We welcome you to join us at Burning Nest this year! And if you are that way inclined, we want for you to be able to bring your artistic creations to Nest as well.
Understanding the legal landscape of bringing goods into the UK may seem daunting in a post-Brexit world. Or maybe you hadn't even thought about it at all! Either way, we've got you covered. See below for our handy reference guide.
For all the rest of it, like funding, communication, placement, LBT, practicalities, etc., check out the Art Grants page and submit an application! The next round of Art Grant reviews is on February 22nd, and the final round is April 22nd.
So you’ve clinched a precious Nest ticket for 2023, or you're anticipating one of our delicious future ticket releases... and now you're wondering how to get involved next!
Well, lucky for you, you've found our four part series on How To Maximise Your Burning Nest Experience (Or Any Burn, For That Matter!)
We're firm believers that you get out what you put in. Here are four excellent ways that even first time burners can get involved:
Bring a Theme Camp
Make Art
Offer An Event
Volunteer
WHAT EVEN IS ART?
Without getting too existential about it, Art at Nest is stuff you create. This could be an installation, music, a workshop, a sculpture, a strange happening, a colourful mural, a comedy show, an extraordinary light-up LED glowscape, or a performance of stilt-wearing dancers dressed as bumblebees. If you can make it, most likely the Nest art circle will deem it art.
For practical purposes we have two categories of art:
Things - this is physical art. It’s the installations, sculptures, murals and extraordinary light-up LED glowscapes of this world.
Events - art bound by time, ie the time written on the programme. Events include your music, workshops, strange happenings, comedy shows, and dancing stilt-wearing bumblebees.
The rest of part 2 talks about art Things, go to part 4 for more on Events. (Still to come)
WHAT KIND OF ART THINGS CAN I MAKE?
Whatever you’d like to, Burner festivals exist to provide a space for radical self-expression, so think about what this means for your art. As long as it’s not going to endanger other Nestlings or go against any of our principals, we want you to make it. This is a space for creatives to experiment and see what happens when we are allowed to just…see what happens.
We also have two BIG art projects each year - the Effigy and the Temple - that during the event go up in flames, apply if you want to build some big burning art.
HOW DO I BRING ART TO NEST
Submit an art application to tell us what you want to do and get access to grant money to buy the things you need to make it happen. If your project doesn’t need funding send an application anyway so we can make sure it passes health and safety and that we find a beautiful space for you to put it.
WHY SHOULD I BRING ART TO NEST
Nest is an incredible opportunity to realise the art you’ve had swimming around your head. This is your chance to share what's inside your brain. If you have an arty itch you just need to scratch, Nest is the place.
WHY DON'T YOU PAY FOR ARTISTS' TIME
We know that artists are often expected to work for free, it sucks and we don’t support this. One of the principals of a Burn is to operate outside of normal economic systems. It is part of the experiment that explores a society without commerce where everyone participates freely. Art is one way of participating, so if we pay artists, we’d also pay everyone else, and then we become a business instead of a bunch of humans co-creating something. Think of Nest as a giant camping trip co-created by 1000 mates, rather than a traditional festival.
WHAT ARE ART GRANTS ALL ABOUT?
Think of art grants like a giant kitty that you and your 1000 mates pooled together to help each other pull off some amazing stuff. Art grants are paid for from your ticket price, which also pays for other helpful things like toilets because at least some of your 1000 mates are responsible adults.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO GETS ART GRANTS?
We want to fund everything you want to make, and there have been years where everyone applying received a grant. When there are more applications than grant money available we prioritise based on the criteria. We also look at the feasibility of proposals, as we don’t want to use the collective funds on projects that aren’t possible. Health and safety is also a factor, as we don’t want any art injuries.
The art team doesn't run the show, we simply run the process so that you can run the show. Anyone is welcome to get involved with the grant decision committee, tell us their thoughts on the grant process, or join the art team to help.
HOW CAN I FIND PEOPLE TO COLLABORATE WITH?
If you’ve got an idea but don’t know quite how to make it happen our Signal group is open for business, see what’s brewing, get advice, ask for help, or offer your support to others.
It’s time to go home! After two years of being estranged from our beloved Nest it is finally time where we can all gather on the glade again and welcome each other home in whatever way that means to you at a burn. Be it your spiritual home, your desired community home or just the place where you feel your supreme self in the comfort of your own body. Home.
As we’ve spent the best part of two years in houses, vans, caves and buildings, furnished with memories, tat and loving comforts. This year's theme aims to make that transition back into the glade a little softer. Maybe even blur the lines a little.
‘Welcome Home’ is the theme. Imagine a glade full of those comforts; lamps, rugs, cushions, picture frame walls, board games, candle sticks and chimneys. Whatever home means to you bring those comforts to the glade and let us invite each other in. Maybe there’s something that kept you real warm these past two years that you’re not ready to part with or would like to share with a stranger. Maybe it’s a book you read that changed your outlook. Maybe it’s a comfy toy so hugged it’s holy. Maybe you’ve finally perfected that family recipe and want to have a dinner party by the lake with some old or new friends.
Whatever has kept you warm these past two years and feel comfortable to do so then by all means please bring. We want to see what home means to you, in every sense of the word. And what’s a better welcome home then a massive welcome home party! It’s going to be a special one this year and we can’t wait to see you there.
With Nest not so far on the horizon, we would like to share with the community information and inspiration to contribute to this years burn.
ARTS GRANTS APPLICATIONS, NOW OPEN!
We are now opening applications for Arts Grants to contribute to the burn. We welcome all types of art and are committed to being a fully inclusive event.
Please make sure you have read all of the information here:
All artists, like everyone else, must purchase a membership to Nest 2022.
If you are unable to afford a full membership, there will be low-income memberships available.
If you have not purchased a ticket yet, and are waiting for further ticketing sales, please let us know in your application. If the application is successful, we will do our best to help secure you a space.
Please fill in the application form if you are applying for a grant for an Art project, a Community project (performance or workshop) or a Theme Camp project.
Deadline for Grants Applications is: April 8th, 2022
INSPIRATION
We have created a ‘mood board’ to give you ideas and inspiration that sparks creativity and collaboration. View the Pinterest board. We don’t know what home means to you, so if yours looks different, bring it! if your ideas don’t look like this, show us!
Now that we've all recovered from the fun and frolics of Nest Online, we thought we'd share this year's Epic Cheese Lipsync: A Little Respect. Thanks to everyone who pitched in with a line of the song, some kitchen percussion, or their fancy dance moves, to make this awesome video happen. And thanks to the lovely Cheese for organising and editing it all together! Without further ado, enjoy!
We're sure you'll have realised by now: we love to burn things, here at Nest. It's in our nature. It's in our name! But what are the Temple and Effigy burns, and how are they different?
2019's Temple Burn
The first Burning Man event was a group of just 36 people, on a San Francisco beach. Larry Harvey called his friend Jerry James, and told him he wanted to burn a man on the summer solstice. So they constructed a man from wood, doused it in gasoline, and set it alight. The Burning Man event has grown from 36 to 70,000 participants each year, but the central event remains the same.
At Burning Nest, we traditionally have two burns, usually held on the Saturday and Sunday at the end of the event.
2017's Temple Burn
Effigy Burn
The Effigy Burn is a celebration of life - a party, usually accompanied by dancing, performance, music and excitement. Past Effigies have consisted of pyramids, rockets and, of course, a man. It's usually held on a Saturday evening, just as it's getting dark - and is usually followed by our last big night of partying!
Temple Burn
The Temple Burn is a time for reflection, and quiet contemplation. We use the Temple Burn as a chance to look back on everything we've learned and experienced this year, and to prepare for our trip back to the default world. That's not to say it's sad - this time can be very spiritual and healing - people often write messages and wishes on the Temple, to be burned away.
We need your help!
If all of this has sparked a fire of inspiration inside you, then we need your help! We need help creating and realising both burns this year - could this be you? Get in touch with art@burningnest.co.uk if so, or fill in this handy application form (we really do love a form) x
Just a reminder, the second round of art grands is STILL OPEN! You have until March 29th to submit your plan for your masterpiece - all the information you'll need is on the Art Grants page.
Overzealous, grandiose and terrifyingly ambitious pipe dreams.
To support you, we have a bigger and better budget this year which we hope will get at least one ambitious project off the ground and into our Primordial Wonderland at Nest 2019.
We’d like to encourage people who have ideas that may be too big for them to help support another project if their own application isn’t successful. This way we hope to build a strong community and network of artists collaborating to create bigger and better things each year, together.
You can also find some helpful info and a few other resources on makerspaces which we hope you’ll find useful.
Of course, we still want to hear about any and all of the smaller, more intimate pieces you’ve been dreaming about: the ideas that make Nest the incredibly special space that we love.
This year we are holding two cycles of funding applications.Cycle 1; 11th December to 31st JanuaryCycle 2; 1st February to 29th March
We ask anyone with big projects requesting in excess of £800 to apply during Cycle 1 so we can give you the go ahead with enough time for your creation to be realised.
Since we are encouraging BIGGER projects this year we will do our best to support you with hefty upfront costs such as large orders of materials.
If you have a question about art grants, then contact art@burningnest.co.uk
