MONEY - a tricky subjsct

[some seeing eye]

I had a chance to speak with some burners last evening.

On some of our minds is money and wealth.

What would happen of a wealthy individual dropped a large sum on the event, no strings? How would ePlayans direct money at the event enduring? How would we advise them ongoing?

EPlayans are smart. Discuss.

[Elderberry]

Art Grants.

[ygmir]

you may be foretelling the future here......I felt, and still feel, the event is heading for some sort of "corporate takeover", wherein there will be some sort of large infusion of money, and some (perhaps very subtle) endorsements.

That said, I think JK hits it. The only real thing about BRC, is the art. And I don't mean high end DJ's. everything else seems pretty well oiled, as far as infrastructure goes.

Although, as I type, I could see a huge benefit to improving (there are a number of methods) an alternate route for ingress and egress, ala Jungo or a similar route.

[VultureChow]

Depends on the sum.

Low millions? Art Grants, endowment, perhaps more global events.

High millions? Purchase of land to relocate event.

[Simon of the Playa]

buy fly.

turn it into a year round sculpture garden and center for the arts including artists in residence, classes, year round community oriented living and of course, a venue for the big event on private land that happens to be adjacent to our beloved playa.

its totally selfish, i wanna retire to a burner community, and get old with you fuck nuts.

[GreyCoyote]

High thousands? Then I vote we issue weed blowers to everyone camped near a commodity camp.

[The Rod]

Mutant Vehicle grants.




Seriously. Everyone always complains about rich douche-bags acting like douche-bags in their exclusive, multi-tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousand dollar party barges. Why? Because only rich douchebags* can afford to build and maintain the damn things.

You want to see MV's being used the 'mass transit' for BRC (as intended)? How about if building and owning them was more accessible to ordinary (read: broke) artists and burners?



It's taking me years to scrounge up a small fortune enough to even think about bringing my MV concept to life.




*Not all douche-bags are rich, and not all rich people are douche-bags. And not all art car owners are rich douche-bags.

[Canoe]

... Although, as I type, I could see a huge benefit to improving (there are a number of methods) an alternate route for ingress and egress, ala Jungo or a similar route.

If it was a little used path, like Jungo, it has to be upgraded enough for the idiots who will drive it (or toll-booth giving an IQ and fitness test...) to survive the drive without taking anyone else out with them. And it's not just building it, but the upkeep. A lot more than sending a grader down it both directions along with a crew to dump shovels of gravel where needed.
I've not come in from the North. I have no idea what the situation is there.

I'm not seeing a viable alternate route, nor one that would meaningfully reduce load on the main highway.

If there were enough $ to do something for roads, I'd look at improving the road up from Fernley. Locals get to use the improvements year round too.

[Canoe]

With the larger footprint and larger numbers, what could be used is more Yellow Bikes.
Should be a reasonable cost too.

I'd like to see some serious funding for causes like Bureau of Erotic Discourse.
Specifically, I'd like to see some Safe Zone camps distributed throughout BRC. A reliable place where those of us who find someone UI and at risk could take them where there are screened individuals (BED Rangers?) who would provide a safe place for them until such time as they can care for themselves. A logical starting point would be Centre Camp and the two outlying 'civic centers' near the med outposts.
I could see "BED Rangers" patrolling the fringes of the sound camps at night, catching those at risk before the guys with the "room for only one more" art-cars find them.

[Aurelia]

Thank you for the thread !
I absolutely believe it is a serious time ..maybe it has been before
And it is the first time that I do not completely agree with Ygmir

When I am working on playa and communicating with persons of every generation , gender, country of origin, economic level...
I am often asked by a serious person to help them understand why they have gone to such extremes to be there.
"What is this for ? "
I this year began to answer ,"For YOU ! "

Yes of course art
but really MORE
and yeah I am an original and I never did exactly know why until now
Burning Man is needed as a transcending force

xoA.

[DrYes]

It's so obvious: That money should be spent to improve the Burning Man FAQs around getting free tickets as a volunteer. Duh.

[Elderberry]

It's so obvious: That money should be spent to improve the Burning Man FAQs around getting free tickets as a volunteer. Duh.

OK, was this whole thread just a set-up for you to be able to deliver this line?

[Dr Helix]

Maybe this is just pie-in-the-sky. but if you want to help artists, help them with something that protects them; insurance. As in liability insurance during the event. Hell, throw in MV's as well. In many ways they have even greater exposure than the placed art folks.

[BeeWeeDee]

Payoff more to the BLM to allow unlimited ticket sales and no limit on city size.

[Dr. Pyro]

I think both of the past two suggestions are worthy of consideration. Now all we need is somebody to throw a bajillion dollars at Larry & Co.

[Molotov]

Purchase Jungo Road and make it into a privately owned tollway with improvements.

[ygmir]

Payoff more to the BLM to allow unlimited ticket sales and no limit on city size.

the city size, is predominately limited by the NDOT and NHP, related to emergency evacuations, as I understand it.

[DrYes]

It's so obvious: That money should be spent to improve the Burning Man FAQs around getting free tickets as a volunteer. Duh.

OK, was this whole thread just a set-up for you to be able to deliver this line?

No, but on seeing the thread it sure felt like it!

[The Rod]

I also think that providing or facilitating access to liability insurance for art cars, projects and camps is definitely worth consideration in the context of large amounts of directed, donated funds within the BM community.


Theoretically speaking, if some individual dropped a large amount, no strings, I would be highly supportive of a body independent of the BMORG to manage the donation and decide where it goes. Some other cadre of "curators" to compete with the status quo... Quite frankly I do not think I would trust the official leadership with directing the cash flow to where it really could have some meaningful positive impacts on the event and community.

[BBadger]

That depends on the size of the "large" sum. The problem with having really large chunks of money, like self-sustaining, ivy-league-school-endowment-class funding, is that it makes the event and organization a target of lawsuits, greedy governments and law enforcement, and hucksters wanting to cash in. The money would also need to be placed under some sort of trust or endowment or something so that it can't just be siphoned away into private hands.

Probably the one thing I'd want out of some large sum of money is some way to not limit the number of tickets sold. I think that's been the cause of the majority of grief surrounding PnP camps, scalping, class warfare, etc. I certainly wouldn't make the tickets free or anything else easier (except maybe more lanes on the roads). It would just be nice to return to the pre-sellout days where people weren't so concerned about finding a ticket at all or buying from a scalper.

If that weren't possible, or the amount of money were relatively small (one-year event revenue), I'd probably keep it for maintaining the ticket prices constant for a while, and the rest would go towards infrastructure and art grants. I wouldn't want too much going to art grants, because I think there's something to be said about people performing their own fundraising rather than expecting grants.

[chiefdanfox]

I also think that providing or facilitating access to liability insurance for art cars, projects and camps is definitely worth consideration in the context of large amounts of directed, donated funds within the BM community.

The larger problem here is how to underwrite and assess the risks without placing pretty restrictive constraints on projects. It would be pretty easy to prove negligence and possibly moral risk (dishonesty) of an artist / project in the event of an injury or worse, whether or not it was the fault of the 'drunk' fool who nose-dived off of / in front of / into a project/art car/ camp platform / Thunderdome fight, you get the picture. I think what you wind up with is double-decker buses with no trailers, and interactive but not climbable art. I think as soon as there is a deep pocket (as apposed to starving artists), there would be an uptick in claims filed. The place is one giant attractive nuisance, and a wrap insurance policy would render it very Coachelaesque: No climbing on stuff, nothing left unattended, everything with fencing, signs and warnings. This is a tough problem, and one that certainly gives me pause (the lack of insurance available) about any future intentions I may have. A trust fund of $2M is probably what is needed, and that fund indemnifies the artists. That would add ~$35-40 to all the actual purchased tickets. There is a huge pucker factor bringing out climbable art. The org won't help with the insurance, because to do so, they would essentially render it un-climbable or passenger-free.

[some seeing eye]

I'm all for more artists and less festival raver bad behavior - you can search my ports for raver bad behavior on that.

A bulk liability insurance referral by the BMORG, with discounts based on volume, would not pull BMORG into more liability. Some have criticized the complex corporate structure of BM. Preserving assets from lawsuits is a reason to do that. I'm believe if you are injured and killed by bad judgement at the event, look elsewhere than BM for responsibility.

I think BM should select a handful of international MFA-granting colleges for a competitive ticket and small art project grant program, say 50 grants of a ticket and documented materials budget of $1-2K. They could use crowdfunding or personal funding to round out transportation and expenses, with a date certain to accept the grant or decline.

It is pretty amazing what young artists can do with small amounts of money! And engaging young artists helps Burning Man.

[CyanEssence]

Specifically, I'd like to see some Safe Zone camps distributed throughout BRC. A reliable place where those of us who find someone UI and at risk could take them where there are screened individuals (BED Rangers?) who would provide a safe place for them until such time as they can care for themselves.

This is a great idea. I saw a need for this during the 2015 event. I want to avoid details, but some participants could no longer use their own lodgings, and needed a place to crash. Zendo ended up being the help, but they were not the ideal for this specific type of situation (it's not that easy to sleep when people are talking thru their emotional crisis right next to you).

[Aurelia]

Rangers always have done this.
There is a place called sanctuary

However I think there could be a great new service to establish a site for newbies to gather
I would like to volunteer there
Many persons from other countries struggle to acclimate to the rythym of the event

xoA,

[ygmir]

Specifically, I'd like to see some Safe Zone camps distributed throughout BRC. A reliable place where those of us who find someone UI and at risk could take them where there are screened individuals (BED Rangers?) who would provide a safe place for them until such time as they can care for themselves.

This is a great idea. I saw a need for this during the 2015 event. I want to avoid details, but some participants could no longer use their own lodgings, and needed a place to crash. Zendo ended up being the help, but they were not the ideal for this specific type of situation (it's not that easy to sleep when people are talking thru their emotional crisis right next to you).

and the Do-Ocracy door slowly creaks open, with opportunity for self reliance.

[Elderberry]

Rangers always have done this.
There is a place called sanctuary

However I think there could be a great new service to establish a site for newbies to gather
I would like to volunteer there
Many persons from other countries struggle to acclimate to the rythym of the event

xoA,

Yup, they even have a name.

Sanctuary / Green Dots
Green Dots are Rangers who help participants through situations that have a strong emotional, psychic, or internal component. Green Dots are first and foremost patient listeners who seek to hold space for participants undergoing inner transformation or experiencing internal distress.

[DoubleOh]

you may be foretelling the future here......I felt, and still feel, the event is heading for some sort of "corporate takeover", wherein there will be some sort of large infusion of money, and some (perhaps very subtle) endorsements.

That said, I think JK hits it. The only real thing about BRC, is the art. And I don't mean high end DJ's. everything else seems pretty well oiled, as far as infrastructure goes.

Although, as I type, I could see a huge benefit to improving (there are a number of methods) an alternate route for ingress and egress, ala Jungo or a similar route.

You can't have a corporate takeover of a non-profit.

[some seeing eye]

Specifically, I'd like to see some Safe Zone camps distributed throughout BRC. A reliable place where those of us who find someone UI and at risk could take them where there are screened individuals (BED Rangers?) who would provide a safe place for them until such time as they can care for themselves.

This is a great idea. I saw a need for this during the 2015 event. I want to avoid details, but some participants could no longer use their own lodgings, and needed a place to crash. Zendo ended up being the help, but they were not the ideal for this specific type of situation (it's not that easy to sleep when people are talking thru their emotional crisis right next to you).

and the Do-Ocracy door slowly creaks open, with opportunity for self reliance.

One year we had a bus-based art car. We were out on the open playa, where we would stop to perform live music, which was danceable by the way. I noticed a lost individual, we struck up a conversation and I invited them on the bus. We sat a while and talked. Turns out she was a ?late teen who was seeking other lesbians but had been simply overwhelmed by the event and did not know how to find her tribe. We brought her back to the main city with some suggestions. Sometimes people just need someone to listen to them.

As for money, this was the intent in creating the non-profit. But there will be challenges ahead. Tax advantages accrue to corporations and individuals for donations to non-profits - that avoided tax has a specific dollar value. They can and will influence the event with their strings because corporations and individuals have egos and desire their fundage to have an impact.

[forty_eight]

Thunderdome brought to you by Hot Topic*


















* now actually brought to you by Hot Topic

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[some seeing eye]

http://blog.burningman.com/2015/11/pres ... ngagement/

"manage the fundraising team and related programs, including annual, major gift and capital campaign"

partly so they can http://blog.burningman.com/2015/11/pres ... ngagement/

and?