Meeting Minutes
4/10 Meeting Minutes & Next steps
What a great meeting last week! Very exciting to see so many new faces... Looking forward to getting to know you all better as we prepare ourselves for the burn.
This message provides an overview of some of the things we discussed during the meeting, as well as what comes next. Please read all the way through!
- First of all, if you plan on camping with us, please make sure that you have been added to both the KKBM14 mailing list and Facebook group! If you are not on there, you are not camping with us! To get added, please contact me (Isabeau) and let me know your email address as well as Facebook name (if you're on FB).
- If you know of any friends, lovers or partners that you think should camp with us, get them in touch with us! We already have a great group of veteran burners and virgins alike but we are still open to new campers. We hope to more or less have our final list of campers together by mid-June.
- Tickets! While the ticket situation seemed to be somewhat dire this year, it looks like only a small group of likely campers is in need of tickets at the moment. If that means you, don't panic! We can't make any guarantees but given the experiences of previous years it is extremely likely that you will find a ticket! Whatever happens though, do NOT pay more than face value for any tickets or vehicle passes. We will also work together as a camp to get confirmed campers in touch with their tickets. We already have a number of extra tickets available within the camp and we will start pairing those up with campers in need. To that end:
- if you are in need of a ticket (or a vehicle pass) please let me know ASAP!
- call out to all campers: if you know of anybody who is selling tickets, let us know immediately so we can try and get those tickets in the hands of our campers.
- Events! Several fundraisers and other events are coming up (Black&Light Ball, dance parade, Figment, freaKKshow to name just a few). Fundraisers are an important part of our funding for the burn, and they allow us to keep camp dues low... We will need your help to make these events a success, and we'll have a blast while we're at it! More details to follow as they come near, but for now save the date for Black&Light Ball on May 10!
- Pods! We will talk lots more about pods and all the other things you need to know to survive at the burn in upcoming meetings. For now though, it is important to know that you will need to organize yourselves into pods, which are groups of typically 10-25 campers. So start making friends and figure out who you want to have sleeping in the tent next to you for a whole week or more (this might involve inquiring about snoring habits ;-)
5/20 Meeting Minutes & Next steps
KKampers! We had a great meeting this week. Below is a summary of the things we discussed for those who couldn't make it, as well as for reference for those who could... Please read through this entirely as there are important action items for everyone.
Upcoming events. - Figment (June 6-7). The annual participatory arts festival on Governors Island. We will be handing out kid's costume as usual, and perhaps toad and the ponies will make an appearance as well. Figment is the best general repetition for our costume giveaway activities at Burning Man. If you are new to KK, you need to be here... Help out for an hour or two, then explore the rest of the island. Great times will be had by all! More details to follow soon. - Mermaid parade. Kostume Kult will be marching as usual in this Coney Island classic. - freaKKshow. Tentative date 7/12. Our final fundraiser of the season. As with all our fundraisers, we need this to be successful to keep dues down for the whole camp. Make sure to help out with crafting, setup or breakdown! More details to follow...
Pods. Pods are the basic building blocks of the camp. In essence, it is simply a group of campers organizing their shade structure together (more on shade below), but we do also expect that every pod lead makes sure that their pod members show up for their shift, and every pod is expected to do regular moop sweeps to keep their own pod clean. Every camper must be part of a pod, even if you are bringing an RV. It is *your* responsibility to find a pod, so do start talking amongst each other and find a group of people that you think you'll enjoy spending a week with while camping in close proximity. We will be providing some assistance for people to find a good pod, as well as for people to start their own, so do step up if you feel like doing so! Marisol Del Valle (Wabi Sabi) will be taking on these pod-mommy duties this year.
Shade structures. A shade structure is essential to your playa experience. As soon as the sun rises in the morning, your tent will become a baking oven without a shade structure shielding it from the sun. Every pod is responsible for their own shade structure, and pod members usually put some money together towards building their shared shade. It doesn't cost much per person to order the necessary supplies. Many different types of shade structures can be found at burning man and lots of information can be found online. Kostume Kult has information on our wiki as well, particularly about a very functional and easy to put together type of shade structure that many of our pods use. The advantage of this type of shade is that it is easy to interchange pieces, or to attach one group's shade onto another's, thereby making one giant interconnected shade canopy. Detailed descriptions are available [on the wiki]. Amanda Donelan has also stepped up to be our shade czar again this year. If you have any questions about shade structures, especially if you are a new pod with lots of first year campers, she is the person to talk to! (as well as, of course, all of the other seasoned campers)
How to get there. - How to get yourself there. Most of you will be going by plane, unless you arrange for a ride across the country. Ideal ticket prices are $350-$400. Start looking for tickets now, and if you find a good deal, do post it on the list! Good places to check are kayak.com, as well as southwest.com (which is not listed on kayak). - How to get your stuff there. The bulk of your personal stuff, costumes, bike, etc will probably be going on the NYC container. Like every year, container camp will be shipping 2 or 3 huge shipping containers direct from NYC to the playa. This is your best (and one of the few) bets to get most of your things there. Container space will go on sale some time in July probably, and *will sell out within the first half hour at least* There will be many, many warnings about container space going on sale on the list, so make sure not to miss your chance!
Projects! We have a number of new playa projects that we will need your help with! Among them are the subway shade, peepshow, and boob dome. Lots more details to come but we will need painters