To the BURN2 Community
Dear Members of our BURN2 Community,
It has become clear the effects of increased stress during the pandemic has impacted Burn2's ability to function cohesively. Undefined codes of conduct and role descriptions have contributed to recent flare-ups within the community. We are calling for a 'time-out' for Burn2 to focus on improving our situation. The main thing to know is that we have and continue to try interventions with some situations improving and other situations becoming uglier.
There are serious signs that our community leadership needs time to focus on BURN2 culture correcting that makes a space for us to create and participate together more cohesively. This time will help us make changes, review our policies, define department duties and evaluate our distribution of responsibilities in leadership. We will also look at how we are treating each other. With this in mind, Burning Man Regional Network leadership working with BURN2 has unanimously decided to do the following:
- Conception scheduled for July 29-31, 2022, is hereby canceled. No event leadership has been posted yet. We are trying to give you early notice to mitigate the inconvenience.
- Deep Hole sim will be closed to burners except for members of leadership. We will have meetings during what would be event planning meeting times and the meetings will be used for specific leadership topics.
- Please know that 2.0 and Access groups will have the group chat unavailable for at least ten days so that we can focus on the much needed maintenance.
- Complaints, suggestions and support can be sent to sl (at) burningman (dot) org.
- Plot sales and planning meetings for October's event take place later in the summer. Yes, we will have days when you can come in and buy your plot. Around that time, we may have workshops and a Town Hall meeting with leadership sharing about their departments and inviting you to participate.
We are not sharing the details or incidents leading up to this decision, and not explaining specifics to the public. Just know that we need this time to focus on our leadership culture. No one person is to blame for this decision.
Goals targeted during the break from event planning:
- Completion & Approval of All Department Role Descriptions
- Suggest and implement what is needed to improve and correct some of our BURN2 culture.
- Complete and approve Code of Conduct policies
- Complete Complaint Issues Procedures
- Continue to work with team members in our departments. Reflect on what possible solutions leads can implement for the longevity of the departments and its roles. If someone disappeared from your department tomorrow, would someone else be able to fill their shoes?
- Consider limiting the number of events that leads volunteer for in one year. An example would be 3-events-maximum per volunteer and / or lead to prevent burnouts and give others the chance to try a new role. Creating a department with shared responsibilities and co-leads will also reduce the overall workload. If needed, we may discuss reducing the total amount of larger events. Leads will figure this out soon.
We know that some of you will be disappointed in this decision that we made. However, we feel that our community health and our own individual health will greatly improve if we focus on cultural course correcting.
We will be back. We are still here. We thank you for your patience.
There are two events that were scheduled for June. Stay tuned for upcoming notices about these events:
- Alchemelic at the Black Rock Saloon on June 10th
- Larree’s Movie Night on June 24th
Sincerely,
Burning Man Regional Network Leadership working directly with BURN2