The big deal about Burning Man used to be going to Burning Man. Packing everything you'll need to live in, let alone build, a city in a harsh desert for more than a week is no easy task. Then there's the heat, the cold, the wind, and the dust to contend with. But on the other hand, there are the costumes, the art, the sheer natural beauty, the parties, and most of all, the sense of community to look forward to. People have referred to Burning Man as everything from "summer camp for grown ups" to the "world's most unique and visually spectacular cultural event."

But it's really so much more. It's a year round lifestyle that is impacting communities around the world. Still shrouded in mystery for many, this wild week in the desert has given birth to cultural movements, arts celebrations, humanitarian organizations, and more than a few businesses. What you don't know about Burning Man may be helping you.

For almost 20 years, people from around the world have made the pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada to create, participate in, and revel in an artistic experiment in temporary community. Reaching a population of almost 50,000 people in 2008, Black Rock City - the transient town that Burning Man constructs - is, for a few days, Nevada's third largest city. Famous for its perceived extravagant excess of parties and debauchery, Burning Man was started by a small core of countercultural iconoclasts at San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986. The festival, having outgrown its urban birthplace, took up residence in the Black Rock Desert for the first time in 1991.

By 1997, the size and scope of the festival demanded some serious organization and rules if it was going to survive both the scrutiny of government agencies (the festival takes place on federal land) and the perils to its own integrity. The founders did not want Burning Man to turn into a giant frat-party, so rules were needed to protect the artistic intent without limiting the free - and often quite wild - personal expression that was such a vital part of the ethos of the festival. The principles of Immediacy, Self-Reliance, Gifting, Leave No Trace, Radical Inclusion, and Radical Expression were developed as the core values for both the Burning Man Organization (BMOrg) and the tens of thousands of participants each year. These values are the true magic of the festival, and they have taken hold across the country - ignited by Burning Man, but kept aglow by the "Burners" amongst us.

This is not just a big party. It is a spontaneous city that arises from and returns to the dust, without leaving a trace. With almost 50,000 people, a working infrastructure of laws and safety agencies, roads, and even government, it is larger than many American towns. And it is fully self-sufficient because it is a community of people who work together to support a shared vision of sustainability.

For us - like an increasing number of Burners - our hobbies, community service, friends and sometimes even our jobs and families, are deeply rooted in Burning Man culture. Instead of just coming together to create temporary projects for the desert, we now focus on building and maintaining businesses and communities based on the principles of Burning Man. No longer satisfied with a temporary annual experience, Burners are embracing the values and relationships experienced at the festival in a permanent way, in the real world, year round. This is Burning Man's "Next Big Thing." Its evolution.
Here, via excerpts from our calendars, is a snapshot of the life of a year-round Burner.

MARCH 6, 2009
"Back from a great Regional Leaders Summit at Burning Man HQ..."
In March of 2009 we attended a summit of the Burning Man regional contacts at the Burning Man Headquarters in San Francisco. The summit was started three years ago as a way to gather together all of the Burning Man appointed Regional Contacts, whose job is to provide local information and assistance to people who have questions about attending the festival, or about getting more involved with the Burner community locally. The rapid proliferation of independent regional organizations based on the Burning Man ethos - though not legally affiliated with the BMOrg - necessitated a meeting of the minds.
These organizations, once few and far between, are now becoming the structure behind local Burner community development. They work on a variety of missions, from community service to arts funding, business networking to credit unions. Burners are bringing the spirit of Burning Man to personal ventures that are as diverse as the participants themselves.

To do this, organizations began forming, with and without the blessing of the BMOrg. Instead of regional communities asking BMOrg for permission to create Burning Man inspired culture, they were simply doing it. Ownership of the experience had become decentralized, and was rapidly moving into a locally driven paradigm shift - a grassroots, and typically iconoclastic, movement had taken place. And it has taken some interesting forms:

Burners Without Borders: Originally formed in 2005, as a response to Hurricane Katrina, Burners Without Borders is now a thriving international aid organization that helps people coalesce around causes that matter to them, and volunteer in a meaningful way to help others in times of need.
BlackRock Solar: Although it started as a project to power Black Rock City using solar power, Black Rock Solar now works with communities to install and use renewable energy, like solar. They approach it as a community-building project, getting people involved in assessing needs as well as installation and use of solar energy.
Biznik: Biznik is a great example of Burners creating a business and community in the "real world." Created by Burners, Biznik started in Seattle as an email thread dedicated to bitching about lousy jobs. Biznik is now a thriving business networking organization linking professionals and businesses around the world, the majority of whom do not identify as Burners, but feel connected with the Burner concepts of collaboration, honesty, and participation.

April 15, 2009
"Producer chosen and contracts signed for Critical Massive. Best regional event evarr. (hopefully)..."
Obviously, Burning Man is a great party, and people want to re-create a lot of that magic. Burners, driven to continue their experience, tend to do that by imitating their experience of Burning Man - fire performers, DJ's, burlesque, costumes, big art, etc. Critical Massive, a volunteer event that benefits Ignition Northwest, is just such an event for the Seattle Burner community, with hundreds of people camping and Burning in the early summer. While the increased scope of these regional Burns certainly helps create stronger, more creative local communities, the cumulative effect of these happenings goes much deeper. Overseeing the production of an event like Critical Massive, demands a level of professionalism in interacting with city government, insurance agencies, the fire department, and the police. It reinforces the need to work with people in a manner that is respectful, productive and based on the principles of Burning Man - and it is exactly what is needed to be successful and productive members of what some would deem "normal society."

There are at least 30 regional Burns that we know of, and probably a bunch that we don't. Simply put, you can burn when and where you want, you won't be alone. Oh, and Burners are all around you, we're everywhere!

JUNE 13, 2009
Drove Stuart to the airport. Lucky SOB is on his way to the Figment Project in NYC.
With these skills, community organizers across the world are bringing the Burning Man ethos to many areas of their lives. In their most altruistic incarnation however, these events are not "by Burners, for Burners," but designed to give back to the general community.

Burners and Burner Culture are never too distant from artistic expression.

The Burning Man Festival may well be the largest arts festival on the planet, and this is big art, not cute pictures of fairies painted on coffee cans. Take, for example, the amazing sculpture, "Big Rig Jig" that was one of the most talked about sculptures of the 2007 festival. The piece, by Mike Ross, took two semi-trucks, twisted them around each other, and created a four-story high structure with room for people to climb inside of them. Huge and expensive, it was Ross' statement about our unsustainable environmental practices.

Among the many people impressed by this piece of art at the Festival was Barbara Luecke, a public-art administrator in Seattle who saw the piece and later contacted Ross to submit a proposal for a large-scale sculpture at a train station in Seattle. That station is expected to open in 2016, and will feature a custom piece by Ross.

This is not atypical of the incredible art at Burning Man, nor is it atypical of how Burners approach public art. Burners see the creation of public art as a tool for community growth, as well as an engine driving positive social change. That change takes many forms.

Figment: In the summer of 2007, on the 172-acre Governor's Island - a decommissioned military base in the New York harbor - Figment emerged. It was created by a small group of NYC Burners as a way to combine the Burning Man culture and the bursting New York arts scene to produce a free, all-inclusive participatory arts festival for one weekend a year. 2,600 attended the first Figment, and participation jumped to 10,000 in 2008.

The Burien Interim Arts Space: Founded and supported largely by Burners, the B/IAS is displaying the first major temporary art piece ever in the city of Burien, Washington (just outside of Seattle). "The Passage," a sculpture depicting a mother and child walking together, was first created for Burning Man 2005. This exciting space not only showcases art, it is a gathering place for Burien's citizens. B/IAS is a working canvas being transformed by the efforts of both artists and the community throughout the year.

JULY 28, 2009
Meeting with Ignition Northwest Board re: extending funding for public art space.
The growth of Burning Man as a cultural meme runs parallel to the relative age and success of the majority of its participants. People who first encountered the festival in their late teens and early twenties are now teetering on the precipice of middle-age. They have children and marriages, mortgages and careers, to say nothing of their collective money and influence.

These people do not see their material success in opposition to their Burner ideals, more as a vehicle to spread them. Take, for instance the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF), a nonprofit formed by the Burning Man organization to support and promote community-based interactive art and civic participation. A quick perusal of the BRAF Advisory Board reveals a collection of men and women who are leaders in their fields. Executives and directors from Pixar, Morgan-Stanley, and MoveOn.org actively participate in increasing the effectiveness and reach of BRAF. Just because someone dresses up in furry shorts with a musketeer hat, doesn't mean they don't posses money and the cognitive tools to decide what to do with it.

There are direct cultural results of this increase in Burner age, wealth and influence. For instance, every year the New York Times Arts section covers the art and identity of the festival for the entire week. Companies such as Microsoft, Google and Daewoo work with Burning Man organizations on both artistic and humanitarian projects.

AUGUST 11, 2009
This is my vacation? Next year, going to a resort. This time I mean it.
Worked all day at shop, got sunburn from welder on inside of elbows. Later, need to vacuum seal 15 gallons of chicken tikka masala and freeze for BM.For all Burners, the preparation for The Burn is something that takes months of planning. For those of us who go as members of Theme Camps and produce large-scale art, it is pretty much a second job. Besides our work with BRAF and Ignition Northwest, we are members of a group called Iron Monkeys that produces huge metal sculptures for Burning Man. We spend more time and money than we care to count, but it's worth it. This preparation and process is every bit as important as the festival itself.

For those involved in Burner culture year round, there is a temptation to discount - maybe even skip - the festival itself. It is, after all, a tremendous expenditure of time, energy and money that, by definition, leaves no permanent trace - we have the culture, what do we need the festival for? Many of us swear that this is our last Burn (and for most of us, it's an idle threat.)

But Burning Man, the festival, has changed. It isn't what it was in 1988 or 1998. Broader awareness of Burning Man has resulted in a huge influx of people who never would have known about it even three years ago. The increase in the number of "tourists," while not taming the nature of the festival, has somewhat diluted the spiritual and participatory aspects of The Burn. It's something that a lot of people complain about. But this is Burning Man, even the most cynical, beer-soaked, breast-obsessed frat boy is as capable of having life altering experiences just like a NoCal reiki worker wearing fairy wings who considers herself a "real Burner." One of the strengths of the festival has been its willingness and ability to embrace new movements - and any kind of person. The inherently organic nature of such "Radical Inclusion" is unsettling to many, but the results are, literally, evolutionary. It is what allows Burning Man to spread.

There is no "right" way to be a Burner. If the Burning Man Festival has experienced a dilution in its impact and stature, the Burning Man Culture is bigger and stronger than ever. The combination of Burner ideals with effective business and organizational structure is having a concrete impact on communities all over the world. Just as Burning Man fundamentally changes individuals, individual Burners, working together, are changing their world.

Now, seriously, we need to go pack. (Next year, we're taking a vacation that isn't so exhausting.) (No we're not.)