Fall Newsletter 2021
October 25, 2021
View the original formatting of this newsletter here
Hello Friend,
Snow is falling in Nevada after a second summer season of Burning Man without Black Rock City. As the seasons turn, we remain grateful to be on this planetary ride with you. After over 18 months of pandemic, our human brains have surpassed their ability to live in a state of emergency. If you, like many, are feeling like things are hard, please know that you are not alone.
In the past two years, BWB members have gathered (virtually, and even in person when safe), strengthened community, taken care of each other, and accomplished hundreds of projects, and learned so much, under challenging constraints. To all of the Burners who continue to show up with resilience, grit, and a bit of dark humor- we see you and salute you. To those who need some time to be quiet tend to themselves, and to everyone vacillating between the two, we see and salute you, as well.
We are looking towards 2022 with high hopes and deep appreciation for this community.We have some exciting news to share for those missing BRC (you might have seen it… maybe in a dream…). There are also some updates from Chapters, Working Groups and Projects below. We included a few tidbits from the summer newsletter, just in case you were out sunning (or skiing, hemisphere-dependent) and missed some good stuff.
We are inspired and energized by how Burners show up in the world. This is what we have all been preparing for all along: to have robust, resilient communities equipped with the skills for self-reliance and communal efforts.In Solidarity.
Thank you for being you.
Stay connected and let us know what you’re up to in the world. Join the BWB Volunteers Worldwide Group for regular updates, check out our Global Slack Workspace and consider donating to BWB. We are community-led and community supported.
Report Out: Burning Man’s 2022 Theme Announced!
Whether it’s a dream of artistic expression, a yearning to connect with others in a fractured society, or simply a desire to live a more meaningful and authentic life, Burning Man is the place where dreams can and do come true.
Read the full blog post and theme announcement in the Burning Man Journal. What is Black Rock City, and Burner culture around the world, if not a collective manifestation of the community’s dreams?
Report Out: 2021 Regional Network Forum Learnings and Resources
On June 5, 2021, community leaders gathered online for the Burning Man Regional Network Forum: Emerging, Wayfinding, Igniting. The forum re-connected Burning Man-inspired communities around the world, all of whom have felt the isolating impact of COVID-19.Discussions centered on creating inclusive, sustainable gatherings, spaces and projects. Molly Harpel, Portland Burners Without Borders Chapter Co-Lead and Patrick Noder, Burners Without Borders Sacramento Chapter Co-Lead led an excellent breakout session on how to kickstart civic initiatives. Videos and notes from all of the forum sessions are available through those links. Please share widely with your volunteers and Burner groups.
Happening Now: 2022 BRC Honoraria Grant Program Now Open!
Art for Burning Man 2022 is happening, and now’s your chance to be a part of it! The 2022 grant cycle is open. The first step is to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) via the Burner Profiles grant portal. LOIs will be accepted until November 16, 2021.Find out more and apply. (image: Taking Flight by Nicki Adani, photo by Julia Nelson Gal)
Upcoming: Honey Lounge
Join Burning Man Hive for the Honey Lounge, an open community space for sharing, learning, getting inspired, and cross-pollinating. Honey Lounge live streamed events are offered monthly. They consist of short presentations and small group conversations. Each presenter will have five minutes, and each event will feature three to six presentations each. So buckle up! The presentations are fun, fast, visual, and engaging.
If you’d like to present at the next Honey Lounge on November 17th 11am-12pm PT, please let us know here.
We’re looking forward to seeing you in the Honey Lounge. Learn more on Kindling.
BWB Regional Updates:
BWB Sacramento
An update from Burners Without Borders Sacramento and their partners California Dreamers, on supporting two schools in El Salvador:
“On behalf of California Dreamers and myself, I would like to formally thank every single person who helped organize, volunteered, and donated to the two schools in Perquin! Special thank you to Burners Without Borders, Connected By Our Humanity, and Sacramento Valley Spark for partnering with California Dreamers and helping this fundraiser!
I am so excited to announce that we were able to raise a total of $4,157.00!!
I am currently working with the Perquin community to distribute the funds. As this project moves forward, we will provide updates with pictures of the two schools and the many exciting changes to come! Thank you all so much!”- Doris Baccala
BWB NYC
The Burners Without Borders NYC Working Group hosted a Meet Up at the Burning Man Project/ Sotheby’s Boundless Space Exhibition and charitable auction.Promoting civic engagement, the Meet Up offered multiple ways to plug in, get involved, and share resources with other civic-minded Burners in the NYC area.Join the community group to stay up to date and connect.
BWB Galveston
#SeawallMuralProject’s recent painting touch up party was a great success for Burners Without Borders Galveston. Our touchup party hosted thirty-seven volunteers, and used seventeen gallons of paint!
We sealed our Seawall, our island’s storm surge protector & got to share this creation with the next generation of eco artists. We are so proud of this ongoing project & appreciate your continuous support.
Thank you to everyone who participated & donated supplies- this isn’t possible without you! 🔥✌🏼
BWB SecondLife
Burners Without Borders SecondLife came together and volunteered at the 2nd Annual SL Renaissance Festival initiative, which supports Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the largest network of breast cancer awareness events in the nation. Strides unites communities in the fight against this deadly disease.’
We also hosted a camp at Burn2 Burning Man Regional Octoburn “The Great Unknown”- Oct.8th to 17th! Our camp shares information and shows photos of what BWBSL has been up to all year! Everyone is welcome to join! Learn how to come to Burn2, and find Burners Without Borders SecondLife Camp year round.
GET INVOLVED/OPPORTUNITIES
[CORPUS CHRISTI] Burners Without Borders Fall Beach CleanupAnother season, another reason to clean!
Leave No Trace being our favorite principle, join Burners Without Borders Corpus Christi at Texas’ “Burner Beach”.
Masked, distanced event. Don’t forget gloves and sunscreen!
[REMOTE] Opportunity: Recipes for Resilience 2.0 Needs YOU to test recipes at home
February, many of you joined us to celebrate the launch of Pedacito de la Tierra (A Little Piece of Home). Alongside our friends at Alight, we created a documentary that captured the spirit and resiliency of families on their migration journey.
Through this project, we built an horno (mud/cob oven) alongside architect Ronald Rael that continues to provide sustainability and community at Casa de Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico. Since then, Pedacito de la Tierra has expanded into two additional migrants shelters in Tijuana and we’re cooking up a ‘Recipes for Resilience’ book that will share recipes and stories from each of these three shelters.Do you want to be a part of bringing Recipes for Resilience to life and sharing the incredible foods from communities on a migration journey? We need volunteers to test recipes at home. This is an important step in making sure we’ve accurately captured the recipe, and shared it in a way that translates to home cooking with our friends and family.We have started collecting some amazing recipes and we’re in need of recipe testers. That’s where you come in!If you’re interested in being a recipe tester, email Jilla at Alight – JillaN@wearealight.org
[WORLDWIDE] Land Art of the 21st Century book now available for pre-order
This isn’t our usual type of opportunity, but the creativity of Burning Man and the design innovation of the Land Art Generator have responded to the climate crisis with a catalog of radical experiments in post-carbon living. And we think that’s inspiring!
Set in the remote corner of Northern Nevada lies a magical stretch of land called Fly Ranch. With no access to the electrical grid or other public utilities, the site provides an opportunity to reinvent what human settlement can aspire to be in a world that has awakened to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources.Land Art of the 21st Century catalogs the responses to an invitation from the Land Art Generator and Burning Man Project to creatively design systems for energy, water, agriculture, shelter, and regeneration—a proof of concept for how to live in beauty and harmony with the earth. The results are a glimpse into the near future of our sustainable landscapes, pre-order available here.
[NYC] Asian Creatives & Entrepreneurs (AC*E) Collective Needs Volunteers
AC*E is a grassroots collective that supports the Asian Creatives & Entrepreneurs community while creating an inclusive, welcome environment. Visual Conductor, a boutique creative studio specializing in virtual + hybrid multisensory experiences, is seeking NYC-based volunteers for two projects:1. AC*E Holiday pop-up Nov 6-7:
An AAPI-themed experience featuring 20+ Asian-owned businesses. Volunteers needed Nov 4-7th.
NEED Set Designers, Artists, Creative Volunteers:
Crafting decorations • Window Display • Set up / Breakdown • AV support • Guerilla Street Marketing: Performers, Wheatpasting2. AC*E x Let’s Solve X: Interactive X-Expression Booth
Visual Conductor is co-founder of Let’s Solve X, a grassroots org dedicated to solving various social issues. First mission: Xenophobia. We are launching our org at the AC*E pop-up with an interactive confessional booth.
NEED Volunteers and Donations:
AV + Creative Tech Ideation • Help Build Booth • Donated Materials – large sheets of cardboard, coroplast, upcycled materials, etc.Visual Conductor founder + creative director Wendy Hu has a deep commitment to drive change through design + art. To get involved, email Visual Conductor.
BWB Press & Media
BWB Portland’s Domes for C3PO Villages
Burners Without Borders Portland has been working with three villages — collectively dubbed Creating Conscious Communities with People Outside- to support houseless community members and shelter residents. Now two of these three villages are facing eviction.
Learn more about this local issue, and about BWB Portlands involvement supporting communal infrastructure (domes that they innovated to be as low cost as possible) within the villages.
Co-Creating the New World
Nick Farr and Dawn Strickland, Burners Without Borders — “Everyone brings their grain of sand.”Listen to BWB members on this episode of the Co-Creating the New World Podcast.
BWB in the Burning Man Journal
The Burning Man Journal published an article sharing more about the work that was done by Burners Without Borders and many collaborators to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) and more, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Read the article in full here.
The Super Niceness of Burners Without Borders
Our BWB manager Molly Rose joined a conversation on the Nice Work podcast with Todd Brilliant. They talked about the history of BWB, what Burners are doing out in the world, and the frameworks and ideology of BWB and our civic activation work. Listen to the episode here.
Culturally Attuned Podcast
Have you ever wanted to work in a community or culture that was radically different than the one you grew up in?The Culturally Attuned podcast and curriculum, a partner effort between the United States Institute of Peace and Burning Man Project, explores these questions. The podcast and course will share real world stories, lessons, and practical advice for people who work in a range of settings around the world and who may find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. Listen Here
What We’re Listening To
Angélique Kidjo, Remain in Light – Angélique’s re-conception of the Talking Heads album of the same name is a whole feeling- listen to the album and let us know what you think.
Audiobook: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimemer
As a person who is decidedly “not into books on tape”, BWB Program Manager Molly Rose has recommended this audiobook (voiced by the author) to *everyone*. Borrow the audiobook for free with a Public Library App. Consider Making a Donation to BWB
BWB is funded through BRC ticket sales and donations. Following two years without ticket sales, we are more reliant than ever on the generosity of those who have the means to share.BWB exists because of YOU. Your generous support and participation over the years enables this creative community to accomplish so much around the world. BWB is known for helping people solve real problems by daring to experiment and iterate in challenging environments.The unique gifts this community brings to the international stage are transforming what people think is possible. Thank you for all the contributions you bring, money is just one way to support BWB.To continue doing the work, we do need your help. To donate to the continued success of BWB, click here. Any amount that you can give will help us each our goals, and lets us know our work has impact.Thank you!- The BWB Team
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