Black Rock City teams are now accepting contributors from all walks of life. Whether you’re new or looking for a fresh twist on your Burn, joining a crew is an amazing path for cultivating meaningful connections. To begin, create a Burner Profile, and fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire!
Read on to meet members of Gate, Perimeter, and Exodus (GPE), and Emergency Services Department (ESD), and learn how participation has enriched their lives in Black Rock City and beyond. Both teams are ideal for Burners with some experience. GPE requires no specialized knowledge; ESD asks for a professional certification such as EMS or fire. New to Black Rock City? There’s a team for all skill and experience levels; browse the volunteer page to explore them all.
It takes a special kind of person to speed-flirt in traffic and de-escalate hot and tired participants in all manner of interesting circumstances.
At least, that’s what Sarah Fowler thought the first year she joined the Gate, Perimeter, and Exodus (GPE) team in 2011. GPE is the first team to greet Black Rock citizens when they arrive. They manage traffic flow on Gate road, check tickets and vehicles, and also help participants exit the city when dusty adventures come to an end.
An introvert by nature, Sarah remembers feeling a tad intimidated by her new teammates and the number of people they needed to usher into Black Rock City. The third-year Burner also lacked a theme camp or crew, so had not yet found a place to call her own on playa.
The GPE team’s close-knit community and training gave Sarah a sense of purpose and community — so did the crew’s camaraderie and playful attitude.
“My first shift, I was nervous, and I didn’t really feel like I belonged yet. But they paired me with somebody who showed me the ropes, which gave me the confidence to know what I was doing,” says Sarah, who was also quickly enticed out of her shell.
“Our team talks to every single person who comes into the city. There’s an art to getting them ready with their tickets, answering questions, talking to them quickly, and still making it fun — what one of our managers calls speed flirting.”
Playa magic arises through the collective effervescence of participants co-creating their experience together — and it resonates beyond the event. Jumping in and getting involved has a way of changing how we engage; we become active participants in our lives, our communities, and the world.
The Art and Heart of Gate
Each year, approximately 650 people contribute to the GPE team, facilitating the entry and exit of more than 70,000 people and managing the city’s boundaries throughout its temporary existence.
There’s an art to engaging with people who are sometimes at their worst: tired, impatient to get into the city, or sprung trying to stow away in all manners of hidey-holes.
“There are always interesting problems to solve at the Gate,” says Sarah. “What impressed me most was the creative ways the managers solved them, and the way they calmly talked people through solutions and de-escalated situations.”
Inclusivity training and a strong emphasis on team acculturation foster a deep sense of community among GPE crew members — and that sense of belonging goes beyond the shift.
Sarah says being part of GPE not only gave her a sense of belonging to a team, but it also made her feel part of the city. “Being a volunteer gave me the sense of being a part of something bigger than I was. I’m helping to run the city, and that, to me, was the cool part.”
A decade of contributing to GPE has helped her grow as a person, too. “Gate is the place where I learned to have difficult conversations, and to give and receive feedback. It has made me a more inclusive person in my everyday life, and it’s made me more confident in having those hard conversations.”
“You may not like everybody, but you have to have their back. To them, it’s family, and now it’s become part of my family.”
There are roles for every level of commitment. Sign up for a four-hour shift during opening weekend, or go deeper and become part of the week-long crew. To join Gate, create a Burner Profile and fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire. Select Gate, Perimeter & Exodus from the list of Black Rock City teams. Learn more about GPE here.
Falling Back in Love
As a committed member of the Emergency Services Department (ESD), John Venditti says he feels part of something much bigger — what he calls “radical collective care.” Gifting his time also rekindled his love for Black Rock City, which he first made his annual home in 2011.
As with any city, Black Rock City has departments dedicated to keeping citizens safe with fire, medical, crisis intervention, and other services. Many ESD crew members are professionals in their day-to-day lives who gift their valuable skills before, during, or after the event; its 600 dedicated doers come from a wide range of professions and support every stage of the city’s life cycle.
After eight years of running theme camps, John’s enthusiasm for burning began to wane. A conversation with a nurse campmate encouraged him to contribute his time and medical know-how to ESD in 2021.
“It was like a light under my ass,” says John, a cardiac anesthesiologist. “It rekindled my love for the Burn, and I started going back with the same intensity, excitement, and enjoyment.”
Radical Collective Care
The shift in perspective ran deeper than renewed enthusiasm. On his very first medic shift, a young woman was brought in having been found alone and in need of help in the middle of the playa — the kind of person who, in any other city, people may have walked past.
The experience changed his lens on BRC.
“At first, I thought everybody goes out there, does their own thing, and takes care of themselves,” Venditti says. “But then I realized that this Radical Self-reliance is backed by radical collective care, and that spoke volumes to me. It was one of the reasons I wanted to continue, because it felt extremely special to be part of something like that.”
John’s ESD love affair continues to this day, while his burn life has entered a new chapter. Once a lover of playa parties and big sound stages, he now spends a large amount of his Burn contributing in a wide variety of medical roles.
“Volunteering for ESD has kind of brought me into the heart and art of Burning Man, which I know sounds corny. But I feel like I started appreciating more of the little things.”
“I feel like now when I’m there, I have a purpose.”
Black Rock City wants YOU… to have a fulfilling, participatory experience helping the city thrive. Whatever your skills or interests, there is a role that will help you shine. Read about the various teams on our Volunteer page, create your Burner Profile, and fill out the Volunteer Questionnaire to help the rocket go in Black Rock City 2026!
Cover photo: GPE crew members relax Marc ‘Derailleur’ Bell
