Hey everyone this is Toaster. It’s been a hot minute since I reached out to the community because I have been taking a break over the last couple years and working on figuring out what my future is going to be with Burning Man. As much as I have changed and evolved, so have a lot of people who participate in this amazing community. As the founder of Queerburners, as the president of the board running this as a 501.c3, we have went through a period of reflection and adjusted to the needs and wants from all of you.
The board decided to disband, but keep certain services working along with these web pages. This is largely thanks to Joel’s work who is deeply passionate about this project. Some of us from the board are still participating only to manage resources and assets that have been designated to go to another non-profit as soon as we are able to close the non-profit part of this down.
Who knows what is next. I personally have not let go 100%, because I think a lot of who I am is still tied to Queerburners and this community as a whole. I chose to be a part of this, to work on helping build and create, over the last fifteen years and this is something that is hard to give up. My personal ups and downs with this have been meteoric, but I am hold on to the best moments. I am focused on my local regional event, SNRG.org, and am looking around to new ways I can do more. My time as a BRC Ranger has been very rewarding, too. So, who knows?
I updated the front of Queerburners.org and am checking in with Joel with some frequency while he has been managing a lot of the online stuff and has taken over the BRC Queer camps map and his events guide is opening for submissions on August 15th.
Tonight we opened a forum for any member of the community to join us and learn a little more about Queerburners. We also had doped to recruit some interest in participation in the board and inspire the community to help us in our mission. Where could Queerburners go with new leadership at the helm?
Document referred to in the video include: – Roles and Responsibilities Document (PDF) – Emails: info@queerburners.org, toaster@queerburners.org, matt@queerburners.org
Please take your time and let us know if you see yourself taking a role in the future of Queerburners. The next Board meeting will be October 2nd to install the officers for 2024 and start planning for the next season.
Hey Queersdos! Just a reminder that this will be a Zoom Meetup that will be an hour or a little more depending on the vibe. Really want to talk to the community leadership and would be leaders about the future of the LGBTQAI Burner Community and how Queerburners can help you as we move forward. We have done a lot in the past, but as the future evolves we are looking at camp/project/mutant vehicle leaders as the targeted audience who will take information and spread it into their groups. The information can come from other leaders, our internal network of leadership, and in some cases other resources that are vital for the health and well-being of our community and the community at-large.
The Agenda is super easy and will have an open floor for discussion and topic related to the community
Welcome to the August Board Meeting: Town Hall (This meeting will be recorded and put on our website and YouTube Channel)
Role Call (Name to addressed as in meeting, Association [camp, project, mv], pronouns, going to BTC this year? Board member or interested in Board role?]
The Board will accept nominations and vote in the first week of October to fill these positions.
Join us at Queerburners
We have accomplished a lot of things over the last fifteen years and there is a lot more we can accomplish within the scope of the community as a whole with room to grow.
Queerburners is a service organization focused on LGBTQIA+ burners and our allies creating safe and accountable spaces for every person in that acronym and more.
We start a new calendar year following the big event in Black Rock City every year because we are also looking ahead to the future and setting the tone and direction we want to go.
We are a consensus based organization and everyone who attends a meeting has a voice. We vote by majority, but we are exceedingly open to view points some of us might know need to be heard.
Where am I going with that?
We need more help in order to continue – and there are roles for people to play if you can.
The board is largely CIS, white and male TBH. We would like to see more representation from the people who identify from more letters of LGBTQIA and people of color.
We need help with our communications and event production to meet some lofty goals for next year.
In 2022 – We sponsored and ran 2 local events in the bay area to hook up campers with camps and visa versa to great success – We also saw our camp directory on our website get spectacular attention and were able to help continue networking people and camps – We produced 4 Zoom workshops called the Rainbow Leadership Summit that can currently be seen on our YouTube Channel and our website – We gave out grants to projects headed to Waking Dreams in a way we have never been able to before
Queerburners was originally founded in 2008 as Gayburners and evolved a lot over time. I had a lot of help along the way, but through community support we were able to keep going to produce a variety of events over the last thirteen years.
We produced – 4 LGBTQIA regional style events in 2015, 16, 17 and 18. – Leadership conferences in 2012, 16 and 2018 – And many local events in the bay area…
The future demands we do more in more regionally if we are successful in supporting our mission beyond one region.
We currently have about twenty Facebook groups for people all over the world to network. This is more than just getting ready for the big burn, these spaces are a chance for local producers and community leaders to rally and carry on the mission of Queerburners.
To be clear, our mission is simply to build community through events and education. To promote leadership. And to stand in solidarity to assure we are being heard for our collective safety and welfare in the greater community. We are not an authority or representation of the Borg. But we will stand together and make our needs known like we did in 2016.
Grants
This year we gave out two grants and a well-deserved donation to a project we really loved.
Gender Blender received a grant from us to help promote their message and support their education and performance programs on playa. We love the work Ariel and her crew do off and on-playa through their active programming.
And Moonlight Outpost who served soup from a Soup Cart on deep playa bringing Asian and Queer culture together in a way that shares the best of both worlds.
We made a donation to one of the most talked about projects at Burning Man this year called The Afterlife by Blitzy, Chickpea and a group of amazing volunteers.
Changes
Truthfully, since the pandemic with Corona virus we have been changed as a community. There has been a thematic shift in the priorities and what we need and expect. Not just from each other, but our leadership. There were a LOT of new camps placed this year. There were a lot of smaller camps who were part of bigger camps that broke free to create their own spaces.
How we burn has shifted. What we need for self care and what we can give has changed too. My own priorities have changed, and as I speak to different people in our community I can testify to the huge shift in what we hold dear.
Acknowledgements
That is why when I admire how some of the leadership in our community are able to marshall tremendous resources and create with so much passion, I am left in awe, I have to send out a few shout-outs before I go tonight.
Christian Williams who had brought the BAAAHS sheep out there year after year actively supporting other projects, social causes and community along the way and how he is able to get so many people behind him. Mary from Tomorrow Lambs for her success in building her own camp and making it such a presence on playa for 2022 Comfort and Joy for always demonstrating their commitment to the values we hold dear and work so hard to lead Dr. Dilemma aka Mark who actively does so much for the Queerborhoods behind the scenes and works hard for the BMorg Rui Rita and his people from Glamcocks who, with his team, always delivers mind blowing architecture and events And Ariel Vergosen from Gender Blender who gives constantly in producing educational and entertainment programming, not to mention a safe place for people who are Trans, Gender Non Conforming and Questioning bodies on the playa.
Conclusion
Queerburners need more engagement from the community and people who might drive the ship into the next generation. We have been actively looking for people with the desire and ability to take this to the next level.
Simply put, the thirteen years Queerburners has existed and evolved is not the same institution that can coast into the future. Our services are for the strength and success of the people we serve.
You can find recruitment links on our website queerburners.org, sign up for our mailing list on the same link, and find all kinds of information.
Hey folks, this is Toaster. Until I find someone to take over the Communications part of our system here I will try and get one newsletter out a month with general updates and information I can find. There is not a lot of input from people outside of the Bay Area, but I am actively looking for information for anywhere specifically related to LGBTQAI+ participants and our allies. Sign up today to get a dose of queerness in your inboxes!
The time we had during the pandemic allowed us to come together and create Queerburners as a non-profit with a Board that was put together by some pretty amazing folks. But, as we started seeing some return to normal a couple of those folks found they had less time and had to drop off the board, But, we are still in serious need.
The roles of Treasurer and Communications Director are voting members of the board and need representation by someone who is self motivated and can operate in our structure. We’re not a horribly tight rules group of people, but we have certain policies and procedures to assure the health and well being of the group we need to abide by. That includes the 10 Principles. That also includes what is socially and economically responsible to our community, culture and participants.
Treasurer
Be at Board meetings and actively engage a committee headed by the Treasurer that focuses on finance. Each meeting happens once a month. There are some other money related committees you might like to be a part of. It is also important that the treasurer is guiding the boat on feduciary responsibility.
Communications Director
Be at the Board meetings and actively engage a committee headed by the Communications Director that focuses on all of our channels out of the organization. It comes highly recommended that this position brings in people to take over facets of the job and report to them.
e.g.: Social Media Manager: Focuses on social media channels like Twitter Accounts (2), Instagram, and Facebook Groups (13)
E.G. Blog Copywriter Manager: Makes sure we have posts on the blog channel scheduled monthly (Bi-monthly or weekly). Sources could come from Board members, community members and other events going on in the community.
I am so grateful for how much we have done on the 1.5 years it took to get where we are today. We became a nonprofit exactly a year ago and in that time we have worked hard to set the groundwork for our future. Queer Burners has been around since 2008, but the non-profit is a better, leaner and more structured animal. I can tell you that I am not the same person. This project has taken me on a huge journey with amazing people I am so proud to have walked this path with.
It’s hotter, fiercer-er, and hungrier. Meow.
This thing started off to be a place to create an intersection for LGBTQAI burners. It’s not so much that there was no crossroads for that out there, but people were generally very tribal and like any group of humans we stayed in spaces that were safe and familiar. Queerburners has only sought to help expand that and try and create a safe and conventual path to collaboration
The results of ALL OF US in 2017 and 2018 felt like the peak of success. Since 2019 there have been a lot of reasons why the brakes had to be put on the progress that we had achieved. Do we go down or do we keep climbing? I will keep climbing with some ambitious and exciting ideas ahead for 2022.
I expect to be able to announce 3 major events for 2022 produced by Queerburners and our community. We only succeed with collaboration. What we are doing is driven by volunteers and participation. Yes, a few people get paid too! Our creative people have to be paid for their work.
All that is coming. I am so excite for it. I can share hints from the blog, but am waiting to get the okay from the Board and our committees to share more. I am just – that – excited about it.
Fuck yeah.
Here are some other important notes!
We are starting our End of Year Fundraising campaign beginning the fist week of December and are asking for the community’s help to keep our expenses down and help maintain accessibility for all of our community. ALL. Donations are tax deductible. Our tax status is linked here > click <
We need more volunteers and people to help drive this space ship > click here <
Today I made sure our Board Meetings were published for community review to see the road we are heading down. Hopefully it will demonstrate our commitment to the community and being socially responsible. While the board is largely Caucasian, so far 100% CIS, majority male, with some diversity in queerness we are still missing a lot of faces reflecting the body of the people we hope to participate with and hear from when it comes to the programming and voice we are putting forward.
