The Youth Education Spacecraft (Y.E.S.) has flown to Maker Faire, for its maiden voyage and then will be exhibited by other sponsors in the Bay Area, such as The Crucible and Exploratorium. The spacecraft will ultimately land at Burning Man, where children will be encouraged to test it for themselves and create curriculum to study the humanoids, which are found in Black Rock City. Dana Albany (The Bone Tree) guided the creation of this complex art piece that is 12’ in diameter and stands 8’ tall, with a decorative exterior made entirely by kids with repurposed and found objects from Recology put together as mosaics in artistic ways.  Initial design work was done by children age 7 – 15 at the Tenderloin and The Bayview Hunter’s Point Boys and Girls Clubs, followed by Burner families. Along with many art techniques, an accompanying creative curriculum taught the kids about robotics, solar energy, environmentalism, space travel, astronomy and much more.

Y.E.S. can be found at the Maker Faire this Friday and Saturday in the education area (Area #6), and there will be an opportunity for more kids to contribute to Y.E.S. by making planets to populate the inside of the spacecraft, with materials provided.

Supported by The Crucible, Exploratorium, Maker Faire, Burning Man Project, Black Rock Arts Foundation and Black Rock City, LLC, as well as private donors.  To learn more, visit Youth Educational Spacecraft Project.

Come out and join us – we would love to see you!

Burning Man Project to Host FREE Day of ‘Maker’ Workshops

For a different twist on celebrating Cinco de Mayo weekend, join Burning Man Project for Cinco de Make-O and bring out the Maker in you at a FREE day of ‘maker’ workshops on Saturday, May 4th from 1 – 3 p.m.  Learn how to create your own solar system or make beautiful music (or both!) at the Burning Man headquarters.  The ‘Maker’ workshops are part of a series sponsored by Burning Man Project, which cover areas including the arts, education and civic engagement.

Small Scale Solar 101 will present an overview of small and portable solar technology from 1pm to 2pm. and include solar terminology, how it can be used for art, tricks to limit power usage and more.  After a break, it will be followed by Small Scale Solar 102 from 2pm to 3pm. with a hands-on “let’s put a small system together”.  Both sessions will be led by Chaz Peling, of Sol Solutions, who is a burner with a passion for sharing his tips and tricks with mobile solar systems.

Alternatively, from 1:30pm – 3pm is “Making Music with Found Objects” workshop led by Lydia from GamelanX, who will join creative forces with the Exploratorium’s Explorables volunteers who will teach how to make a variety of musical instruments from drinking straws, cardboard and misc. trash. Supplies provided, but BYO metal such as cans, pipes, car parts, kitchen utensils, etc. Come and be amazed what can be done with common household objects and the right kind of foam and mallet to create shakers and metallophones.

Instruments will also include Lightboxes, the wondrous cousin of the kaleidoscope, which uses curved mirrors to create patterns of lights and colors from the environment. See how this toy changes your perspective on the world around you.

Glove-A-Phones are noisemakers that use gloves to produce their resonant tones. Some say they are like saxophones, others think them more akin to bagpipes, but the fact remains that playing your Glove-A-Phone is a unique experience.

Pan pipes and straw oboes–Ordinary straws can create a wide spectrum of sounds with variations in cuts and pitch. The workshop will conclude by making music as a group. Please RSVP for the workshop(s) you would like to attend here.

Burning Man Project, a non-profit affiliate of Burning Man, will be working with Earth Guardians to create MOOP (Matter Out of Place) bags with the public at Earth Day San Francisco on April 20^th from 10am to 6pm at Civic Center Plaza.  The Earth Guardians, committed to global sustainability and Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics, will work with Earth Day participants to create small reusable bags that can used to store litter that is picked up.  The term MOOP originated at Burning Man, where participants commit to Leaving No Trace.

As part of The Bold Italic and Yammer‘s Mid Riff Microhood free event in Central Market on Thursday, March 28th from 6 – 8 p.m., Burning Man Project will be presenting performances from the colorful and energetic Carpetbag Brigade, a Physical Theater Company who will be sharing a site-flexible performance titled “Sailor and Sirens” at 6:15, 6:45, 7:15 and 7:45 around the intersection of 6th and Market Streets. This acrobatic stilt troupe overlaps the worlds of dance, theater and circus with daring spectacle and charm!  Visit The Bold Italic, Events for all the details about everything that’s happening.

Burning Man Project Treasurer Jennifer Raiser with David Darst and Burning Man Project Founding Board Member Marian Goodell

Burning Man Project’s inspiration comes from many sources. One of our most enthusiastic supporters, David Darst, recently sent along this encouragement. Darst is an avid Burner and author, and head of Morgan Stanley’s Investment Strategy division. He advises:

• Focus!

• Be kind to everybody you meet.

• You can’t live a perfect day until you do something for someone who will not be able to repay you.

• Listen if you want to be heard.

We love how simple and profound these admonitions are.  And they are completely relevant to our mission of sharing Burning Man culture in the world. Here are some of the ways we are taking Darst’s ideas to heart.

Our mission is enormous, but our budget is not. As a start-up nonprofit organization, our resources are limited to what we can raise with charitable donations. So we are making hard choices about what we can reasonably accomplish. We are focusing our attention on three areas where experience has shown have the biggest impact with our volunteers and funds: Civic Involvement, Education, and the Arts. As a nonprofit, these efforts are not designed to be repaid, but refined and multiplied.

We are teaming up with the Black Rock Arts Foundation in Fernley, Nevada and the Downtown Project in Las Vegas. Locally, we are paying close attention to our neighborhood at Sixth and Market, working with like-minded nonprofits on a children’s art initiative, volunteering to serve meals to the homeless on Valentine’s Day, and collaborating with One King’s Lane, a local tech startup with shared values.

And we are eager to listen. Wherever Burners and idea-makers are gathering, we are firing up the tea kettle and asking for a chat. Right now, we are collecting ideas at KiwiBurn in New Zealand and connecting with friends Down Under. We are trading ideas with enlightened businesses, checking in with thought leaders in London and New York and Istanbul, soliciting best practices from nonprofits and foundations. If you have some inspiration or ideas for us, we’re more than ready to hear them, learn from them, and share them, too.

Burning Man Project – Workshop Series

The Burning Man Project workshop series is a forum for community members to share new ideas. In March, we will be exploring the intersection of education and the Ten Principles. Our speakers from the Burning Mind Project will discuss their experience in integrating the Ten Principles of Burning Man into their classes at James Madison University. Come hear their ideas and add your thoughts on re-imaging education.

Workshop Overview: Bringing the 10 Principles to the Classroom

In this workshop, our speakers will share 1) what got them started on this path, 2) why they think the Ten Principles are a compelling framework for reinventing the educational experience, and 3) some practical techniques that they are currently applying to create learning communities at their educational institution – and the results so far. These include:

• How to use gifting to cultivate stronger, more productive teams
• How to jump-start participation and radical self-reliance
• Decommodification by getting rid of grades (which also catalyzes participation, communal effort, and radical self-reliance)

Although their experience focuses on applying the Ten Principles in higher education, they encourage educators of all kinds to participate and share their insights. This will be a highly interactive session that will generate new ideas for education. 

Please RSVP here:  http://burningmanprojectworkshop.eventbrite.com/  We are limited to 35 participants for this event.

Killin it Crew is from left: Michael Craddock, Brenda Zimmerman, Richard Scott, Homeowner (in the middle) Jovia Nierenburg and Borough Admin, Jennifer Maier (far right)

The Burners Without Borders Sandy Relief Crew has been hard at work clearing homes in Union Beach, NJ that were destroyed by the storm last October. To date, the crew has gifted over $1 million worth of home and debris removal to these residents-saving them over $800K in hauling and tipping fees. Homeowners are not allowed to access FEMA resources until their home is demolished and cleared, and BWB is enabling these homeowners to quickly obtain the federal money available to rebuild their homes.

BWB’s good work has quickly won the support of various foundations working in the region. With the recent congressional approval of $60 billion dollars for the Sandy Relief effort, BWB was able to secure a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation that will enable BWB’s heavy equipment operations to continue in New Jersey through March 2013.

BWB’s work in Union Beach was recently mentioned by the President of the Princeton Area Community Foundation in a report that stated, “This is some of the best leverage of donated dollars that I’ve ever seen. It’s an example of philanthropy working quickly and in creative ways to help out where other forms of aid are unavailable or slow to arrive.”

Thank you to everyone who has donated to this project to make it a success. A special website has been created to help you follow the progress of the BWB relief effort- complete with maps, photos, and blog posts from volunteers on the ground. http://bwb-sandy.org/

Dana Albany – founder of Y.E.S.

Imagine young students repurposing the red glass from broken traffic lights into something of their dreams – a spaceship – a vessel for creative exploration. This is Dana Albany’s vision. To develop a collaborative art program for youth that gives them the time and space to create, build and then exhibit their work at leading art and science venues in the Bay Area and beyond.

This is Y.E.S. The Youth Education Spaceship program. Designed by Dana from years of experience building mosaic art and working with children, this project is a collaboration with the Boys and Girls Clubs in the Tenderloin and Bayview neighborhoods of San Francisco, and the recycling plant Recology. It is sponsored by a splendid array of civic organizations like Black Rock Arts Foundation, The Crucible, the Exploratorium, Maker Faire and Burning Man Project.

Here’s how it will work. Children from the ages of 7 to 15 will be given the opportunity to engage in everything from metal and mosaic work, mold-making, glass fusion and glass blowing, photography, videography, sound-scape creation, robotics, environmentalism, education on ancient civilizations to outer space, space travel and astronomy. Professional welders will fabricate the necessary sections of the spaceship, and after their winter’s work, these young artists will then experience the satisfaction of having their spaceship exhibited in public at The Crucible, Maker Faire, Exploratorium and Burning Man.

Burning Man Project is proud to be one of the many sponsors of this project. Dana exudes the Burning Man ethos and culture by fostering collaboration and participation as the foundation of art production. Stay tuned for updates on Y.E.S. and the future of these budding artists.

Valentines for Glide

Many opportunities are being created to engage Burning Man Project volunteers in events that will have a positive community impact. We heard from many this past year that they are interested in participating in meaningful work. As part of the volunteer strategy we have developed a Volunteer Engagement Series that will encourage partnerships with like-minded community organizations that focus on areas of civic engagement, the arts, and education.

Share the Love, the first engagement event of 2013, is a collaborative effort between Burning Man Project and the Glide Foundation, and will take place on Thursday, February 14th. Project volunteers will participate in Glide’s meal service program by helping to serve a nourishing Valentine’s dinner to Glide’s guests. Leading up to the event, volunteers will gather their creative energies to craft 750 valentine cards to distribute to diners.

Project volunteers are excited to participate in Share the Love and the response has been incredible! Within one day of announcing the event, nearly all of the volunteer spots for the meal service had been filled while volunteers from throughout the Bay Area and all over the world – as far away as Idaho, Canada and Turkey have joined in to craft Valentine cards  to share with the Glide guests. We love the regional, national and international support that has formed around this event and some people have even offered to organize crafting parties with their local burner community to create valentine cards.

Giving volunteers multiple ways to participate and partnering with a community organization has created a multi-faceted event that many want to be a part of. Burning Man Project is looking forward to the launch of the Volunteer Engagement Series and plans to make more of these opportunities available to volunteers throughout the year.

What:   Valentine Crafting (on two dates!)
When:  Tuesday, February 5th, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
When:  Saturday, February 9th, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Where: Burning Man Headquarters, 995 Market Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103.
What:   Grab your scissors, glue stick, glitter and fancy heart stickers!  We need many hands to craft 750 valentines.  Supplies and a valentine template will be provided.  You may fashion your valentine anyway you like or bring an idea to share with the group. Everyone is encouraged to express their heart and creativity!   (But, we do have many hearts to make happy, so let’s also keep it simple!)

Want to craft a supply of valentines, but can’t make it to headquarters?  No problem!  Feel free to craft a stack from the comfort of your home.  Please contact rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org  (rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org)   for a template and guidelines, and then mail them to:

Heather White
Burning Man Project
995 Market Street – 15th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103

What:   Glide Meal Service
When:  Thursday, February 14th, 2:45 PM to 5:30 PM.
Where: Meet: Burning Man Headquarters, 995 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 @2:45 PM. Walk to Glide @3:15 PM. Participate in the meal service from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
Volunteers Needed:  10   Please RSVP to rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org  (rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org)  .
What:  Burning Man Project is excited to participate in Glide’s Meal Service program and encourages Project volunteers to take part in this wonderful community building experience. Serving a meal is the most popular way to volunteer at Glide.  The organization serves three daily meals and feeds over 2,500 people every day.  More than 10,000 volunteers participate in the Meal Service program annually.  Volunteers are essential to the program as they not only help with meal service, but also help to create a respectful, loving and accepting environment.  This is a great opportunity to participate and share the Burning Man culture within our community.

Please check your schedules and plan to participate in this fulfilling experience.   Make it a valentine to remember – come solo and make new friends or come with your sweetie and participate before your own celebration.  Either way, this event is bound to create deeper feelings of love, appreciation and gratitude – and that’s really what the day is about!

Important Information:  Glide asks that all volunteers sign and submit a volunteer waiver.  It will be provided during the meet up time at headquarters and will be turned in when we arrive for our shift.

Once we’ve finished serving meals at Glide, meal shift volunteers are invited to celebrate the experience and our time together over a meal or drink.

For questions, please contact rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org  (rebecca.zito@burningmanproject.org)  

For more information about Glide Memorial: http://www.glide.org

The Burning Man Project is scheduling a series of free workshops and talks in 2013, designed to gift knowledge and skills on a peer-to-peer basis. You don’t have to be an experienced teacher: we’re looking for people from all walks of life to pass along knowledge and expertise on a non-commercial basis.

If you like teaching people a new skill, leading a discussion, and bringing the ethos and principles of Burning Man to everyday life year-round, then please suggest a topic you would be interested in.  Preferable topics are those that relate to the Burning Man ethos and Ten Principles in a year-round context, rather than subjects that relate only to the playa.

We’re looking for workshop and speaker topics that don’t require participants to spend money on tools or supplies in order to participate.  The ideal combination is a subject that gets people thinking and is hands-on, though the most important aspect is that it not be limited to what happens only in Black Rock City.  Think expansively about your subject, e.g., instead of a discussion on Gifting at Burning Man, better would be a workshop on How to Form a Gift Circle year-round.

Workshops and talks typically run about 1.5 to 2 hours and can be hosted on weekend days or weeknights. Most workshops will be hosted at our downtown headquarters at 995 Market St (but can be hosted off-site depending on the nature of the workshop), so it is probably preferable if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We are booking workshops/talks every month in 2013, so think ahead and suggest an idea – we’d love to hear from you now!

Please send your proposals to: workshops@burningmanproject.org  (workshops@burningmanproject.org)  

Thank you!

Cory with her Vote Bus.

One of our missions at Burning Man Project is to catalyze community around art and civic engagement. Our recent partnership with Downtown Project in Las Vegas, is a true collaboration in this spirit. Former NYC Regional Contact Cory Mervis, now a proud resident of the Nevada city, is leading the charge as the Cultural Attache between our organization and Downtown Project.

Cory and her family were drawn to glittering Las Vegas because they saw a vibrant and growing arts community. Cory had been creating community events and organizing ideas into action since 2000. After she moved to downtown Vegas, she immediately attended a monthly coffeeshop meeting and shared the idea of a Halloween Parade with the Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman. He loved the concept, and since then, she has been producing this massive event, with much support from the city government. The parade has grown by leaps and bounds to 12,000 attendees, and each year it unites people of all types to create art together and ultimately participate in claiming their culture and community.

Beginning Nov. 1, 2012, Cory has brought the same excitement and enthusiasm for community-building to the collaboration between Downtown Project and Burning Man Project. Cory’s role is to serve as a consultant and project manager around areas of interest for Downtown Project.

In September 2011, First Friday LLC (allied with the Downtown Project) acquired the First Friday event, which is produced monthly by a very talented team of artists, producers and extraordinary organizers. Today, Cory is working with the team to help as needed with programs like manifesting a Leave No Trace ethos for the event.

Downtown Project is rocking downtown Las Vegas by building community via arts, participation, and radical self-expression. Burning Man Project is thrilled to be a part of this with Cory at the helm!

Rose, a property owner in Union Beach, just before demolishing her house.

In the past decade, our world has been struck with an incredible series of natural disasters – including record-breaking hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Each of these events wreaks havoc on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people, and recovery can take years. Even the most organized and motivated communities could use a little bit of help – which is exactly what Burners Without Borders (BWB) sets out to do. Right now BWB is busy with two major initiatives, the Jakmel Ekspresyon project in Jacmel, Haiti, and some heavy-duty cleanup in New Jersey, following in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Jakmel Ekspresyon: Rebuilding Economy through Art
After it was hit with magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010, the town of Jacmel was left in shambles – along with its vibrant artisan community. To meet the needs of many artists seeking a place to work and grow, the Jakmel Ekspresyon Community Arts Center was founded later that year. Since then, it has become a vital community resource for the city – run by one paid employee and a hardy staff of volunteers.

Jakmel Ekspresyon’s (JE’s) leadership believes that they can help community members develop their personal voices and economic stability by providing resources, training, and equipment, all without discrimination. Discrimination is unfortunately a problem in Haiti, and has escalated during this time of prolonged stress and hardship.

A class at Jakmel Ekspresyon

BWB supports JE in their mission and, as a result, is helping to launch the Screenprinting Project Residency, which will be in motion beginning Spring 2013. Screenprinting will bring a new form of artistic expression to Jacmel, as well as offer a new resource of revenue to the town and its resident artists. Jacmel does not currently have a local screenprinting shop for publicity materials, so businesses have to travel two hours to Port au Prince. Screenprinting would allow those businesses to spend their money locally and provide the local artists with income and business training. This project also brings with it an artist-in-residency program as well as many opportunities to get involved as a volunteer.

If you’re interested in helping make this project a reality, check out the Indiegogo campaign and share it with your network! Also stay tuned for more volunteer opportunity announcements.

Sandy Turns Lives Upside Down; BWB Helps Community Get Back on Its Feet
Much farther north, back in the US, BWB has mobilized in New Jersey to help clean up the mess of decimated houses and buildings that megastorm Sandy left behind. Upon first arriving in the town of Manasquan, NJ, in early November, BWB’s Richard Scott was invited to build a fire sculpture for the local Thanksgiving celebration. The event brought out the entire town, signifying the beginning of the healing process BWB and the community would be embarking on together.

Since then, BWB and multitudes of volunteers have been firing up the bulldozers and getting their hands dirty on the ground, clearing houses that were destroyed or had floated (literally) off their original property and onto another. As posted on their blog on Dec. 8:

After weeks of meetings, creating documents and shaking hands, we’re doing what we set out to do. In the last two days, Richard Scott and Michael Craddock cleared seven storm-decimated properties using a donated John Deere 200c track excavator, “with a thumb” Richard said, “It’s the beginning of the end.” He paused, then elaborated, “of the clean up phase, and the beginning of the beginning of the rebuilding phase.”

Restoring a community anywhere is no easy task, and will likely take years – even with all of the support possible. If you are interested in getting involved with BWB, sign up to volunteer or make a donation. And again, please tell your friends and help amplify this story far and wide.

Want to create something awe-inspiring and wondering how to cover the costs? If so, this workshop on Crowdsourcing and Fundraising, led by Will Chase, is for you! Any medium- or large-scale art project takes some money to realize the vision … and unless you’re independently wealthy, this will require fundraising of some kind.

Fundraising is easy to overlook or just plain do badly, leaving you holding the bag in the end and potentially in debt. This workshop will cover fundraising strategies, tips and techniques to help you maximize your effort whether you’re looking for help from your immediate community or a broader audience of donors. (Note: this workshop will NOT cover grants or grant-writing. It will instead focus more on on-line crowdsourcing options and similar direct fundraising efforts.)

Afterward, feel free to join the Burning Man Art Lounge social taking place in the Evolution Room – also on the 15th Floor

Please RSVP: workshops@burningmanproject.org if you wish to attend. Attendance is limited to 55.

Want to attend but can’t make it in person? Let us know in your RSVP and we will send you the webcast info. Have a question you want to share? Feel free to email it to willchase@burningman.com before Dec. 13 so we can include it.

Burners Without Borders is mobilizing bulldozers and volunteers to help with some of the hardest-hit areas from Hurricane Sandy. First stop, Massaquan, New Jersey, where BWB-directed teams are pitching in to help clear debris and enable residents to rebuild. Burning Man Project is now BWB’s fiscal sponsor, and gratefully accepting donations of funds on their behalf.

Please follow this link to donate:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=60302

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Burning Man Project

Ever wondered what might happen if artists joined forces with their community to turn an abandoned lot into something amazing? That question is at the forefront of the Peralta Junction Project, an experimental, carny-themed activation space based in West Oakland, CA, which seeks to take a grassroots approach to artful engagement and neighborhood transformation.

Sugar Skull Workshop by Michelle Ochoa and Rosalie Barnes with the the band, The Crane and the Crow, providing sweet sounds.  Photo: Jill Sanders 

Since the event opening on Oct. 4, which featured an outdoor film screening, Peralta has transformed the previously abandoned 24,000 square-foot lot at the intersection of Mandela Parkway and Peralta Street into an active community space filled with art installations, creative workshops, performances, micro-retail shops occupied by local artisans, Oakland-based food trucks, a tented gathering place, a pumpkin patch, and more. Produced by Commonplace Productions , One Hat One Hand, and a swell of volunteers, each week also featured additional programming – including the installation of Life Size Mousetrap on Saturday, Nov. 10 – creating a unique experience for event-goers week after week, through its closing on November 30.

Lower Bottom Blues Band.
Photo: Peralta Junction Project

In addition to pure awesomeness and alignments with our guiding principles – Participation and Communal Effort being big ones – what makes this project so special is its ability to be replicated and customized for different neighborhoods in the future. Urban spaces all over the world have their share of abandoned corners like this one in Oakland, just waiting for people to turn them into something wonderful. One of our many goals in sponsoring this project, in addition to assisting in workshop curation, is to create documentation that will help people pull off similar projects in their neighborhood in their own unique way.

The project continued to revolutionize weekends in this historically challenged neighborhood through its closing celebrations Friday, Nov. 30, 7-11pm. We are very proud of our support of Peralta in making magic happen!

More photos at our flickr. 

October was a big month for arts engagement in San Francisco’s challenged Central Market district, with multiple events at the heart of them – 24 Days of Central Market Arts Festival, 2 Blocks of Art, and the Urban Prototyping Festival, to name a few. Of course, we can’t help but get involved – we love art and participation, both of which are much needed just outside of our front door! We worked with these events to make it all happen – thanks to many efforts from our team of incredible volunteers and volunteer performers. We look forward to many more.

ArtRobics dancing in the street.

Our activities began in September 2012, with performances from Gamelan X – who captivated passers-by and filled the streets and alleys with rhythm and dance. Just outside of HQ, at the corner of 6th and Market, community members painted a map of their ideal city on the side of portable mural ArtisMobilus. Across the street, the City of Awesome project, run by artist Todd Berman, gathered people together to create a community painting featuring participatory portraits created by kids and adults alike. Finally, ArtRobics got people moving in the street in a fun participatory combination of art, aerobics and disco.

On October 19, we participated in the second art walk, with performances from the Loyd Family Players, and the mobile mural was also completed.

The completed mural, touched by many, many local hands.

The next day was the San Francisco Urban Prototyping (UP) Festival, produced by the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA). Like 24 Days of Art/2 Blocks of Art, UP also activated the space in Central Market, with particular focus on the 5M district  – a collection of blocks at the intersection of 5th St. and Mission. The event showcased a series of digital, physical, replicable, open source, documented, replicable, and affordable projects, all designed with the intent of improving San Francisco and cities with similar problems. We provided entertainment for festival-goers in Hallidie Plaza, featuring Gamelan X and Bad Unkl Sista.

The feedback on these engagements from our community has been phenomenal. We hope to keep working together to bring this kind of energy to Central Market. More fun work and play is on the horizon.

For more information on these events, visit:

24 Days of Central Market Arts Festival: www.centralmarketarts.org
2 Blocks of Art: www.urbansolutionssf.org/news_events/artwalk.html
SF Urban Prototyping Festival: sf.urbanprototyping.org

At Black Rock City 2012, in collaboration with Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar and Burning Man Regional Network, we helped put together the Everywhere Pavilion – an open space where people can hang out and learn about our various community and outreach activities. The space takes different forms in different places, and each time we learn something new about our growing community.

On the Playa, we set up a large, shady open space on the Esplanade, filled with tables in the shapes of continents, where participants could escape the sun and relax. People also took part in our Leaf Your Trace activity, where they expressed the many different ways they uphold the Ten Principles off-playa through writing and decorating “leaves” (made from used file folders). The leaves were attached to posts placed on many different cities on our continent tables. By the end of the event, there were nearly 500 leaves creating a handmade forest, mapping the many ways that participants carry Burner spirit with them into their communities.

Our first leaf, created by Michael who came all the way from the UK. This leaf will forever be one of our favorites!

It wasn’t just Michael who came all the way from Europe – we had lots of visitors from Germany!

Early in the week, we had a small forest of visitors from all over North America.

>> More photos!

At Burning Man’s San Francisco Decompression, we all worked together to create a chill space serving tea and conversation. Friends and participants came by, sat on comfy pillows, and chatted over tea on a beautiful fall day. We met lots of newbies and got to work with some amazing volunteers we met on the Playa.

Guests relaxing in our pop-up tea house.

No matter what their path to getting to Everywhere, all of our guests expressed delight at getting to learn more about what we’re up to and how to get involved.

Learn more about our partners at Everywhere!
Black Rock Arts Foundation: blackrockarts.org
Black Rock Solar: www.blackrocksolar.org
Burners Without Borders: www.burnerswithoutborders.org
Burning Man Regional Network: regionals.burningman.com

• Thu 11/15, from 6:30 – 9:30 pm
  • 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
    Gift circle workshop led by Judith Katz
    15th Floor
  • 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
    Gift Crafting / Recycle Your Gift
    8th Floor
• BMHQ: 995 Market St at 6th St, SF CA 94103

6:30PM – Intro to Gift Circles
Gift circles are a form of group relating and value-exchange. Underneath the value of material things transacted in traditional gift circles is the primal source code of all relatedness: the attention we give to one another.

This experiential workshop will offer participants a couple of structured formats in which to experiment with closing the gap between our inner and external worlds, and between ourselves and others. We will explore the connective technology inspired by gift circles, and informed by Nonviolent Communication; you will take away a toolkit to work more collaboratively with others.

The gift circle can only accommodate late-comers until 6:40pm so plan to arrive on time.

Afterwards, all participants are welcome to come to the 8th Floor to join the in-progress Crafting Workshop/ Part Two:

7:00 PM – Crafting using re-purposed materials to benefit Central Market social services!

• It’s time to Recycle Your Life x 2  as all participants are encouraged to make two of our several projects – and gift one onward to one of the designated benefit groups in Central Market. We’ll be sewing, decorating, cutting, gluing and transforming pants, sweaters, scrap fabric and flotsam into tote and shoulder bags, pouches and hats for gifting. Bring old but clean sweaters & fleece for hats & scarves.
• Participants are also welcome to contribute new or like-new gift items to the Recycle Your Gift table for needy families.

Please RSVP by 11/14 to workshops@burningmanproject.org
and please specify Part 1 Gift Circle (Part 1 attendees may stay for Part 2)
OR Part 2 Crafting only.
Space limited to 50 for the Gift Circle.