PolyParadise will be taking a Hiatus to a Potential BRC 2021
March 18, 2021
It has been 30 days since we received information
from
BMHQ about the possibilities of a 2021 event
and my initial response. At that time I had quite a
few concerns about us returning as a Village of
PolyParadise to BRC 2021. We have
received additional information from BMHQ to Theme Camps
about DGS (Directed Group Sale) ticket allocation.
Know that as of 3/18/21 the decision if a 2021 event
will happen has NOT been decided; although BMHQ has
started to put things in motion if in-fact they can
make the announcement that it is a GO - They
estimate that decision will be made in May. BRC
Participation Forms (DMV-Art-Media-Disabled) will be
going live this week. The Theme Camp Placement Form
will go LIVE May 3 - My hope would be that they make
a Go | No Go decision before ticket sales start or
the Placement Form going Live - No idea what day in
May they will make the final decision.
Guami (Lead of Twisted Swan |
Temple of Bacchus) and I have had some conversations
about their own camp plans for a possible 2021 event will be and how they see their future
involvement with The Village of PolyParadise. He stated that they are planning to attend BRC 2021 if
it happens - and would want to be part of
PolyParadise in future years as they find our
togetherness as fruitful as we do.
In the notification Placement sent to Theme Camps
(3/16/21) some of the things I had concerns about
have been answered. Camps that take a year off in
2021 would NOT be penalized and have the same
allocation of DGS tickets they had previously in a
return to a 2022 event. That is GREAT NEWS and makes
decisions about taking 2021 off
easier to swallow. The Placement email
is now asking us as Theme Camps/Village to determine
if BRC 2021 is in our current plans so they can get
a rough estimate of the interest and how that all
may play out to Placement issues.
In the past 30 days the United States certainly has
faired better in its own outlook in regards to the
Covid-19 Pandemic. Daily cases are down -
Hospitalizations are down and the Vaccine Rollout is
proceeding along. But the news I watch shows other
places around the globe not fairing as well.
As of
3/18/21 there are New Lockdowns in Europe and their
own vaccine rollout appears to be lagging far behind
the U.S. With that news I cannot even imagine any of
our
international campers thinking that a 2021
event is even a remote possibility - to make
decisions on Travel Plans or even to purchase
tickets. Burning Man and specifically The Village of
PolyParadise is an International Community and the
decisions I am making are with that mindset in the
forefront of what we do.
There are still many things yet to be revealed about
a possible BRC 2021. Specifically TICKET Costs and
if they will be Non-Refundable; which may be a
defining issue for some even considering making such
a purchase and attendance. Those details are to be
released within the next few weeks. Even with
tickets sold & purchased and a GO Decision made
sometime in May - could always be taken back and a
cancellation ensue if a BRC Permit is not issued or
other mitigating factors require cancelation.
What will be the requirements of Covid Testing -
Covid Vaccine verification - additional requirements
surrounding Physical Distancing. The word is that
the BRC population would be reduced; by how much?
What does that even mean to keeping things safe as
we are still not out of the woods by any stretch of
this Global Black Swan Event. It is not even about
what we might do within our own camp to stay safe on
a minute-by-minute/daily basis it is about the
nature of Burning Man itself - visiting other camps throughout the Playa and interacting
with other people who may or may not be safe and
then returning to our camp space. That does not even
consider all that is involved in the travel to BRC
as individual campers from wherever you reside and
all the people you will encounter and their
safe/unsafe protocols.
We make decisions based on current knowledge and
only an outlook to the future and this is a decision
of what the State of Things are as of
3/18/21; where we think we will be months
in the future. Even with a large percentage of the
US population being vaccinated in the past 30 days
there will be those that will not receive the
vaccine. This is not the place or space to debate
the merits of vaccines or any individuals right to
not be vaccinated. That form of Radical-Self Expression
does have an impact on everyone else; those
individual rights must be respected but those
decisions impact what decisions we must make as
group.
I had previously mentioned that many of our own camp
expenses are fixed - it does not costs less for a
Rental Truck because we have a smaller number of
campers - That would equate to having to raise the
camp fees to cover our costs.
I am always thinking as Benevolent Dictator and not
as an individual Burner; know that I have always
made and make current decisions about our camp with
our campers safety and well-being in mind. With all
that said - I have made a FINAL DECISION that as
PolyParadise we will take another year off and allow
the entire planet to recuperate from the Pandemic
and that we come back in 2022 as the best Damm Camp
on the Playa and a united Global Poly Community.
When we return in 2022 we will have an Camp Art Car
- speaking of - The People Mover to become an Art
Car is being moved from Maricopa to my backyard to
make it easier to work on and remove the 110
mile round trip to its current location. We THANK
Dr. Dirt for giving us a place to store the vehicle
over the past 4 months; now that spacing issues with
our house Electrical wires no longer a
consideration it makes sense to move the vehicle
closer to all of us here in town - THANKS to Rich
for the use of his trailer to make this move happen.
We will be planning smallish gatherings here @ Casa
De Scotto/Wildchild for Memorial Wkd - 4th of July &
Burn Week to PARTY – work on more of the UV-Light
fixtures for the 40’x40’ space and of course make
some progress on the Art Car.
I realize there will be some within our Village that
will applaud my decisions and others that will be
highly disappointed with this decision to forego BRC
2021 –This weighs heavy in my mind and on my heart
but I believe it is the best decision to make given
all we do not know about the future and our
individual and collective health.
Stay SAFE - Wear Masks - Love each other from afar.
Scotto
- Benevolent Dictator Village of PolyParadise