We choose to call the event "Alchemy" - a word of magic. Alchemy begins
with a relationship - In our case, the relationship between the the L.A.
Burning Man community and our various event planners. Prior to choosing
the date for Alchemy, we neglected to consult the community for input.
Regretfully, we choose wrong.
Alchemy is also about transformation. "Turning lead into gold". We are
using the cancellation of this event to learn, and to grow. We're
transforming our relationship to the community. We don't know yet what
the transformation will look like. Possibly town meetings where everyone
is welcome to participate and contribute their input and insight (much
like Burning Man's annual Town Hall Meetings in SF). Our promise to you
(and to ourselves) is to grow from this experience with the clear
intention of serving our magnificent community the best we can.
As we progressed with the planning of Alchemy, it became apparent that
the Memorial Day weekend was problematic for many of the theme camps,
artists, volunteers, and performers, as well as others who would loved to have participated.
After many discussions over the past few days with a wide array of
people active within the community, a consensus has been reached that
the event will be canceled due to a number of mitigating factors,
detailed below.
Please keep in mind that any team of people that come together to
organize a regional event are here solely to serve this wonderful
community. Not the other way around. Keeping that in mind, the community
spoke, we listened, and we did what we felt was best for everybody
involved.
For those of you who were planning on being there, disappointment is to
be expected. In the final analysis, there was a much greater percentage
of Burners not able to attend the event, only a few theme camps,
virtually no art, nor mutant vehicles. These facts coupled with the
handful of tickets already sold was making it look like an event that
could not possibly meet the standards we as a community have grown to
expect.
* Over the past few days, a number of theme camps had to pull out. As
did most of the large scale artists due to a previous commitment to show their work at the L.A. Arts Fest which will take place
immediately after Alchemy. Same goes for Mutant Vehicles.
* Almost everyone needed more time to properly prepare their theme
camps. People felt rushed to meet the date. A few pulled out, not due to
lack of enthusiasm but rather from the fact that they were still
recovering from attending many of the other regional (and other)
multi-day events that happen this time of year. The most common comment
we were getting was: "We love this event, we just cant do it justice on
time. Can we push the date?"
* We had a low amount of presales. It doesn't take a huge amount of
ticket sales to meet our overhead. We strive to keep our direct
production costs low so that we can facilitate the participation of as
many people as possible. Ticket sales were not sufficient enough to
justify throwing the event, given the size of the space, lack of theme
camp involvement, no art, and no Mutant Vehicles.
* What is more of a concern than the financial aspect is to
inadvertently create an event that may not measure up to the standards
we have all come to expect from this marvelous community. We felt that
these standards could not be met for a number of reasons. Those reasons
were expressed by the community at large.
The organizing committee thought about it carefully, and we feel that it
would serve the community best to postpone the event to a later date.
This will allow theme camps to have all members present and it will
allow for quality preparation time, as well as insuring the presence of
art, full participation and self expression.
Please bear with us as we learn and grow as a Regional. At all times we
have your creative expression in mind, and we are here to serve that.
Burning Man has always been an experiment in temporary community, and as
experiments go, some produce fabulous results and others produce more
questions than answers. We will learn, we have learned, and we will
grow.
We will be setting regional event dates far ahead of time from now on.
With that in mind, we will only have the L.A. Decompression in October
for this year. An open meeting much like Burning Man's annual Town Hall Meetings, at which anyone can attend and have their voice
heard, and free of charge, is being planned so we can all set an agenda
for regional events for 2006. Many of you expressed a desire to continue
the "Burn on the 4th" event. We will discuss that date as an option for
next year's regional agenda.
Please make your voice heard. Email us with your thoughts, desires, and
suggestions. After all, these are your events. You need as much notice
as possible to bring your art, music, and expression to life. Please
send comments to
la@burningman.com
Thank you all who agreed to help create and attend this event. We are
deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment this may have
caused you.
WE WILL GIVE FULL REFUNDS OF ALL PRESALES. These refunds will be in the
form of electronic transactions that will be credited directly to your
accounts.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Together we've created
exceptional events in the past, and with your continued enthusiasm, we
can create even better ones in the near future.
With much respect, hope... and yes... love,
Twan and the entire Alchemy team
Alchemy in San Diego Cancelled
From Twan and the Alchemy team
