Jim Urquhart/Reuters
- Burning Man is a cultural festival taking place in the Nevada desert that has attracted up to 80,000 attendees for its many art installations, musical performances, and general mayhem.
- Ahead of this year’s festival, Nevada federal authorities proposed building a 10-mile concrete wall around the site to improve security and prevent trash blowing away in dust storms.
- The wall will not be constructed for this year, but it’s a real possibility in order for organizers to secure a 10-year permit for future Burning Man events.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Burning Man is built around ideas of freedom and unstructuredness for festivalgoers in the middle of the desert, but it’s possible the event may have a bit more structure in the future.
The federal agency that administers the Black Rock Desert, where Burning Man takes place, proposed back in March that a 10-mile concrete barrier be built around the perimeter of the site. Burning Man organizers have protested that such a wall goes directly against the festival’s core principles.
For Burning Man 2019, which kicked off Sunday, no barriers or wall will be erected, authorities told Business Insider. But Burning Man’s future depends on its ability to secure a permit from Nevada land officials, who decide whether or not the festival can continue on as is at in the desert.
Here’s everything you need to know about why there’s a proposal for concrete barriers around Burning Man, and how the wall could change the future of the festival:
Burning Man is an annual nine-day festival in the Nevada desert comprised of art installations, musical performances, and general mayhem. The event kicked off this past weekend, and over 80,000 attendees are expected.
Flickr/Bureau of Land Management
Burning Man started out in 1986 as nothing more than a small gathering on a San Francisco beach. But the event has since evolved into a massive temporary metropolis in the middle of the desert — called Black Rock City — with thousands of camps and villages and campers taking over the "playa."
Reuters/Jim Urquhart
Source: Business Insider
Burning Man has been hosted in the Nevada desert for nearly 30 years. The organizers of the festival is a nonprofit called the Burning Man Project, who is able to host the event on public Nevada land because of an ongoing permit from the state’s Bureau of Land Management.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters
Source: Bureau of Land Management
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- The towering artwork and wild structures of Burning Man are already taking shape — take a look
- This livestream lets you watch everything that’s going on at Burning Man from the comfort of your living room
- Here’s what the inside of Burning Man’s luxury camps for billionaires and celebrities looks like
Source: Business Insider – pleskin@businessinsider.com (Paige Leskin)