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Kiwiburn 2008 Afterburn Reportt
April 30, 2008
1. Introduction by New Zealand Regional Burning Man
Contact, Mark Stirling, aka Yonderman
Well, we have reached that time of year again. Time to write
our Afterburn report, in which we reflect on all aspects of
our recent achievement, Kiwiburn 2008. This year was the fifth
Kiwiburn, and the second held at our North Island site of
Whakamaru Domain. The three day event had the theme “Combust
in Unity”, which was an easy theme for everyone to embrace.
People from New Zealand and a large number from abroad made
up the >180 person attendance, and the event went off with
a bang of success in more ways than one (see later sections).
The Man was a work of art and was built by Chris Hankins aka
Kiwi and helpers.
For me, this was the first Kiwiburn to have a really strong
Burning Man feel about it. The early South Island events I
either organised by myself or with Grant Knowles (aka Tribalman)
formed a critical mass by way of a very Tribal interpretation
of Burning Man. That critical mass eventually moved the event
to the North Island to capture the more mainstream Burner
population (Auckland and Wellington) and resulted in the successful
Kiwiburn 2007.
However it is our 2008 event that outshines all others, presumably
as a result of the greater preparation time for the organising
committee and participants. It was clear that people had been
given a greater opportunity to prepare and participate than
before. The array of Theme Camps were impressive, as were
the various forms of art. I am talking performance art, static
art and interactive art. We were even treated to an early
morning cacophony of “Radio Insomnia”, reminding
many of us of those bleary-eyed mornings at Burning Man when
loud art cars stopped by to give us their own personal Jesus.
All very Burning Man. In an indirect way I measure the success
of the early events through the success of the most recent
events. The formation of a passionate, hardworking and dedicated
Kiwiburn committee was the big forward step to come out of
those early events. Once the site was found and the event
provided, it was then the participants who made the magic
happen.
I have personally enjoyed the Kiwiburn ride over the last
five years, and this year even had opportunity to celebrate
those five years with my art structure “Cincophoria”.
Kiwiburn was given accolades at the recent Regionals Summit
in San Francisco (pictures of Kiwiburn 2008 were displayed
at the Summit), and press coverage was considerable in the
New Zealand papers. A Kiwiburn documentary was even filmed.
The event organisation wasn’t without its hard times.
The committee lost the considerable talents of committee members
Myles, aka Firebrat, and Jess, aka Jessica Strawberry Cheesecake
Rabbit, for various reasons, and many committee members faced
considerable life challenges during the year. The BMORG was
to have sent Marian Goodall (Maid Marian, Mistress of Communication)
to New Zealand for Kiwiburn, but she had to cancel at a late
stage due to mounting workload in San Francisco. Some mishaps
occurred at the event (read later sections) but nothing beyond
the ordinary for an event of this size and diversity.
I look forward to the future with excitement. I have never
been of the opinion that Kiwiburn will grow exponentially,
and indeed hope this will never be the case. I do however
look forward to how we grow in terms of our “richness”.
I am talking more in terms of participation, art, performance,
music, diversity and the like. Thank you all for your participation
now and in the future, especially to our committee chairperson
Wendy, aka Dr Windy, who will step down from that challenging
role this year. Thanks also to Destination Taupo for their
financial support and belief in us. We also have the Whakamaru
Domain site as our home thanks to them, and Kiwiburn is even
being incorporated into their future Management Plan. We are
here for the long haul, so come and join us for the journey
of your life!
The following sections are a more detailed report on Kiwiburn,
broken down into a series of topics, and each written by the
relevant committee member.
2. Organisation by Kathy “KuriousKat”
Guidi
In August of 2007, Kiwiburn became an incorporated society
and now has the professional sounding name of Kiwiburn Incorporated.
Our incorporation document governs how the organisation is
structured and this document can be found on the Kiwiburn
website. Becoming an official entity affords us further credibility
as we grow Kiwiburn and interface with official bodies in
the real world; it also means we have an official bank account
and must file annual financials with the IRD!
We have three official officer roles: The Chair (Big Nob),
The Treasurer (Bean Counter), and Secretary (Committee Wrangler).
These three officers serve on the larger Organising Committee
(ExCom) whose purpose is to act as stewards for Kiwiburn Inc.,
providing oversight and guidance on business matters required
to run the festival.
This year’s organising committee (serving May 07–April
08) was comprised of 13 colourful and passionate individuals
hailing from all around the country and even from as far as
Australia. We added three newbies to the team: Jodi York,
Kathy “KuriousKat” Guidi, and Jonathan “Helix”
Beza, and said goodbye to two outstanding committee members
Myles “Firebrat” White and Jessica “Strawberry
Cheesecake Rabbit” Lunsford.
In brief, your ExCom consisted of:
Wendy “Dr. Windy” Allison: Wendy stepped
up and became Kiwiburn’s first ever Big Nob and did
a great job overseeing the committee and keeping us all in
order with her tact, focus, and diplomacy. As in 2007, she
also served as the event’s Health and Safety Officer
(HSO) and worked with all art and theme camps to ensure they
had adequate safety plans to comply with OSH regulations.
Tapping into her creative side, Wendy delivered the memorable
art installation called The Wendy Box and was also one of
the members of Pink Moa.
Polly “Mistress Polly” Lind: Polly again
served as the Committee Wrangler keeping everyone on track
and on task throughout the year. She also served as Volunteer
Coordinator, assisting in finding tasks for the group of volunteers
who came early to help set up and stayed late to help clean
up at Kiwiburn. Polly’s artistic talents were put into
her theme camp “Polly’s Put The Kettle On”.
Jodi York: Jodi joined the team and took over as
Bean Counter and did a great job monitoring income and expenses
throughout the year and keeping the eager committee at bay
whenever someone wanted to spend, spend, spend! You all would
have met Jodi at Kiwiburn as she went around and personally
delivered your KB ticket and checked you off the ticket roster
– a thankless and time consuming task that we are working
on improving.
Mark “Yonderman” Stirling: A veteran
Burning Man and Kiwiburn burner, logging now the 11th Burning
Man and 5th Kiwiburn, Mark’s the man who had the vision
to bring Burning Man to New Zealand. Mark serves as the official
regional representative and liaison to the Burning Man organisation
(BMORG) and also serves as our ExCom elder, bringing years
of sage experience and advice to the group.
Allyn “Chewtoy” York: Allyn stepped down
as Bean Counter and just (and I say this lightly) became a
regular committee member. Still the ‘voice of reason’,
Allyn offers sound advice whenever heated discussions occur
on the committee.
Chris “Kiwi” Hankins: Kiwi continued
as our festival on-site manager and overseer of the Ministry
of Public Works (MPW) team and as our liaison to all things
bureaucratic (Destination Taupo, Taupo District Council for
permits, the Volunteer Fire Brigade, King Country Power Company,
the loo company and more). To show off his artistic flair,
Kiwi took on the role of designing and creating The Man as
well as co-creating The Temple, two outstanding art pieces.
Bruce Scanlon: A long-standing Burning Man burner
(8 under his belt), Bruce continued to be a good sounding
board and advice giver in many of the complex ExCom discussions.
Bruce, along with his campmates, brought back The Green Fairy,
and he also co-created the Temple, bringing us the powerful
spiritually based Merkaba as the Temple’s altar.
Cass Edwards: Our resident OZ member, Cass continued
as our Website Czar, handling the on-going quarterly updates
to the website. Also Green Fairy member, Cass could often
be seen ‘shaking up’ the green goodness in camp
each evening.
Sam Hankins: Sam is still our youngest member of
the team but is no novice to the burner culture having now
served twice on the DPW at Burning Man. Sam often brings great
insight to many ExCom discussions. Sam continued as the Auckland
theme camp regional contact and this year was a key organiser
of the Skullf*ck theme camp.
Shelley Watson: Shelley continued to serve as our
Marketing Guru, responsible for the beautifully designed flame-coloured
logo featured on our tickets, business cards, posters, and
website graphics. Shelley, and fellow burner Abbie, brought
back the Cookie Tree along with the additional Candy Tree,
two edible art installations.
Kyla Dryesen: Kyla served as our Community Outreach
Liaison responsible for managing the News and Updates section
on the KB forums. She also continued to serve as the theme
camp and art installation liaison, providing info and registration
packets to all registrants. Kyla made it to Kiwiburn this
year –yay – and could be found at Polly’s
Put The Kettle On.
Kathy “KuriousKat” Guidi: Another newbie,
Kathy joined the team and often stuck up her hand to do a
lot of the boring administrative tasks like writing reports
and managing the changes for the website. Kathy is the third
member of The Green Fairy and this year brought the successful
Kostume Korner to Kiwiburn, ensuring everyone looked ‘paddock
fabulous!’
Jonathan “Helix” Beza: Our third newbie,
Jonathan brought a lot of enthusiasm to the committee and
often assisted in many various research roles. Jonathan was
one of the co-creators of Pink Moa, the great pink dance zone,
and main resident DJ allowing everyone to get their groove
on. Jonathan also brought us another memorable year of Radio
Insomnia.
As you can see, in addition to serving on the committee all
year long, attending regular meetings, and trying to keep
the organisation on track, many on the committee bring big
art and theme camps to Kiwiburn with great effort of year-long
planning and execution. This year, most of the ExCom felt
over-taxed at Kiwiburn with managing their dual roles of responsible
committee member versus creative partying anarchist artist
which made for a somewhat stressful experience for some. Addressing
burnout is something that the committee will be taking a much
needed closer look at this year!
3. Financials by Jodi York and Kathy “KuriousKat”
Guidi
We had another good financial year with 182 participants attending
the event. Tickets were sold in the $50 and $60 range with
the majority of tickets purchased using Paypal or direct deposit.
We changed retail outlets this year and went with Cosmic Corner
who sold 23 tickets on our behalf. And once again, we received
a significant grant from Destination Taupo (TDC) – thank
you!
On the expense side of things, we invested more money into
the main art structures for Kiwiburn: the Man, the Temple
and the greeters station. These three projects accounted for
a little more than 30% of our budget. We also decided this
year, after discussion on the forums, to account for our carbon
emissions by making a donation to a local nature reserve;
$2.60 of each ticket was donated to The Maungatautari Ecological
Island Trust, for a total of $473. All other expenses were
within the forecasted budget.
Income
$ 5,084
Paypal (net)
$ 1,260
Cosmic Corner
$ 2,480
Direct Deposit
$ 920
Gate Sales:
$ 5,000
sponsorship TDC
$ 14,744
total income |
Expenditure
$ 900
council rental fees and pony club rental
$ 2,500
Event Medics
$ 823
Printing (cards, signs, posters, business cards)
$ 752
sound system rental
$ 820
Marquee rental and permit
$ 366
Insurance
$ 10
Power
$ 599
Toilet rental
$ 3,607
art and construction supplies – man, temple, greeter
station
$ 473
Carbon Offsets
$ 233
Miscellaneous admin
$11,083
Total expenses |
| |
$3,661
Pre tax income/loss |
4. Environment and Site Management by Chris “Kiwi”
Hankins
Kiwiburn is a leave no trace (LNT) event. Everything that
is brought in must be taken out. This is one of the guiding
principles of our event.
The main infrastructure of the festival is managed by the
MPW – Ministry of Public Works which is modeled after
the DPW – Department of Public Works at Burning Man.
The MPW is responsible for prefestival set up which includes:
creation of the Man burn platform so as to ensure no scarring
of the paddock is done due to the burn, proper lighting of
main pathways, delivering of cigarette receptacles to all
theme camps, creating and placing signage, establishing the
gate, assisting with major art projects; festival maintenance:
monitoring of the loos (rentals and onsite); management of
burn night, maintaining pathways and roads; and post-festival
cleanup: disposal of recycling, burn platform cleanup, etc.
Prefestival Setup
We had a great crew of approximately 20 volunteers for MPW
this year. Several, including Josie, Max, Johnny Payphone,
Arnaud, and Dougal Dutch, came from overseas specifically
to help out on the MPW and they joined a great group of mainly
Auckland-based young, strong, teen- and twenty-somethings.
During the days leading up to the festival, the MPW crew worked
tirelessly to create the gate and greeters station, create
the burn platform for the Man which included bringing truckloads
of dirt up from the lower paddock, assisted with the creation
of several theme camps, cleaned out and organized the Pony
Shed, put up the main marquee and created the flooring for
center camp, and helped out with a myriad of other tasks that
need to be done in time for the event.
Festival Maintenance
While the event is in process, the MPW ensures that roads
and pathways are maintained and also assists with general
clean up of recycling around the premises. The toilet block
had to be maintained and cleaned regularly due to plumbing
problems. The plumber had to be called in over the weekend
to deal with faulty and leaky plumbing issues. The loo rentals
also had to be maintained as they were filling to capacity
before the event was over and we could not call in for services
because of the weekend.
Arnaud and Dougal Dutch spent most of their time working on
building and kitting out the Man, fitting him with EL wire
and ensuring his ‘glowiness’.
On the day of Burn Night, several of the crew worked all day
to prepare the Man for the evening’s burn. After consulting
with several people, including a non-credentialed pyrotechnics
person, we decided to pour several litres of petrol, within
an enclosed space at the base of the man to ensure for a quick
burn (unlike 2007 where the Man took over a half hour to ignite
and then burn). The firemen were consulted for a safety check.
No one predicted what would happen. Unfortunately, on ignition,
the fumes trapped in the Man base exploded with a boom instead
of a woomph destroying the man and injuring Dougal. In retrospect,
it is theorised that the petrol fumes accumulating in the
closed area under the man platform were the cause of the explosion.
Ka’boom!
Post Festival CleanUp
The majority of the MPW crew stayed until Tuesday evening
assisting with cleanup. The burn platform had to be dismantled
(first, a magnet was used to remove all metallic items from
the burn pyre; then all the dirt had to be returned to the
lower paddock); all the recycling (including glass, plastic,
paper, and aluminium) was taken to the Mangakino dump station
after a bit of a snafu with the station’s managers about
opening times; the center camp marquee had to be taken down;
the Pony Shed organised and cleaned up; and all paddocks had
to be swept for any rubbish to comply with our Leave No Trace
ethic.
Tina Jakes from the Taupo District Council came by on Tuesday
evening for a debriefing. Tina was pleased with the over all
tidyness of the site and has given us further permission to
store materials etc in the pony club shed.
Dougal performed a comprehensive site sweep and report which
showed only small amounts of moop, some of which was the result
of incredibly strong winds that hit the site on Monday night
and Tuesday all day also making the removal of the burn site
dirt a major challenge for those involved. At this point I’d
also like to point out that whilst there is a core membership
to the MPW, everyone that helped in the set up and tear down
are rock stars, you might not all have got a t-shirt, but
without your input the jobs wouldn’t have been completed
as fast and efficiently. Thank you all.
Issues to be addressed for next year
We need to have better controls for the burning of the Man.
This may include creating a group consisting of Kiwi, a professional
pyrotechnics advisor, and the HSO, who together will determine
the best use of flammables for the Man.
The toilet situation needs to be reviewed as we did not have
enough loos to meet attendance. We can either increase the
number of loos rented or we can think about working with the
Council to have the toilet block upgraded. We may even suggest
installing a composting toilet, one is being trialed on another
reserve and we hope the results are good so Whakamaru Domain
can get one.
We are discussing with Council the idea of establishing a
permanent burn platform so that it does not have to be created
and then deconstructed pre- and post- festival. The platform
will be constructed with concrete retainer sides and filled
with pumas soil to approximately 200mm deep and will approximately
10 metres square and have a corrugated iron cover to prevent
the animals from messing it up.
5. Art and Theme Camps by Kathy “KuriousKat”
Guidi
Planning and Placement
Polly, aka Mistress Polly, was responsible for Town Planning
this year, which encompassed working with all registered theme
camps and art installation people before the event to discuss
their camp or art needs, their size, their volume, etc, so
as to accurately assign them to appropriate locations on the
paddocks. The realised versus planned placements mainly went
according to plan with the exception of The Green Fairy. The
Green Fairy was originally targeted to be located in the outer
paddock near The Skullf*ck Bar and Pink Moa; however upon
arrival it was determined that there was not enough access
to get to the site and it was also too close to the other
camps which had loud sound systems. The Green Fairy then decided
to locate on top of the hill in the ‘loud camp’
paddock. This location was sited under the power lines. As
the Green Fairy carport was being erected, electrical currents
started transmitting from the power lines through to the steel
poles of the carport, causing electric shocks to people. The
Green Fairy had to relocate again and made it’s home
in the main paddock.
Art and Theme Camp Descriptions
For a relatively small festival of 180 people, we participants
really stepped up to the plate and delivered a remarkable
array of theme camps and art. So much so, that one had to
actually choose what they wanted to do and one could not do
everything. Just like at Burning Man.
The Tauranga firespinners created Balrogs Playpen and dazzled
us each evening with their exciting pyrotechnic skills. Pink
Moa came with a lineup of pink-haired DJ’s, creating
a pinked-out circular dance space under the stars complete
with beanbag filled chill space. HiDive totally upped The
Sheep End with an amazing sound system set upon a hilltop
paddock. More important was his mobile sound system –
the black van with a 4 foot paper mache black sheep and solar-lamp
eyes perched on front – which careened across the paddock
pumping out tunes. Roy and Alfred’s The Drop Zone with
centralised paddock placement offered a 24 hour chill space,
providing tranquil indian/middle eastern music by day and
a movie zone by night.
Urs and David brought us B-Movie Camp which featured a variety
of, well, B-Movies. The Jafab group came with a mighty crew
and provided us with The Skullfu*k Bar and Dance Zone often
pumped out heavy metal to accompany Anne Bonny’s Thunder
Ditch battles. Hippie Tim came with a group of friends and
formed Camp Pedro, featuring disco music and cheap wine. Polly’s
Put The Kettle On provided many with tea and coffee and could
always be seen from anywhere in the paddock with its giant
yellow 10 foot teapot frontage. And there was Purple Camp
and West Camp.
Trailer Trash camp morphed into Los Caravanos de les Muertos.
Jen and Ants and Scotto, Jess, Allan, Hana, Lily, Poppy, Cora,
and all the other lovely ladies of the camp worked tirelessly
throughout the year to make gorgeous paper mache skulls, 2
metre tall cacti, a chapel, and a float all fully decorated
with Day of The Dead themed items. The detailing that went
into their camp was remarkable. And The Green Fairy black-light
lounge was back, with Cass, Jeremy, Bruce, and Kathy serving
up delicious libations, tasty treats, and music.
As for art, well, Dr. Windy outdid herself with The Wendy
Box, a 3.6 metre x 3.6 metre x 2.1 metre covered cube which
one had to climb up a ladder and descend into, and which was
full of hundreds and hundreds of balloons. Rich brought us
the thing we’d all talked about and hoped for: a floating
art boat: A full fledged pirate ship, aptly named the Dodgy
Roger, complete with mast, pirate flag, and, quite often,
a pirate or two! Moored at the lake’s edge, the Dodgy
Roger was often host to the children of Kiwiburn who found
delight in diving/jumping off the deck. Ian brought us The
Impossible Triangle, a giant optical illusion.
Shelley and Abbie brought back The Cookie Tree – a tree
from which little baggies of tasty cookies were hung. They
also added The Candy Tree which was conveniently placed on
the path between all the dance camps. And next to the Candy
Tree Shelley resurrected the metal fern art she made for Burning
Man 07, encrusted with playa dust and with leaves bent by
the playa storms. Bacon hung large paintings in a couple of
trees on the site. Mark “Yonderman” brought us
Cincophoria, a 2 metre tall ‘friendship circle’
comprised of six stick-figured men with covered halogen solar
lamps for heads and which glowed at night. This art piece
was a tribute to Kiwiburn’s 5th year and to Kiwiburn08’s
theme: CombustInUnity, whereby all participants were encouraged
to make ‘man’ icon art pieces to display and the
burn with the Man.
Kiwi volunteered to make the Man and came up with a design
whereby the 10’ tall Man would sit perched in a chair
throughout the festival until the day of the burn, at which
time he would stand up and raise his hands towards the sky.
Kiwi and his MPW crew of young, strong, teens and twenty-somethings,
worked tirelessly for days to build a burn platform, and then
build a square, pyramid-shaped base on which the 3 metre Man
was placed. Not satisfied with just a plain décor for
the Man, burner Arnaud took it under his wing to ‘trick
out’ the Man adding an incredible amount of artistic
curves and which gave an added challenge to our EL wire king,
Dougal Dutch, who rose to the challenge. By the last day,
the Man was a colourful, glowing, beautiful art piece.
The Temple of Unity was an interactive, spiritually based
art piece created by the collaboration of Kiwi and Bruce.
Featured as the Temple’s altar was Bruce’s 3 metre
tall Merkaba, a three-dimensional structure of two nested
tetrahedrons, complete with orgone accumulator material, orgonite,
an orgone generator and a platform at its centre from which
one person could sit. Surrounding the Merkaba, at each of
its six anchoring points, were 2.4 metre tall x 1 metre wide
pyramid-cubbies. The pyramids provided a canvas for people
to express their artistic talents and express they did. Purple,
Lady Steph, Karen, Squirrel, Kurious Kat, Cass, Jeremy, Gadgit,
a bunch of others added colour and revelry to what were basically
cardboard triangles. Bruce left a journal in the Merkaba for
people to record their experiences. It was, and is, a powerful
structure and the Temple of Unity offered a calm oasis away
from the sea of chaos and bacchanalia that framed most of
the festival.
There was no lack of performance art. The most memorable,
because it had been talked up for months, was the short marriage
ceremony of the Jafab and Trailer Trash camps. The two Auckland
based groups formed a strong friendship over the year and
decided to make their ‘union’ official by having
a full weekend wedding celebration complete with hen party,
stag party, and civil ceremony. The brides and grooms raucously
delighted the guests along with officiant Kiwi, who, could
often be heard yelling ‘shut the f*ck up’ through
the bullhorn.
Kathy brought us the Kostume Korner which was set up in the
centre camp marquee, stocked with bags and bags of op shop
found burner attire, and which was available to everyone.
On Saturday afternoon, Janet , Dougal and Kathy morphed into
the fashion police, complete with mobile clothing rack, and
spent an hour or so roving the paddocks citing people for
their fashion faux pas. This segued into the first ever Kiwiburn
fashion show. MC’d by Helix and featuring a wooden catwalk
under the main marquee, the lovely band of paddock-fabulous
dressed contestants entertained and dazzled the equally well-frocked
audience. Hilarious.
Throughout Saturday morning we were treated to awesome live
‘band’ music performed by various burners. Jez
and Andrea offered lessons on The Silks – an acrobatic
‘rope-climbing’ art of sorts; Jodi offered hula-hoop
lessons. The ‘hug me’ guy carried a sign which
read ‘free hugs’. And, brought back by unpopular
demand, was our lovable, and sometimes hateable, DJ Helix,
offering us Radio Insomnia, a 7:30 am Sunday morning ‘breakfast
show’ of sorts. There has been some debate as to whether
this ‘performance art’ falls under the Burning
Man ethos of radical self-expression or whether it constitutes
blatant badgering; perhaps next year there will be a radical
‘performance art’ kidnapping of said DJ.
And then there was burn night, the culmination of the festival
on Sunday evening. Everyone gathering, everyone partying,
two firetrucks and twenty volunteer local fireman with smiles
on their faces, all here to watch the burning of the man,
the burning of the temple, followed by a walk through Pearl’s
fire labyrinth. Let’s just say the Man kaboomed; we
danced; we released; we enjoyed.
Wow, what an awesome festival we created. Lots of hard work
and dedication put forth by all the burners. I hope that every
one of you was thanked, at least once, if not a hundred times,
for your creativity and vision and for being your wonderful
selves.
Once again, next year will only get better, with many burners
already planning their contribution. Join the theme camp discussion
forums (http://www.kiwiburn.com/forum/) and think about registering
your camp or art
installation now!
6. Communication and Technology by Allyn “ChewToy”
York
C and T in the lead up to the Event
1. Communications among the ExCom is done primarily over email
with fortnightly teleconference meetings in which the technology
used was Skype. Our Skype connection often proved unreliable
with dodgy connections. Often only one caller could connect
and communicate with the core team in Wellington while others
could only listen. Also, not all ExCom members had a computer
system which could run Skype and therefore not everyone on
the organising committee could participate in meetings.
2. The Kiwiburn forums which were set up last year has become
the main method of communications among the burner community,
now surpassing the level of activity that was once on Tribe.net.
We added a new section to the forums called “News and
Updates” which allows for dissemination of ExCom news
to the community. Agendas and Minutes of Meetings are regularly
posted for all to see and comment on. The ExCom hopes that
this will promote transparency and engender a lot of feedback!
C and T During the Event
1. We had nobody “manning the phones” for the
last week as we were all on site for set-up. Therefore, we
didn’t get last minute communications, ie queries about
arrivals/registration/etc. In the future we can either put
a message on the website specifying that we’re out of
touch or have more of a commitment to staying in communication
with the outside world.
2. We lacked a plan about who was going to take down the ticket
buttons (paypal and direct deposit) and when to do so. We
talked about it prior to going, but we ended up flying by
the seat of our pants. We got the job done but it could have
better.
3. Onsite internet connections: Shelley and Gadgit both had
dodgy, slow, intermittent internet access. Eventually they
got the job done, but it took a lot of patience and the help
of Cass. Thank you very much Cass!
Issues to be addressed next year
During set-up/pre-event it might be worth going into town
daily to an internet cafe to check all relevant email addresses,
compile ticket sales info (we didn’t get as many last
minute ticket sales this year as in 2007, but it still does
happen), and make website updates
The ExCom needs better technology for teleconferencing. Various
conferencing systems will be researched. This is a critical
problem to be solved.
7. Public Relations by Bruce Scanlon
DJ Mikey Havoc of Auckland’s 95bFM radio interviewed
Regional Rep Mark Stirling in the lead up to the event. The
interview went well, and when Mikey Havoc was approached at
a random meeting on a Auckland beach, he urged Kiwiburn to
contact him earlier next year.
Participant Serendipity and a sympathetic writer friend produced
an excellent and very positive article for the major daily,
Dominion Post. This article was reprinted in local papers
and stimulated local visitors.
An ad was placed in Mangakino papers inviting locals for Sunday
afternoon tea and a tour. Some locals showed up early on Sunday
morning and were hosted at the Green Fairy. They pledged to
attend next year and bring friends.
The Sunday afternoon tea party was a big success, and some
local residents who had experience with running longer than
3-day Celtic spirituality festivals volunteered their experience
should Kiwiburn seek to extend the duration of the event,
which would require additional permitting and consent from
the local authorities.
Throughout the three day event, a few local residents trickled
in and a good time was had by all!
8. Health and Safety by Wendy “Dr. Windy”
Allison
This report looks at the health and safety aspects of the
festival, noting what happened, what issues were raised relating
to health and safety during the event, and at the bottom of
the report is a list of action points that have arisen from
the health and safety, that can be addressed for Kiwiburn
09.
Safety planning in the lead up to the event.
This year, all theme camps and art structures had a pre-prepared
safety plan. Contacting theme camps and artists individually
and offering help with preparation of these eliminated a lot
of confusion, and was useful in making sure that plans were
made for safety ahead of time. I feel this is a good exercise
to carry forward into the future.
Safety during the event
Safety in and around theme camps and art structures was very
good this year, with no injuries sustained by participants
related to the safety of structures or power sources. There
was an incident in one sound camp where a strobe light got
wet due to a rain shower, and shorted out the power for the
camp. This highlighted that it does rain at Kiwiburn, and
that dampness getting into electrical equipment is an important
safety issue for those using power outdoors. While this was
addressed within safety plans, it could maybe stand to be
highlighted as a site specific issue.
Safety inspections were not carried out satisfactorily (not
all camps received an inspection), highlighting the necessity
of the HSO spending time on the first day of the event visiting
each camp with the safety plan in hand, and making sure it
has been adhered to or altering things to address any changes
to proposed structure/plans. It may become necessary to enlist
the help of a volunteer for this task as the festival grows,
but at this point it’s a job that can be carried out
by one person, if that person does not have other tasks as
well.
Total injuries seen by the medics this year
1 case of heat stroke
1 case of appendicitis
1 case of 2 twisted ankles due to walking on rough paths in
the dark under the influence of alcohol
1 bee sting
1 bruised knee as a result of knocking on an old injury while
climbing a ladder
1 bruised knee when hit by flying debris at the Man burn
While this is a relatively small number of injuries given
the size and nature of the festival, a couple have highlighted
areas where health and safety could be improved – visibility
on the pathways at night, and communication between organisers
during the festival.
The Man Burn
The explosion during the burning of the Man was unexpected,
and the damage could easily have been much worse than it was.
Investigation shows that the cause of the explosion was petrol
being used as an accelerant prior to the man burning. The
prepared health and safety plan for the Man burn did not allow
for the use of petrol or fireworks as part of the burn, and
the exclusion zone around the Man was based on a simple fire
as opposed to an explosion. Use of accelerants and pyrotechnics
require a larger exclusion zone for the safety of participants,
and preparation by experts. The exclusion zone was not clear
to participants, requiring people to be moved back before
the fire could be lit.
This demonstrates that while a comprehensive safety plan was
prepared, it was not followed, and the changes to the plan
for the Man burn were not consulted on, or notified to key
people. This highlights an issue of communication between
the MPW and the HSO during the festival, and the role of the
HSO as part of the burns. While the volunteer fire brigade
were consulted prior to the burn, it is clear that more consultation
is needed to ensure the safety of participants.
The HSO was not present at the preparation for the burn, as
a security check was being carried out at the time –
a role that could be filled by other people (rangers?), leaving
the HSO free to perform safety checks.
Hygiene
There were no hygiene-related injuries or illnesses at Kiwiburn
this year. However, there were some problems with the existing
toilet block that could have become a hygiene issue –
that of the cisterns in the toilets not filling, the water
sitting on the floor in both ladies and gents sections of
the block, and the sinks not draining correctly. A plumber
was called out on the Sunday to deal with the drainage issue,
but the cisterns not filling is to do with the water feed
to the toilets and could not be fixed ‘on the spot.’
The portable toilets filled up much faster this year, and
because there were several events on in the district on Kiwiburn
weekend, they could not be replaced or emptied. KB organisers
will need to address the issue of the number of portable toilets
as part of preparation for KB09.
Hand sanitiser and toilet paper were provided by the organisers,
and these were adequate for the duration and population of
the event.
Issues to be addressed for next year
• HSO role to be separate from other roles – ie
if HSO, not on greeter duty or security. Look at recruiting
an assistant for HSO
• Lighting for main pathways at night
• Communication between organisers on site (daily meetings,
walkie talkies, HSO to be present at preparation for the burns).
Copy of safety plan to be on hand for burn preparation time
• Supervision of pyrotechnics and/or fireworks by an
expert
• HSO presence during preparation for the burns to ensure
exclusion zones are marked and appropriate to the techniques
used for the burn
• A group of key people to develop the plan for the
Man burn, and to assess and approve any changes to safety
plan for the burns before they are carried out
• Specifically addressing the issue of rain when dealing
with outdoor lighting and electrical cabling within safety
plans
• Looking at solutions for the toilet facilities to
be effective for the use of 200+ people for three to five
days – explore options.
9. Future Vision by Bruce Scanlon
Looking at last year’s Future Vision and comparing it
with the actuality of 2008 is interesting: We said our goal
was “to spread the [Burning Man] culture as far and
as wide as possible without diluting it by trying to do it
too fast.” That goal still sounds like a good one!
We expected participants to double or triple, but experienced
“only” a very respectable 50% growth rate. As
they did last year, people are still calling for a 5 day festival.
We achieved our goals of water art, art cars, incorporation,
and have continued our excellent relationship with the local
council.
I also note that the 2007 Future Vision was written 130 days
after the event, but I am now writing it just 34 days later.
So the vision here will be a little clearer in some ways,
less clear in others.
As much as Kiwiburn 2007 captured the culture of Burning Man,
Kiwiburn 2008 moved closer to the actual sensory overload
too-much-to-do-too-many-people-to-meet feeling of the Nevada
event. We reckon this trend will continue, and bring more
people, more theme camps, more art, and more opportunities
to increase our organisational expertise so that everything
will continue to run smoothly.
For 2008 it seems safe to anticipate the creation of an art
grant process, more exploration into extending the length
of the festival, continued work on making permanent improvements
to the Whakamaru Domain, and more structure for volunteer
and committee oversight during the event in order to avoid
burn out and make sure anticipated difficulties already have
a means of resolution in place.
Barring unforeseen events, 50% growth seems like a reasonable
target, especially since many of the attendees are overseas
visitors on holiday, and the core community of New Zealand
burners is itself obviously composed of dynamic wide-ranging
individuals who continually seek new growth experiences, which
must sometimes inevitably conflict with being at a certain
spot in New Zealand at the beginning of February.
That said, there was filming this year for a Kiwiburn documentary.
Should this be completed and let loose at New Zealand film
festivals, we might experience accelerated growth. In addition,
the very favourable press we received this year in the Dominion
Post might also further stimulate growth.
What is clear from all of the above is that Kiwiburn enjoys
solid and growing support from both the New Zealand and international
burner community as well as New Zealand institutions of the
default reality.
The future once again looks very bright! |
