Even Burning Man’s world-renowned Black Rock City event isn't immune from the post pandemic economic climate.
Ahead of his keynote appearance at the Australian Festival Industry Conference in Brisbane, Christopher Breedlove, Director of Civic Activation at Burning Man, discusses how Burning Man has adapted to this new world and what they're noticing in the US festival market.
“We had been selling out consistently since 2012 and for the first time last year we didn't sell out.”
"Tickets are well on track for the [Burning Man] 2025 festival but 2024 gave the organisation things to consider. [We’re] wanting to make sure that we are staying relevant, continuing to stay on a cultural edge and to really make sure that we're listening to what our community is interested [in] and desires.”
Burning Man has diversified its events portfolio and offers more than just the ‘flagship’ event, Black Rock City. Last year for the first time the population of people who went to Burning Man regional events was greater than the population of people who went to Black Rock City.
“[Tickets not selling out] is not an alarm for us in the way that we don't think people aren’t interested in the culture and the community that we have been creating.
"We had over 90,000 people go to regional events around the world in 2024 and all those events collectively gave out $1.5 or $1.6 million of art grants. That actually eclipsed [Black Rock City’s] arts grants number for the very first time. It's an interesting moment where we did not sell out, but at the same time we have the data to say that our global community is healthier than ever," Christopher explains.
"I think that we accept that at some point our flagship event [Black Rock City] may not be the big event anymore and the culture may really be given out to the world. That's part of us being a not-for-profit and a cultural organisation, our mission is to share the culture and the principles that have come from the Burning Man event and bring those out into the world.
"You could even say at some point on the timeline that our success is actually that our culture and community has been diffused out there and our flagship event is less important."
As festivals cancelled or going on hiatus in Australia, Christopher is seeing the same in the United States.
As we see festivals cancelled or going on hiatus in Australia, Christopher is seeing the same in the United States with the post pandemic landscape creating similar issues of people buying tickets later, choosing to do less events and early discounts not being as big of an incentive to buy.
"There are several forces that have all been coming together to create this moment in time for festivals. Part of that - at least in the states, and I would assume it's true on your side of the pond as well - is that pre-pandemic we were in a festival boom.
"There were so many festivals happening, and that was amazing, but then on the flip side of the pandemic there's so many festivals, people are choosing to do less things. Of course, you're going to have more supply than you have demand and so I think that really provides festivals an opportunity to think about what is unique about their character. What is unique about their culture and their offering to their community."
Burning Man is unique in the sense that before the event no one knows who any of the music performers are, where the stages are and there is no schedule to the event. Attendees create all the art, activities and events themselves.
"One of my favourite quotes is ‘If you build it. They will come, but if they build it they will stay forever.’ I think that's been one of the secrets for us at Burning Man is that because we are built by our community, people are enrolled in what we're doing. They feel ownership of what they're doing.
"I think anytime a festival can find ways to engage their participants and their audience, if there are ways to bring them into the creation, whether it's through art or workshops, whether it's through a way of participating even if it's volunteering at the event.
“One of my favourite quotes is ‘If you build it. They will come, but if they build it they will stay forever.’
"I think that people have that deeper sense of ownership and commitment to that experience because we all want to be part of something. I think for us at Burning Man we really tried to flip the idea of spectacle on its head where we’re all a part of the spectacle. How do you remove people from spectators to participants and allow them to feel a part, and really be a part of what's happening."Like Australian festivals, Burning Man has been affected by severe weather events over its 39 years. Most recently it's seen extremes from torrential rains to heatwaves. In 2023, they were hit by a once in a lifetime rainstorm caused by a hurricane in the Western States. The Burning Man team has climate change at the forefront of their minds.
"This is part of our conversation. It's maybe part of what's driving our sustainability work, but we also believe in it from an ethical point of view but obviously [climate change] is also a driving force.
"Any of us who are working in an event industry that's outdoor based need to think about how this is going to affect the future. I know in the United States we've had several large scale events cancelled or prematurely ended early because of extreme weather. It seems like that's just going to be more and more common as time goes on.
"We're planning the best. Burning Man has always been an outsider event and culture. For most of our almost 40 years now we have been riding on the edge of whether we will survive. Whether that's because we're dealing with the federal government, that's been a challenge especially in the beginning years.
"Whether it's because we're just trying to make it financially, which has also been a question for us many times, because we have no corporate sponsorships, we don't do any vending, we forgo a lot of traditional income sources based on our values and our culture.
"[Climate Change] is another one we’re looking at and I don't think there's a sure fire thing that we know can be the plan in case of extreme weather. But I think that we have a world-class production team.
"We're always running scenarios and actually in 2023 when we had the rain event, one of the reasons we were so prepared was because we were running scenarios on what would happen in a major rainstorm. I think that we are moving forward with our eyes open to the possibilities of what different climate futures might bring.
"We are preparing our staff to respond to whatever would happen to the best of our ability. Then we also have our global regional network, which you know if there came a time where Burning Man was no longer viable in the Black Rock desert at the end of the summer in our hemisphere, we know that our culture would be living on in our global community."
Christopher Breedlove delivers the keynote speech at The Australian Festival Industry Conference (AFIC) – Asia Pacific’s leading industry marketplace for festival management personnel which features a conference program, trade show and networking events. It happens at Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane on 8-9 September. More information here.
