With the Burning Man 2024 edition in the rearview, its organizers are looking to the long road ahead, but not before reflecting on the recent obstacles along that path.
To ensure the future of the iconic event, CEO Marian Goodell recently published a blog post on The Burning Man's Diary and asked for donations from its global community during what it called a “turning point as a nonprofit.” This public plea came after a worrying year for Burning Man, which failed to sell out for the first time in a decade amid concerns over inflation pressures and ticket prices.
However, organizers are keeping spirits high by announcing the next Black Rock City rally topic: Tomorrow Today.
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The “protopic” concept, a term coined by Burner Kevin Kelly to describe “a future based on constant progress, better than today but not perfect and not without setbacks,” was revealed in a blog post by Stuart Mangrum, director of Burning. Man Project Philosophical Center.
“If we think of the future as a story we tell ourselves, two plots have apparently come to dominate the popular imagination,” Mangrum writes. “On the one hand, a happy modernist fable of a technology-driven utopia, and on the other, a postmodern myth of dystopian collapse.”
“It is increasingly difficult to believe in the first [plotline] “Because we now know that it is built on an unsustainable foundation,” he continues. “And we don't even want to think about the second because it is a tragedy from which no one comes out alive.”
For veteran Burners and newcomers alike, now is the time to get serious about shaping the future of the gathering and allowing it to not only survive, but thrive. Burning Man, of all places, is here to remind us of the power of our own minds. Burning next year encourages us to embrace proto-ism and “dream, invent, prototype, and share our best and brightest ideas for the years to come.”
You can read the full Mangrum blog post. here.
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