance art & interactive theater
- Pop-up bars and gifting stations
- Shenanigans, games, and quest participation
- Original musical moments & dance parties
- Whole canopy takeovers
- And spontaneous sh*t that defies categorization
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS YEAR’S STAR MAP:
The Neighborhood
From Esplanade to C, between 5:30 and 6:30, a buzzing ring of camps will co-create the vibe, forming a unified community dedicated to daily wonder and nightly revelry. Scavenger hunts and serendipity games will form a web of unseen magic tying the neighborhood together in a wormhole of playa magic. Block parties? Yes, please. Conspiracies of joy? Naturally.
The Canopy: A Grand Exposition of Multiversal Possibility
Under the Canopy: Prepare for themed mischief, immersive storytelling, roaming performers, zany theatrics, comedy, circus, and crafternoon invention laboratory sessions. The Canopy will evolve from a perennial crossroads to a galactic center where travelers from all places and all times are invited to mix, mingle, and dream together.
The Flame Keepers
The Conclave returns! Fire performers from all over the globe will light up the keyhole with pyrokinetic majesty. Like moths to a flame, we invite you to gather around and be warmed from the inside out.
Storytelling Through the Ages
Our programming arc will unfold like a play through time:
- Exhibits by day, spectacular performances, and themed takeovers by night
- Tales told with authenticity on stage and in constellations of conversations, both facilitated and free-form
- A Magic Fountain tapped into the wellspring of serendipity flowing forth from the City’s pulsing heart
- A Time Capsule designed to allow playa present to gift playa future with memories and heirlooms of adventure
- Much more magic, as yet unknown
Canopy Interactive Zones
- Center Stage – original music, theatrical shows, hilarious comedy, savvy speakers
- Innovation Stations – for crafting, inventing, innovating, and conjuring
- The Temporal Gallery – timelines converge and visions of past, present, and future ignite inspiration and imagination
- The Discovery Commons – the Oculus where dance, movement, aerial, and connection reign
- The Grand Central Bar – for tasty treats and creative libations
Activation Schedule Includes:
Dawn Patrol – Wake-up with other weary wanderers via movement and meaning-making
Shady Acres – Crafternoons, speaker series and refreshments to take the edge off
Sunset Soirées – Dance, drink, and dazzle through the golden hours
Weirding Hours – Laughs and lunacy light up the night
Power Down – Lo-fi, snuggly soft-glow lullabies for night’s end, and warmth for the weary
Mutant Vehicle Docking Station
Returning and expanded: an official docking space for interactive art cars offering dynamic and fun activations or pick up opportunities for folks looking for a mutant vehicle playa voyage. From mobile tea parties to roaming museums to clown cars full of misfits — expect the unexpected.
This is your next big adventure, citizen of Black Rock City.
Plot your coordinates. Dust off your gear. Attune your flux capacitors and prepare to land at the crossroads of space and time — the Center Camp Many Worlds’ Fair of 2025.
The exhibition of multiversal possibility is calling. Will you answer?
Ready to share your concept? Fill out this form!
– END LOG –
Cover image of the Black Rock Philharmonic playing in Center Camp, 2024 (Photo by Frank Roberto)
I want to do a spiritual yoga workshop. And then do poetry readings and then a drum circle. And finish with empowerment affirmations.
Report comment
Feel free to fill out the form here: https://bit.ly/43mhLiJ
Report comment
Sounds amazing! I’d come to that. There is so much great spiritual poetry out there.
Report comment
I talked with my camp bros about this and we’re going to do ‘Hugs For Free’ tutorial sessions, and body painting combined with deep healing massage with tantric poetry.
Report comment
I would like to apply. I run a workshop in San Francisco where we teach how to center ourselves and elevate the ego. We strive to bring participants in-touch with the importance of the self and to self-focus through external validation methods, and to achieve supreme levels of confidence.
Report comment
That’s very good – training people to be self-centered and egotistical combined with inflated self-confidence, while seeking the validation of others.
Report comment
I had a great time at center camp. I went back multiple times and kept bringing friends.
I am currently staring at my “Center Camp Is Lit!” sticker on my water bottle.
Let’s do it again!
Report comment
Thanks, Breej. I like to think that in my own humble way I was able to contribute something to the renaissance of Center Camp last year, and was frankly astonished at how spectacular the whole thing was. I hope you can come back again this year.
Report comment