What is a burn?
A burn is a gathering, a “temporary autonomous zone,” a place of art and music and costumes and food and drink.
A burn is the Ten Principles of Burning Man.
A burn is camping with thousands of friends you haven’t met yet.
A burn is camping with people who are not like you and me, and a burn is deciding that’s okay.
A burn is firespinners and DJs and theme camps.
A burn is the Effigy and the Temple. A burn is watching the Effigy and the Temple burn.
A burn is all volunteers: team leads, Rangers, Perimeter, artists, theme camps, everyone you see running this thing is a volunteer. (Pro tip: As soon as you can, get in there and volunteer too!)
A burn is forgetting the sunscreen at home and having some gifted to you by the hippie next door. A burn is stopping by a theme camp and being fed supper. A burn is the ultimate FOMO as you realize you cannot visit all 100+ camps or participate in every event.
A burn is spending much of your year thinking about how you’re going to improve your contribution to the burn next time: gifting, theme camp, art, volunteering.
A burn is — in many ways — Home.
GETTING STARTED
First of all, get the basic idea down: You’re going to go camp in a field for a few days, bringing everything you need with you. (There is no in-and-out at the burn.) You’re going to participate: You are part of the show, not the audience.
Read the 2024 Alchemy Welcome Guide
Read the other articles in this section.
Read the Code of Conduct.
Read JoeJoe’s Burning Tips. (h/t Joe Agnew!)
Check out the most recent Placement Map (2022). This is a great way to see the kinds of opportunities and events that might await you.
Subscribe to the Alchemist, the monthly newsletter. This will keep you up to date on opportunities, deadlines, ticket sales, placement registration, workshops, etc.
There is a Facebook group for:
Alchemy: A good place to ask questions, get to know some personalities, and learn the ropes. (Warning: It can get wild and woolly in there at times.)
There is an Atlanta Burning Man “meet & greet.” The times and places are usually announced in the Alchemy Facebook group. This is a good way to get to know some of the people in the community and to get a good sense of what burns might hold in store for you. N.B.: Burning Man itself is different and more difficult than Alchemy by a couple orders of magnitude.