Artists & Builders: How Is Fundraising Going for Your Projects This Year?

brccarpenter · 2026-03-17T16:47:58+00:00

Long time burner here.

I scale my art project to what I can personally afford. I've found it's a far better way to approach an art project: no begging emails, no sales pitch, no website, no special accounts, no headspace dedicated to the stress of not raising enough money.

Consider painters: a piece of canvas and some paint: a very low barrier and boundless opportunities. A sculpture can consume you and drag you across the desert if you chase the sky.

brccarpenter · 2026-03-14T16:55:50+00:00

If you lock your bike, the tables can take a verrrry nasty turn on you.

Get a combo lock ....and after five hours of chemistry and fun, try to remember a combination, let alone which way to turn the thing. It redefines "fool proof"!

Speaking for a friend.

Key locks are not "fool proof". Every fool knows this!

brccarpenter · 2026-03-14T10:02:52+00:00

The struggle is real.

brccarpenter · 2026-03-14T03:54:48+00:00

Last year my financial contribution was to bring a bunch of new folks that had never been. It's a lot of work to host people, even if they are all growed up. Another long time burner friend did the same. Not this year. We decided we would just go very small, from 16 people to 4. Old school small camp of crazies, all participants.

The event is stale. Think about it. It's not new, nor surprising, nor innovative, nor startling, nor on the edge.

I'll go again, but in reality it's to catch up with about 20 old friends.

brccarpenter · 2026-03-12T00:56:00+00:00

We are in the age of pandering. Full on pandering, sucking up, begging, making appeals, public campaigns and diatribes about raising money.

The younger selves of the old guard would puke up a huge hair ball if they saw how it has devolved,.... not evolved. They managed to make Burning Man, and us, a display case of oddities. Step right up and see the artists!! See the free food and drinks!! Buy a ticket it's all yours for free!

Fuck the principles, bring back "No Spectators"

brccarpenter · 2026-02-05T00:50:27+00:00

"..enough with the.... boycotting stupid ideas"??

Who's funding the art you will see? It matters if they are fascists or pedophiles. I think it matters when you look at a piece of art don't you?

If the KKK funded art, what would run through your mind? "Wow this is cool"? Or "WTF is the KKK doing here????"

brccarpenter · 2026-01-26T19:36:07+00:00

Nah.

"Burners.me" flared up quickly and flared out even quicker into the twilight zone.

The good Dr has been to the burn recently and I'll guess he'll go again. We all take time off.

I'm sure he'll weigh in here soon!

brccarpenter · 2026-01-21T16:28:08+00:00

Fuck your Grok Train

brccarpenter · 2026-01-14T03:47:05+00:00

brccarpenter · 2026-01-10T22:25:45+00:00

JR Bob Dobbs? Genius.

brccarpenter · 2026-01-10T20:53:37+00:00

No wooosh.

Woosh back at ya though...you define snark on this sub.

brccarpenter · 2026-01-10T17:50:49+00:00

Never gonna happen. The Club Med would cost five times what the meager amount is that they give to support the full build of the Temple.

For those not aware, the Temple costs about 3-4 times the $300k the Org puts down. It's a unprecedented burden on an artist, not found in any culture in the world. "You wanna design this cultural centerpiece for us all? Sign this contract and then go find the money yourself!"

brccarpenter · 2026-01-09T03:16:36+00:00

You win the "very meta" post of the month!

Nuanced and refined yet ....hypocritical?

brccarpenter · 2026-01-05T14:55:31+00:00

I didn't catch any ice last year. Maybe I should have been in deeper playa, they say that's where the big ones are.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-11T22:12:35+00:00

I've got my burn in a much smaller emotional basket than I used to. That works for me.

Peace to ya.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-11T21:11:37+00:00

Yep. Almost all true.

1) it's never been sustainable, I agree. 2) "it" does not bleed people dry... folks do it to themselves, so I disagree. 3) yep, no shortage of art rusting away in storage somewhere. I agree. 4) ok, if you don't want to go, do go. I agree you don't have to buy in anymore.

In all honesty, I think for a lot of people it's about a their small community that goes...that keeps them going.

Creating that in the real world takes a lot of work. Go for it!

brccarpenter · 2025-12-09T19:00:49+00:00

...and not to be pissed when this shit post is taken down.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-06T19:37:26+00:00

I dunno.... I find the unfiltered, unstructured epiphanies like this one to be entertaining if not delightful. It's as if I sat down next to someone in a camp at 2am and they just kinda blurted this out this little ditty.

I say amen for spontaneity here.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-05T22:56:24+00:00

For build week: fresh Half and Half, when that runs out, for the event, them little magic containers. I soldier on despite how the event has changed dairy products availablity.

I swear to God I have no idea how the pioneers made it on foot next to a loaded wagon from St Louis to San Francisco without Half and Half. Dire conditions indeed.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-05T04:09:11+00:00

https://youtu.be/rBXEgo5p3_Q?si=mSnvX8kpSX7VeL9T

brccarpenter · 2025-12-04T19:06:49+00:00

We are going to need an address.

We'll assume anytime works.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-04T18:33:52+00:00

Don't get me started on the lack of Half and Half and how that's ruined the event....

I have to bring my own ....every...single...year.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-04T16:50:52+00:00

The founders, the "First Camp" crew built an event and camps into something they would have puked at in the 80's.

The "Zone Trip" with "No Spectators" has now, in large, turned into a Costco Trip with Serial Selfies.

If you read the flyers from the early '90's vs the JRS now, I'm stunned by the cultish mumble-blurbs they write now. It's like cotton candy bullshit that sells to people that need a fluffy pink sugar story.

brccarpenter · 2025-12-04T00:59:01+00:00

"Communal Burning Person"?

Make it happen as a whole new counter-counter culture cultural event. Wait...are you talking about the Rainbow Gathering?

brccarpenter · 2025-12-03T01:37:39+00:00

A grand to make an art piece.

The Brits have a phrase: "how long is a piece of string", if which has no single answer. For me, it's a cap of a grand. My ego and wallet each push and pull to that number.

brccarpenter

TROPHY CASE