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
You may have heard your fellow nestlings talking about the Edge of Chaos team. But what is it, and what do they do?
Edge of Chaos (or EOC) are the Nestlings who ensure that our great plans, for structures, activities or workshops, are safe and comply with local rules. While the Burn is a great opportunity to do new and exciting things, we still have to operate in the default world - and as such, EOC ensure we're kept safe and sound.
If this sounds like something you might like to join in with, lucky for you! The EOC are currently looking for new volunteers! Check out this document for more in-depth details, and email vols@burningnest.co.uk to sign up, or for more information!
Are you planning a theme camp or art installation? Not been to Burning Nest before, but want to see the lay of the land?
Why not join us at our site visit on 22nd February, where we have a wander around the Nest site? Meet fellow Nestlings ahead of time, share some lunch, maybe a few pints, all in the Exeter countryside!
We will be meeting at the Nest site (precise directions will be emailed to all interested parties) at 12 noon on Saturday 22nd February. We'd recommend getting to Newton Abbot in Exeter for 11.30am - more details of where to meet will be sent out.
How to get involved with this fantabulous site visit? Just email vols@burningnest.co.uk to be added to our list!
This is your friendly Department of Nepotism and Coercion (formerly known as DPW), the spread sheeting has begun and we have some requests to put to the community and a shiny new sign up form for you to volunteer on the build and strike teams.
TOOLS YOU SAY?
This year we would love to start building a stock of tools that will be kept and maintained by the DNC. If you have any tools that you no longer need and would be willing to donate to Nest let us know! dnc@burningnest.co.uk
WORK VEHICLE NEEDED
We will need the use of a 4x4 vehicle during build, event time and strike (18/05/20 - 3/06/20). In the past this vehicle had been rented, but we thought it would be worth reaching out to you all to see if there’s an opportunity to keep it in the community. The vehicle will be used to transport tools, materials and people and driven somewhat offroad, so only get in touch if this doesn’t strike fear into your vehicles heart.
VOLUNTEERING
We will be looking for people to volunteer in lots of different capacities for both build and strike. If you would like to volunteer to be on the build or strike team please fill in this form.
If you have a particular interest in co-ordinating a team or any special skills that you think would suit a role with a little more responsibility than wielding a hammer please get in touch. dnc@burningnest.co.uk
Vacant Roles:
-Lighting Link (responsible for co-ordinating placement of lighting)
-Strike Link (responsible for co-ordinating strike team)
-Signage Link (responsible for co-ordinating all site signage)
A Theme Camp can be a bar giving out gifts of food or drink, a place to dance, a quiet sanctuary for workshops and cuddles... they are whatever you want them to be! If you bring it, the Nestlings will come!
We need to know who is bringing what, so we can plan out where to put you, and how to organise your power and infrastructure needs.
How do I join a Theme Camp?
Once we know which Theme Camps are coming to Burning Nest in 2020, then we will add details of how to join any camps that may be open to new members. Watch this space, and keep an eye on our Facebook Community page too.
Do you have an idea for an amazing piece of art, experience, theme camp feature or performance, that you'd like to bring to Nest?
We are able to offer art grants to help you make your dream a reality! All your questions are answered over on our art grants page - make your dream a reality!
We wanted to send all our beloved Nestlings a quick note to let you know that our first Community Meeting of 2020 is coming up very soon!
It will be held at The Apple Tree Pub in London on Sunday 2nd February, from 1pm - 3pm!
We have made a Facebook event for you to join - please sign up so we can get an idea about numbers. If you have any questions about accessibility, or anything else, please email community@burningnest.co.uk
What happens at a Community Meeting?
Good question! As Burning Nest is a collaborative event, we want every member to be involved. Our Community Meetings are a chance for you to have your say, meet other Nestlings, and find out more about the processes we use to make decisions.
Whether you're a dusty, seasoned Burner, or a newly-hatched chick, we want you to come! So sign up on Facebook, and see you there on the 2nd February!
Hello Nestlings! After frenzied voting on Loomio, the community has decided that our theme for Burning Nest 2020 will be...
The Pattern of Chaos!
What do you think of when you think about chaos? Twisting, spiralling madness, or the natural world in all its random glory? Or something else entirely?
Our theme influences everything, from camp decor to workshops, to costumes. Why not have a look through our Pinterest board, and add some ideas yourself? Or see what your fellow Nestlings have in mind, over on our Facebook community page?
We know that the rest of the year, outside our wonderful week in the Glade, can be difficult. Where are those beautiful humans we met, why are strangers not open to hugs?
We have the solution for you - Burner Meetups! Here is a list of all the happenings we know about in February. If you have more to add, please let us know!
CAMP CRUMPET FUNDRAISERS
Camp Crumpet is an inclusive, mixed-used space for dancing, chilling and sexual play. It runs every year at Burning Nest, and occasionally curates spaces at other events. It has fundraiser parties throughout the year in London and, coming up, possibly Bristol. Due to the nature of these events, you need to be registered with them to attend. If you'd like to come along, please head to their website and fill out the contact form.
THE FLAMIN' MERKIN presents...
The Flamin' Merkin have been at pretty much every Burning Nest, they've just run the official Decom Afterparty and now they're putting on a winter daytime Burn-style event as a pre-season spectacular...
They're returning with Margaritas, comfy spaces, smiling faces, bring-your-own-booze-and-food, booze-and-food-provided (including Margaritas), eclectic tunes, fire pits and marshmallows, interactive burner stuff to do, and, of course, Margaritas.
Date: Saturday 8th February Time: 10am - 8pm
Click here to buy tickets and here to follow their updates on Facebook.
BURNING MEETUPS
London Burning Pub is Thursday 20th Feb, and every 3rd Thursday of the month at The Miller Pub, London Bridge. Expect loads of newbies, great chat, good food and booze and an announcement, or two.
Bristol Burners Assemble is back on Sunday 2nd February at the Volunteer Tavern. It's a wonderful community in the South West and they'd love to have you along. Pop by if you have the chance.
Burningham is your go-to group for anyone living in the Midlands. They had their first pub meetup on the 16th January and watch their Facebook group for more news and announcements.
Cambridge Burners meet on the first Sunday of every month at The Blue Moon Pub and all updates will go through their Facebook Group. Their next meetup is on the 1st Feb.
Thanks to everyone who got in touch to list your Burner events, fundraisers and meetups. If you'd like to be included in the next update post, drop us an email and we're happy to oblige.
Happy New Year and welcome to the future. It's 2020 and that can only mean one thing... Nest is THIS year!
Isn't that the only thing we've all be waiting to say?
No more putting things off till next year. We are 136 days from our Effigy Burn, our foot is on the accelerator, left hand hovering above the handbrake (if you excuse the carbon footprint-heavy analogy) and we wanted to get you as prepared as we are for our imminent membership sales.
We have a few pertinent bits of information that we wanted to tell you about before the 19th January (and we all know what day that is, right?) as well as some fun stuff to look forward to in what is really just part one of our January update from the Nest HQ. We can only laden our Carrier Pigeon with so much news before its airspeed velocity falls below that of even a European migratory swallow and it is for this reason we've split our news into two parts.
You'll thank us later.
Part Two will give details on loads of exciting things including Theme Announcement, Art Grants, Temple & Effigy Applications and Membership Releases.
We'll be continuing our journey from Burner Bio creation, to registration and onward to a field, so if you happened to miss our very first Carrier Pigeon, (some landed in spam: 'Naughty Pigeons') you can catch up with it here.
But for now, let us begin this textual journey through the last vestiges of pre-membership release prep..
MEMBERSHIP INFO SITE VISIT COMMUNITY MEETING DATES CORE TEAM ROLES OTHER FUN STUFF
MEMBERSHIP INFO
Well done for registering! You're all set to purchase a membership for this year's Nest.
You haven't created a bio? No worries, all the info pertaining to this part of the Membership process was written about in last month's newsletter, (It's also in the Membership section of the Nest website) so scroll up, click on the link to last month's news and check it all out. We'll be waiting for you right here...
We wanted to let you know about a decision we’ve taken, with great care and consideration for the whole community. For the past few years we’ve kept Membership prices the same but this year we need to raise them a teeny tiny bit, which amounts to just twenty of your ‘great’ English pounds. So what does this extra £20 mean to us? Well, firstly, we can fund more ARTS! Yay! More art at Nest means inspiring more creativity and gives us more to appreciate while we’re there. ‘Where else does this money go?’, I hear you ask, well, it enables us to buy more structures, invest in Leave a Better Trace projects like compost loos, improve our storage and a few other projects we still have in the works. But most of all, all this extra comes back to you in one way or another, so you can feel the warm glow inside knowing those extra pounds have been multiplied and made Nest that little bit better this year...
Memberships will be on sale in two waves and we expect them to go FAST.
Wave 1 will be on sale on Sunday 19th January at 11am and there are 200 available.
Wave 2 is currently planned for Sunday 15th March at 11am which will take care of the rest.
Don’t dilly dally and make sure you have your itchy trigger fingers ready as the clock strikes 11...
There are a whole bunch of other types of Memberships available, which we’ve collectively called Inclusion Memberships. These include Low Income, Very Low Income, Carer and Family Memberships and you can find out more about them on the relevant page on our website.
To apply for any of these, all you need to do is fill out the form linked below and you’ll have your decision before the 2nd wave of memberships are released.
If you’re one of the lucky few who are able to drive to Nest, please note we’re re-introducing vehicle passes, cos of the environment, innit. All monies we collect will go directly into ‘Leave a Better Trace’ projects. These will be priced at £10 per vehicle staying on site and there will be no exceptions*
*If you feel that your case warrants exception, please do send us an email, but remember, for every £10 that doesn’t go towards Leave a Better Trace projects, another school of fish dies
SITE VISIT
Weekend of 22nd/23rd February Do you have a burning desire to head to the Nest site to ensure that your idea becomes a reality? Want to be part of the circle of decision-makers and help shape the future of our Burn? Well, the site visit might just be for you...
Our first Community Meeting of the year gives us all a chance to find out what's being planned for Nest, to meet the many new faces adorning our Circles and to get involved in discussions and come up with solutions face to face.
This is a amazing chance to have your say in our community and it would be wonderful to see all your beautiful and enthusiastic selves there.
We wanted to let you know early so you can keep the date free. More details will follow soon...
CORE TEAM ROLES
Fancy joining us in making Nest happen? We have some amazing opportunities for you...
In our age of newfound terminology we've made some changes to the way we refer to ourselves. Circles and Links have replaced Teams and Leads, cos it's more fun building a Nest when you can throw some shapes. We're looking to shore up our links and get some value from pie in our circles and well, what I'm really trying to say is we need some of you to step up and get fully involved with these amazing roles that are yet to be filled for our upcoming Nest. All we're looking for from you is passion, time and a willingness to learn.
In no particular order...
ARTS
Arts: Programme Includes collecting information from the community about events, art and theme camps, and creating or managing the visual design of the programme in accordance with the theme.
Arts: Temple/Effigy Manage applications for temple and effigy, project manage teams, liaise with DPW on placement and health & safety, and coordinate pre-burn fire shows.
Arts: The Point Embrace or reimagine The Point (formerly known as Centre Camp). Liaise with rest of the team to organise physical structure and placement, as well as organise it as a community space, info resource, and location for events.
COMMUNITY
Community: Co-Link Encouraging year-round community involvement through theme camps and other events, and overseeing camp registration process, as well as working with DPW on camp placement. Securing venues for all other events and ensuring all aspects of the Post-Nest Picnic are planned and permitted in advance. Also managing the Greeters Department.
Community: Accessibility Ensuring appropriate arrangements for accessibility, inclusion and wellbeing at Nest.
CAT WRANGLING
Cat Wrangling / Volunteering: Support Supporting the Cat Wrangling link, whose roles include link role recruitment, recruitment of volunteers, fnugging, info booth and more.
Cat Wrangling / Volunteering: Fnugging Department Supporting volunteers with good cheer, care, and refreshments during build, event and strike.
Cat Wrangling / Volunteering: Info Booth Infrastructure, design, organisation, set up and strike of the info booth at The Point.
Event Square: Procurement Working with the finance link to facilitate and centralise procurement for the event.
If you're interested in any of these roles, please email Clint at vols@burningnest.co.uk
