Spark: A Burning Man Story Page #3

is the fact that we are... we're

marked against the ten principles.

And the one principle that we

got really, you know, raked on

was leave no trace.

So, anyway, put some thought into it and

let me know when you have a short list.

- [Man]:
Okay.

- [Woman]:
All right, guys.

[Man]:
Take care, everyone.

Alright everybody, bye.

Oh my god.

You know, and it's like,

I get anxiety.

I get, like, really... like, here's when,

like, I get all the crazy anxiety happens.

Because I realize, like,

holy sh*t, you know, like,

we have this

massive thing going on.

That's global with

people everywhere

and so many moving pieces and,

you know, I do, I, like... I get,

like, tightness in my chest,

because, you know,

there's just so much to do.

[DUBOIS]:
You know, there's this camp out

there that kind of did it all wrong.

And I kept hearing about it from this

place and that place and the other place.

And I pieced together that...

that it was one camp.

So I'm convincing myself

that I'm ready, yes, I'm ready.

[DUBOIS]:
When I met Jon, he was

really open and I thought, you know,

he could really help me

get a leg up

on something that could ruin us.

Really, honestly,

this could ruin us.

And there has been a regular stream

of actual... concern is the word

about plug and play camps,

that it is eroding our event.

You know, I think for us, you know,

Playa Skool was an experiment

in what plug and play really is.

We had 200 people,

they wanted to come with a RV,

have everything that requires that

most people that come to Burning Man

to really think through,

they wanted it ready for them.

[CHIP CONLEY]:
I have been

there seven times.

I had my

50th birthday party there.

I decided to do

a gift economy to my friends.

And so I invited 110 friends and

we did have a vegan caterer.

We heard Chip liked

dark chocolate,

so we made aged balsamic dark

chocolate truffles.

Our client asked if we could

pre-decorate their bikes,

not because they don't want

to be creative,

it's they want to get

out of their car and...

They want to get on that art car

and they want to get...

go do that sunrise, you know, photo shoot

in the buff with all their friends.

[DUBOIS]:
The benefit of having

these camps is that

we're getting people who can

influence the world.

That can telegraph further

and wider and better

to get our message out to

people who are influential

and can help with it.

The trick is,

do they really get it?

[CONLEY]:
The last thing

any of us want is a...

a bunch of venture capitalists

and Silicon Valley CEOs

being all that

Burning Man represents.

But many of the artists' projects

are funded by wealthier people.

So I actually don't think that money

necessarily itself is the problem,

it's what you do with it.

[GOODELL]:
The electricity created

by the Burning Man experience

will change lives and everybody

who comes there repeatedly

is coming there for a reason-

is getting something from it.

So helping contain that

and frame it-super fun.

And the results from it are people

connecting with each other,

and people having hope, and

having faith in other people,

and trusting humanity

and our purpose.

And that's worth replicating, and

manifesting, and keeping it going.

[emergency warning sound]

[Anchorwoman]:
Well coming up

ticket fiasco at Burning Man...

why some of the most devoted participants

may not get to go this year.

[Anchorman]:
Burning Man has been

surging in popularity in recent years

and sold out the

last two years...

Nobody expected the number

of registrations that came in.

So, you know, that's... that's, I think,

why I can't get a hold of anybody

around the office right now,

because they're all trying to

figure out what

those next steps are.

We are f***ed.

This is, like, the worst situation

I have ever been in my entire life

and I wake up

every morning crying.

There's nothing fair

about this anymore.

It's how do we keep our

community from falling apart?

[Anchorwoman]:
The annual

festival in the Nevada Desert

switched to a lottery for its

ticket sales this year.

[Anchorman]:
The critics say the

new system will destroy

the free-for-all spirit that

Burning Man is known for.

All those theme camps and the

art... is that going to be there?

Because a lot of people say

they can't go now.

They don't have enough tickets to go

out and build their contribution.

There's a lot of people

I don't see all year,

I only see them at Burning Man.

It's a thing that our community

has done all together.

You know, what's fair?

The fair is that a lot of people

put a lot of energy

into this event over the years.

All of the thoughts about doing

bigger stuff, which we had...

we had plans to do, I'm not

going to bother... why would I?

Our camp is called MalMart.

It was really beautiful.

Our structure, I think our top

floor was nine stories.

Over 60% of our camp

does not have tickets.

It's pretty much impossible to

put together a camp this year.

[GOODELL]:
Less than 25 percent

of their people have tickets.

That means our esplanade,

our interactive infrastructure,

some of it is five, seven,

and ten years old.

They're... they can't come and interact,

they can't bring out their motorhomes,

they can't even bring out

their rider truck.

It takes 10 people to unload.

F*** you and your stupid lottery

system.

It's really hard to take when

people are just pummeling you

with all of the weight of their

frustration...

Who the f*** do you think you are playing god

over who goes to Burning Man and who does not?

When you're afraid,

you can't think forward, okay?

Stressed..

People are panicked. A large section

of the community is panicked.

They are panicked, but we owe it

to them not to be panicked.

Absolutely, but it's almost like we don't

want to listen to what they're saying.

Right now, let's see,

the top one on my screen is:

"BMorg:
Nice job f***ing over

all the people

whose lottery request for

two tickets were denied.

Too bad you didn't save more tickets for

theme camps and experienced Burners."

See how many U's are in this

"F*** you."

That's the whole comment.

There, to my knowledge, hasn't ever

been a crisis facing the community

that appeared in the A section

of the

um...

nine months before the event

began.

That's probably a good indicator that this

is in a different category than previously.

The story is newsworthy, but isn't

that more of a testament to

authenticity that people are searching

for in the rest of the world

than it is whether or not

this lottery system worked?

The fundamental value of this

event is its social capital,

its absolutely unparalleled

accretion of social capital,

which is being destroyed by the

minute

by people's perceptions that the

values that they contributed to

they contributed to... around a

certain set of values,

are not being upheld by some

nefarious force.

Well, what would you do?

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