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Burning Man pleads for donations to save the festival

Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell has called for “urgent” donations as a way to help save the festival amid staff lay-offs.

The US countercultural gathering was founded in 1986 and has grown from a three-day, 80-person ‘zone trip’ to an nine-day event attended by around 80,000 people.

While the non-profit festival has been known to sell out of tickets months in advance – sometimes within 30 minutes of release – this year organisers opened sales for non-registered buyers for the first time after sluggish sales.

In a lengthy statement detailing the festival’s financial woes, Goodell said Black Rock City 2024 tickets didn’t sell as planned, leading to a US$5.7m shortfall on top of the $3m drop in earnings from standard ticket sales and vehicle passes.

“This means that our year-end charitable donation target has essentially doubled to nearly $20m,” she explains. “This needs to happen before 2025 ticket sales and our annual revenue cycle begins in January.

“Your steadfast generosity and ongoing donations are needed to help secure the long-term of Burning Man”

The option to start sales of 2025 tickets earlier “just kicks the can down the road,” Goodell said, and raising ticket prices “would price out diverse community participation and is inconsistent with our principles”.

Goodell explained that Burning Man has been “examining and restructuring our operations and reducing our expected 2025 (and beyond) costs by several millions of dollars,” and added: “This has already included reductions in payroll and vendor costs. As you may have heard, we had to lay off talented and brilliant people who make Burning Man happen year-round.”

She continued: “Without corporate sponsorships — which we’ve never had and will never have — to underwrite our operations, we are increasingly reliant on philanthropy (including your generous purchases of those higher-priced Black Rock City tickets).”

Goodell added that Burning Man is “well past the point where ticket revenues are able to support our year-round cultural work,” revealing that in 2023, the cost to produce the event was an estimated $749 per participant while the main sale ticket price was $575 per ticket.

“Your steadfast generosity and ongoing donations are needed to help secure the long-term of Burning Man,” Goodell concluded in the note.

In addition to contributions from “dedicated major donors” the Burning Man CEO has also called upon the festival’s global community to contribute $20 per month as a way to help fundraise for the non-profit fest. Read the full statement here.

 


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