The 2022 BWB Spring Summit was an important inflection moment, as we “returned” to hosting the event on the Hualapai Flat, at Fly Ranch, the home of Black Rock City 1997.

Our theme was “Time and Place”. For three days, we walked the land, shared stories from playas past, and experimented with the rituals that allow us to mark moments in the spiral of time. Our Summits are grounded in three programmatic elements that guide our time together: Serve, Learn, and Celebrate.

The ‘Serve’ element focused on giving back to the land, ecosystem, and greater community. Some of our work projects included:

• Activating the new event site, and setting up shared infrastructure to be utilized by LAGI Summer Camp and other groups throughout the season 
• Deep cleaning of the shared-use kitchen. (Thanks Square One Camp!)
• Prototyping a new ‘Solar Shade’ system with the BWB-BRC Power Team & Green Theme Camps to be utilized year-round at Fly Ranch and Black Rock City
• Testing of the  Whiteout Kit app (a solution to navigating off-grid and off-the-map locations) meant to be a gift to the global Burning Man Community

The ‘Learn’ element focused on peer-to-peer learning and sharing. Some of our sessions included:

• Learning about the History of the Black Rock Desert from a 10,000-year Perspective
• How to Organize Towards Inclusivity + Diversity at Events
• Disasters, Refugees, and Resilience with Alight
• The Long Disaster: Practical Stories from the Field
• Earthen Building Techniques: Earth Brick Workshop
• Green Theme Camp Meet-up & Discussion
• Collaborative Effigy-Building workshop
  

The ‘Celebrate’ element focused on meaningful rituals and celebrations which included:

• The first community effigy burn on playa since 1997
• A solar-powered nighttime dance party
• Participant’s birthday and a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary with us 

Another intention of the BWB Summits at Fly Ranch is to support the global community to have another anchor point in which to more deeply root into Northern Nevada. We discussed the possible future of collaborations with Gerlach, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, 360, and other Burning Man properties. We ended the event by asking, “Where do we go from here?”

The BWB Summits are small group gatherings of less than 100 people, and the weekends have a participant-driven, unconference style of programming with plenty of focus on connecting with the land, each other, and ourselves. If you are interested in attending an upcoming Summit you are invited to express interest (bwbsummit@burningman.org). To learn about upcoming Summits and other events, subscribe to our newsletter.

Special thanks to the team out at Fly ranch, Nevada Properties our volunteer team including Annie Coleman, Satya Kamdar, Neha Sharma, Nick Farr, Wild Wes, Juan Olivarez, Patrick Noder, Erika Wesnousky, and Bruce Cooper. 

Want to learn more? Check out our 2022 Slide Deck for more information.

Past BWB Summits:
2021 Spring Summit Report
2020 Green Theme Camp Summit (virtual) Report
2020 Virtual Spring Summit Report
2019 Fall Summit ‘Sustainability & Regenerative Culture’ Report
2019 Spring Summit Report

If you’ve already purchased your ticket. Consider these as next steps:
– Fill out the Collaborative Programming & Logistics Document
– Offer or Request a ride in the Ride Share Document

Essential Reading:  Fly Ranch Survival Guide

See what we’ve been up to in the past:
BWB Spring Summit 2021 Report Out
BWB Fall Summit 2020: Green Theme Camp Summit Report Out
BWB Virtual Spring Summit 2020 Report Out
BWB Fall Summit 2019 Report Out
BWB Spring Summit 2019 Report Out

Questions: bwbsummit@burningman.org

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