• All pieces must be less than 4 inches in width/length/diameter
• All pieces must have a hole through the top (we will be hanging these with natural hemp twine)
• All pieces MUST comply with the prohibited materials list available here
• Anyone can contribute a timestamp, regardless of ticketing status. If you are not attending LOF this year, feel free to send your piece with a fellow burner to the event. If no one you know is attending LOF this year, and you would like to contribute a piece to the Effigy, please contact us at effigy@lakesoffire.org and we will make arrangements.

Car and RV Parking Reminder

As a reminder – Lakes of Fire is primarily a tent-camping affair. If you are planning on bringing a vehicle out of the parking lot and out around Lucky Lake, you betta have a reason! Usually we don’t allow it. In past years, cars ended up parked in the street, blocking golf carts and pedestrians. Once the party starts it’s basically impossible to find the owner and get them to move it. You dig?

Still, there are good reasons a person can’t tent camp and needs to bring their vehicle. If that person is you, then you have until May 15th to fill in the Medical Necessity, RV, & Infrastructure Vehicle Registration Application Form. Nobody wants to hear “I towed you, sooooo…”

Fire Sale for 2022 Tickets: April 16th and 18th

Ticketing Team here with an update!

We know many of you who didn’t get ticket offers (or the nearly two dozen of you who missed yours and emailed us after the deadline!!) are waiting with bated breath – so here’s the exciting conclusion (maybe) of the 2022 Ticketing Saga (the virus strikes back).

As of this very point, there are a total of 550 tickets that are ready to be sold. To be as fair as possible, we’re holding two separate sale events on drastically different dates and times to allow for folks that have weird work schedules. We will split the current allocation of tickets between these two sales,… so, quick math, 275 per sale.

Our sale dates and times will be:

• Sale 1: Saturday, April 16th at High Noon (I’ve always wanted to say that), Central Time
• Sale 2: Monday, April 18th, at 7pm, Central Time

SET A CALENDAR EVENT RIGHT NOW SO YOU DON’T FORGET!

Maybe even put one of those fancy 15 minute warnings on it. Tell your frens. Maybe have a ticket-getting party or something. In the immortal words of Ru Paul, “Don’t… fuck… it up.”

To prepare for the sale, you must:

• Have a BurnerTickets account. If you don’t have one, register for one here: https://burnertickets.com/wp-login.php?action=register
• Make sure you know your password. Log in. Test it before the sale. If you don’t remember your password, reset it so you’re ready to go.

At precisely the second the sale opens – no sooner – visit the following page: http://lb1.burnertickets.com

If you click it too soon, you won’t see the ticket queue for Lakes of Fire; that is not a bug.  That just means our fire sale just hasn’t started yet.  Remember, the sales start right on the hour in Central Time.  Take a breath, then click again.

When you open the page and see the ticket queue for Lakes of Fire, you are in – the queue, that is. If you refresh, if your phone goes to sleep, if your browser crashes – whatever – you’ll remain in queue in the same place. Finish up the steps, make your payment, and you’ll be the proud owner of a ticket. Then, make sure you sign up to volunteer for at least eight hours this year so you don’t have to deal with this stress next year!

Last Minute Reminders:

• Most tickets (volunteer or GA) are transferable this year, so you may have some luck buying one from someone who can’t go. All of those transactions happen on our ticketing specific Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/962806980413945
• Don’t pay more than face value $150 – and if someone is trying to sell you one for more than face value, please report them to the ticketing team.
• Scammers exist. If you buy a ticket from someone, transfers can only happen through BurnerTickets. Make sure you receive and confirm the ticket transfer BEFORE sending payment. If a buyer doesn’t pay, it’s easy for us to reverse the transfer. However, if you send $150 via CashApp or PayPal and the seller disappears, there’s nothing we can do.
• Earlier on this very day, April 11th, we blocked our first scammer who was trying to get a participant to send them $600 worth of tickets (warning bell #1) and “swearing on their life” that they would send the ticket immediately (warning bell #2). If in doubt, email the ticketing team. We love to help. And don’t be out your hard earned money to some POS scammer.
• If you have a kiddo you’re bringing but forgot to buy them a ticket (we get it, tickets are exciting) – we’ll have that fix rolled out soon. Don’t worry, unless you forget and leave them at home, they’re coming with you.

The Ticketing Team wishes you good luck in the sales – we’d love to see you at the Lake in just a few short weeks!

---

March 29, 2022

Lakes Letter – March 29, 2022

LAKES LETTER || Ticketing | CoCC Volunteers Wanted | Volunteer Interest Form | Key Dates and Forms Update | Effigy Podcast | COVID Policy Is Online | Come to Newbie Orientation | A Message from Your ADA Liaison | New Accessible Role with Greeters

 
 
There is so much going on that this letter needs a Table of Contents:

• Ticketing Update
• CoCC Volunteers Wanted
• Volunteer Interest Form
• Key Dates and Forms Update
• Effigy Podcast
• COVID Policy Is Online
• Come to Newbie Orientation
• A Message from Your ADA Liaison
• New Accessible Role with Greeters

Ticketing Update

April 3rd Ticket Offer Deadline

Attention, people with a Lakes of Fire ticket offer on Burnerticktes.com! You have until end of the day, April 3rd, to buy your ticket. Otherwise, it’s legit gone.

If you were expecting a ticket offer and didn’t get it, please fill out this form.

Ticket Sales to Date

With the Ticket Purchase Window closing rapidly, as of 3/28/22, we have sold:

• 1,351 Tickets sold, of which 73 are children 0-12, and 6 are teens aged 13-17.
• We have collected $4,833 in Donations for Art
• 164 out of 230 Directed Theme Camp tickets have been purchased
• 461 Volunteer Full Priced Tickets have been sold
• 224 Half Priced Volunteer tickets have been sold

Please purchase your ticket and encourage your friends and neighbors to purchase before the April 3rd almost-midnight deadline. Because we can’t predict sales in the last 10 days, we still do not know if we will release more tickets for Lakes of Fire 2022. Stay tuned for more information in April.

Reminders about Ticket Transfers

Do not pay more than face value of a ticket – that’s $150 on the button, and that number includes all taxes and fees. If someone is asking for anything besides $150, we want to know about it. Send any screenshots to tickets@lakesoffire.org. We take the Principle of Decommodification extremely seriously and we do not tolerate scalping.

If you buy a ticket from someone, transfers can only happen through Burnertickets.com. Printed, emailed, or screenshots or barcodes or whatever are scams. The electronic ticket gets transferred from their account to yours on Burnertickets.com; there’s no other way.

As the buyer, you must receive and confirm the ticket transfer in your account BEFORE sending payment. If a buyer doesn’t pay, it’s easy for the Ticketing Team to reverse the transfer. Seriously. However, if you send $150 via CashApp or Paypal and the seller disappears, there’s nothing we can do.

Code of Conduct Committee Seeking Volunteers

Looking for a way to get involved with Lakes of Fire year-round? The Code of Conduct Committee is currently seeking volunteers. The Conduct Committee’s role is to provide empathetic support, review conduct incidents, document reports, and make recommendations to the Board of Directors. We aim to ensure our participants can report issues without fear of retribution or bias and with confidentiality.

If you are interested in being a part of this anonymous, 5-person panel, please indicate your interest via the Code of Conduct Committee application form.

Please see our Code of Conduct to review what our community standards are and for more information on how to submit a report to the committee.

Volunteer Interest Form

The Volunteer Interest Form is live! If you are currently holding a ticket for Lakes of Fire 2022, this form is how you show your interest in volunteering your skills. Satisfy your urge to civic responsibility and give us your information! The Volunteer Dream Team will get you routed to the right department.

Key Dates and Forms Update

• Placement Form is closing on April 4th!
• Art Project Registration is open!
• Medical Necessity, RV, & Infrastructure Vehicle Registration Application Form is now open!
• Mutant Vehicle Registration Form is now open!

Effigy Podcast

Attention earthers… I mean earthlings. We need your help. The transmissions will explain everything. The pod crash is imminent. Not sure how much will survive. Burn it all to ash. We can’t let it phase back and interact with your ecosystem. Let’s save your world… together! 💚👽🌳🚀🎋☄️💜

The saga of the 2022 Lakes of Fire Effigy, The Life Star. Listen on anchor.fm or Spotify podcast has new episodes every Wednesday at 12:00 PM EST ‘til June 15.

Much love from your effigy leads,
💚Zack & Leta💜

COVID Policy Is Online

Read more about the COVID Safety Policy for Lakes of Fire ‘22 on our website. The short version is that you will need to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test from a licensed facility at the gate if you want to get inside. Read the page for the latest updates and details.

Come to Newbie Orientation

Lakes of Fire 2022 is just around the corner! It’s time to chat with the newbies (and remind vets) about what to expect. What is new in 2022, how to get involved and volunteer, and a whole lot more! Join us at 4103 Cadillac Blvd, Detroit, MI 48214-1406 from 11 AM – 2 PM EST. Join the discussion and get more details on the Facebook event.

A Message From Your ADA Liaison

“We are excited to launch our new Mobility Program this year! We plan on having dedicated mobility shuttles, as well as providing a team of handy helpers for personal setup and tear down of camp for those who request mobility assistance. Your reasons for requesting Mobility Assistance are not our business, no doctor’s note or explanation is necessary. The purpose of this program is to make Lakes of Fire more inclusive and remove mobility obstacles for our community. If you’d like mobility assistance, or would like to volunteer as a Handy Helper or Mobility Shuttle Driver, please let us know at lofmobility@gmail.com. If you selected Yes to the mobility assistance program when purchasing your ticket, we will be in touch.

“I was gifted a power scooter last summer and it will allow me the freedom to visit individual camps in a way that I haven’t been able to for several years.

“As a gift to the event, I will be evaluating accessibility of theme camps and providing constructive feedback where needed. I’m sure I will be experiencing obstacles that I’ve never considered as this will be my first time navigating Lakes from a wheelchair, so it will be a learning process for everyone. My goal is for Lakes of Fire to lead the way in accessibility and inclusiveness for all attendees, and increase awareness among camps on how to contribute.

“I’m excited to get up close and personal with so many theme camps this year, so prepare to see me rolling through at some point!”

Kelly Bells
Mobility Liaison

New Accessible Role with Greeters

Hello from your Greeters! We have a new volunteer role for Lakes of Fire ‘22: The Greeter Administrator.

This admin will work hand-in-hand with every Shift Lead, making that particular shift run smoothly. They would be responsible for overseeing volunteer sign-in and sign-out at the start and end of each shift, as well as handing them their swag as a thank-you.

This position was created with our participants that are mobility challenged in mind, so we want to show Radical Inclusion to those that meet this requirement. If this is you, please click here and be the first to sign up for this new position. You can also email the Greeter Leads directly at greeters@lakesoffire.org to show interest in this position.

Lakes Letter – February 20, 2022

LAKES LETTER || COVID-19 Safety Information | Call for Bean Counters | Placement Form Open | Back 40 Fires | Ticketing Reminder

COVID-19 Safety Policy Information

Our policy for COVID-19 is taking shape. We will keep it updated on the COVID-19 Policy page and keep you up-to-date here in the Lakes Letter. Here is our statement from the GLEA Board and Leads regarding our current position:

As we ramp up and prepare for our first event in 2 years, the Leads and Board of Directors are committed to preserving the safety and health of all participants at Lakes of Fire 2022. We will continue to track, discuss, and seek input from local officials. As of February 2022, we have decided to implement a baseline for precautionary measures that will help us all return home this summer. As with everything related to this pandemic, this is not set in stone and we will continue to provide updates and additional details as we get closer to the event. Information about this disease, and how best to manage it, is ever evolving, and as such, so must we.

After consulting with the local health department, our current and general plan will be:

• Proof of vaccination (at least two weeks after receiving the final dose, and booster required if you are eligible)
• OR written or electronic documentation of a recent negative test that was administered by a licensed facility

We of course will always encourage everyone to test and practice infection mitigation measures prior to Lakes of Fire. The exact time-frame in which the negative test must be within, as well as what types of testing we will accept, has yet to be determined. This is just the foundation, and it has the possibility of changing and adjusting as time goes on.

We want to assure our community that we will take all reasonable precautions to ensure a safe atmosphere. We strongly recommend that everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated and practice all safety precautions.

Call for Bean Counters!

If you love accounting, have we got a job for you. The GLEA Board and Leads organization are grateful to Weldy for his years of service and are in search of a bean counter to help us keep our finances and accounting organized. If you have an interest in helping Lakes of Fire with this great responsibility, please email the GLEA Board of Directors with your interest. Thank you!

Placement Form Open

Theme Camp organizers – it’s time to register with Placement! That’s right, the Placement Registration Form is open. If you plan to bring a Theme Camp to Lakes of Fire 2022, you will need to register with the Placement department to find out where around Lucky Lake you’ll be free to put down your tents, your geodesic dome, your fire-breathing unicycle repair shop, your unicorn-themed ball pit, etc. Don’t get stuck with too little space – register today! This form will stay open until April 4th, 11:59 PM EST.

Back 40 Fire Update

Just in case you want to be placed in the Back 40, we’ve got good news – you can have your own fire there now! This neighborhood was formerly restricted to one communal fire only, this year we offer participants the use of personal wood burning camp/cook fires, and “quiet” flame effects. The Back 40 will continue to be a place for theme camps and open camping participants with no amplified sound louder than a boom box. Sound good to you? Check out the Back 40 page to learn more.

Ticketing Reminder

Just to recap from January’s Lakes Letter: We will be offering tickets to 2020 ticket holders this year, followed by a general lottery or fire sale afterward. 2020 ticket holders will be able to buy a 2022 ticket starting March 1st and ending April 1st. Watch your email inbox and your BurnerTickets.com accounts, 2020 ticket holders! After April 1st, we will know how many tickets we can still offer within our capacity at Lucky Lake. You may be helped by beholding this, a flowchart by former Boardie and current Ticketing co-lead, Raptor (thanks, Raptor!):

Lakes Letter – January 21, 2022

LAKES LETTER || Lakes of Fire Dates for 2022 | New Board of Directors | Lakes of Fire 2022 Ticketing Update | Art Grants Update | Lakes in Space Effigy Announcement

Lakes of Fire Dates for 2022

We are so thrilled to announce official dates for Lakes of Fire 2022, Lakes in Space! Clear your calendars, request time off, and start your engines: our spaceship will be taking off Wednesday June 15th, 2022 and returning back to Earth on Sunday June 19th, 2022.

Be on the lookout for our COVID-19 policy announcement and information about ticket sales these upcoming weeks. Information regarding 2021’s cancellation and rolled-over tickets can be found here.

Ticket Price and Purchase Dates

The 2022 ticket price, including fees, will be $150.00. Because of the 2020 and 2021 cancellations, 2020 ticket holders were given some options for what to do (once more, here is the 2021 cancellation and rolled-over ticket FAQ). We are honoring 2020 ticket holders by giving them the option to buy a 2022 ticket first. This includes volunteers who bought their 2020 ticket and people who bought their ticket in the 2020 lottery. People awarded tickets through the Directed Theme Camp Ticket program will need to re-apply in 2022 (see “Apply for Theme Camp Tickets Now” below for the link).

2020 ticket holders will be able to buy a 2022 ticket starting March 1st and ending April 1st. After April 1st, we will know how many tickets we can still offer within our capacity at Lucky Lake. The number of available tickets will determine how we distribute the rest (such as a lottery or fire sale) this year. Watch this Lakes Letter as we approach April 1st for more information.

Need Based Tickets and Minor Tickets

Your volunteer Lakes of Fire Ticketing Leads are excited to share big updates to the ticket process in 2022. Our hope is that these changes will continue to foster our inclusive community, as well as simplifying the process for our attendees.

Need-Based Ticketing: We are retiring the Low Income Discount Ticketing program, and replacing it with a Need Based Ticketing Program. If you are a burner with financial need, please apply here, as this new program is now open. This form closes February 20th at 11:59 pm (Central). For more information about the program, read on.

We understand that basing a discounted ticket primarily on reported income level is intrusive for our applicants, and that income alone does not accurately reflect financial need. Therefore, we will no longer be asking for any financial information. Instead, the application for a Need Based Ticket will be self-certification of a “significant financial need”. We have set aside the same pool of dollars to supplement our attendees in need, and that pool will be divided equally amongst all applicants. We strongly encourage those attendees who have a significant financial need to apply, and we strongly discourage those who do not have a significant financial need from applying. We trust our community to be honest in their self-declaration and not to try and take advantage of the system.

We plan to supplement the funds for this program in two ways. First, we will begin accepting direct donations to the Need Based Ticket money pool. Second, we will ask those Volunteers who have earned a half-priced ticket if they would like to donate the difference from their reduced price to those in our community with financial need.

Minor Ticketing: We are streamlining the minor ticketing process to make it easier for parents and young burners alike. No longer will each minor have to have their own Burnertickets account, and parents will no longer have to monitor or deal with their minor’s account(s). Instead, parents who receive a ticket offer will be allowed to claim their minor child’s ticket when they purchase their own. There will be a nominal fee of $10 per child to offset our costs with Burnertickets. With this change, a parent will be able to purchase tickets for their child(ren) when they check out, families will know they are ticketed together, and there will be no more stress about ticketing families together. Lakes of Fire is committed to including our younger burners (and perhaps future Volunteer Leads), and keeping our event an experience for all ages.

Apply for Theme Camp Tickets Now

The Directed Theme Camp Ticket Application Form is open! We reserve 10% of our tickets (230) for Theme Camp Critical Personnel who would not otherwise be able to attend Lakes without a Directed Theme Camp Ticket. We’re looking forward to seeing your awesome theme camp at Lakes in Space 2022! Impress our jury, and make sure those critical folks who make your Theme Camp a reality have a ticket this year. If your theme camp already has tickets, you don’t need to fill out this form. This form closes February 13th at 11:59 PM (Central). Please note: THIS IS NOT THE THEME CAMP PLACEMENT APPLICATION. That form is not yet open – check back in the next Lakes Letter!

Directed Tickets are Back – Join the Jury!

Ticketing Needs YOU to join our Theme Camp Directed Ticket Jury! We’re offering four (4) Volunteer Hours for three community members to rate and rank the Theme Camp Applications for Directed Tickets! You must identify and recuse yourself from judging camps with which you are affiliated. We’re looking for jury members who can commit to reviewing and ranking applications February 20th – 27th. Use this form to apply. This form closes February 13th at 11:59 PM (Central).

Art Grants Update

The Art Grants Team is thrilled to announce that the application process for Lakes of Fire 2022 art grants is open! The application, grant guidelines and other helpful information is located on the Art Grants page here.

For 2022, we continue to use “Lakes in Space” as our event theme. We hope this will inspire you to develop some dramatic and interesting proposals to wow us after being away for the past two years. We have set aside $500 of the art grant funds specifically for our young participants. We want our young burners to showcase their creations, and so we are planning a gallery just for youth art at the Nexus. More details to come.

The Art Grants Application Form closes on February 15th at 11:00 PM EST. Our goal as a team is to communicate out to the community the results of our decision making process no later than the week of March 7, 2022.

As far as how much we can offer in grant funds in 2022, we are still finalizing that. We are coordinating with granted artists from 2020 and reviewing the 2022 budget for additional funds. We will be certain to share the total available funds for 2022 with the community as soon as we can.

2020 Art Grant Recipients! If you were awarded an art grant in our 2020 cycle, please make sure you have communicated with your grants facilitators. Our team has sent emails to everyone to confirm participation but have not heard from everyone about whether or not they plan to bring those pieces to the 2022 event. Any 2020 grantee who has not confirmed their participation in the 2022 event by this Sunday, January 23, 2022 will be assumed that their project is no longer viable and the remaining grant funds will be added to the pot of available 2022 grant funds. Please do not delay in communicating with your art grants facilitator.

So get them wheels a turning, designs a drawing, and applications a submitting! All information can be found at http://lakesoffire.org/departments/art-hub/art-grants/.

Our New Board of Directors

We are excited to introduce our 2022 Board of Directors!

We want to commend the seven people who applied for the positions available on the Board of Directors for 2022. The job requires a lot of time, energy, and care for the community and event as a whole. The amount of courage and love it took to apply for this position deserves it’s own moment of recognition.

We decided to extend offers to four of those who applied. They each have an unique experience and skill set, and they inspired us with their own individual brand of enthusiasm and passion. All four have the tools and temperament to serve as Board members and we can’t wait to see how they will contribute to the long-term sustainability of our organization.

Without further ado, we’d like to welcome the following wonderful beings (human and otherwise) to the Board!

We are proud to welcome Neha Singh, Ben “just ben” Gonzales, Eric “Pirate” Branson, and Robert “Scuba” Lawler.

Please help us welcome and congratulate these rock star volunteers!

So many thanks go out to our outgoing Board members, Ila “Jackpot” Coltas, Laura “Jin” Thompson, Megan Smith-Jovanovic, and Scott “Skennedy” Kennedy.

Thank you for all your time and care as we travel again along this path of transition,

just ben, Love Warrior, moni, Neha, Pirate, Scuba

Board of Directors

Great Lakes Experimental Arts, Inc.

Lakes in Space Effigy Announcement

A garbled transmission comes over your headset. Your music is overpowered with static and a frantic message.

(zzzzzchhhh) had to eject (sssshhhhhh) finally broke through warp bubble (ptthhhhhbbbt) impact projected for (brrrrrrrrnn) must be destroyed with fire (zzz zzz zzz) it’s coming be ready!
The Life Star will crash into Lucky Lake June 15, 2022 – will you be ready?

Volunteer info available soon!

<3 Zack & Leta your effigy leads

Lakes Letter – November 23, 2021

LAKES LETTER || Fall Retreat Recap 2021

Fall Retreat Recap 2021

Your Lakes of Fire Leads conducted our annual Fall Retreat and 2022 event cycle kick-off meeting on November 6-7, 2021. Safety and sustainability of the event were primary topics of discussion. We are pleased to announce that we are moving forward with plans to hold LOF at Lucky Lake in June 2022! The exact dates will be announced as soon as possible.

The Leads and Board of Directors have determined that a COVID-19 entry and safety policy will be in place for LOF’22, although the exact contours are still being worked out. Please give us patience while we talk with experts, event planning peers, and the community as a whole. We will keep the community informed as the processes are solidified over the next few months.

While unpredictable factors could call for changes to LOF’22, we are optimistic that we can hold a safe and legal event as more and more people are vaccinated. Please make sure to sign up for our Lakes Letter, as any announcements will be made here. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, please consider doing so to protect those you love and the wider community.

If you held a ticket to 2020 and received a refund in 2021, please keep a watchful eye on the email address associated with your Burner Tickets account. Our Ticketing team will be sending out emails to confirm that the address we have on file is correct. Information regarding 2021’s cancellation can be found here.

Please enjoy a snapshot of your event Leads at our Fall Retreat meeting:

We are honored and excited to build an incredible experience with you once again, to live our best lives at the lake, and to tear it right back down again. Our motivation to be safely reunited with you is what is driving everything we do, and we cannot wait to get this rocket ship off to space. Best wishes for the rest of 2021 … according to rumors, it was better next year.

Warmly,
The GLEA Board of Directors and your Lakes of Fire Leads

Lakes Letter – July 27, 2021

LAKES LETTER || Recruitment for Board of Directors | BoD BIPOC Open House | BoD Virtual Open House | and more

Recruitment for the Board of Directors

Are you interested in joining the Board of Directors at GLEA? Great! We’re looking to onboard some new people in 2022.

Great Lakes Experimental Arts, Inc. is seeking highly-dedicated volunteers to join the Board of Directors. Board members are the legal face of Lakes of Fire and are directly responsible for the long term production and sustainability of our event. There are no prerequisites for joining other than a deep commitment to seeing Lakes of Fire continue to thrive.

If you feel you have the experience and desire to serve the organization, event, and attendees through this vital role, check out our Lakes Leadership page for more resources. We will be posting all virtual open house links and application forms there.

BoD BIPOC Open House

On August 1st at 3 pm ET, members of the GLEA Board of Directors will hold a virtual Open House specifically for BIPOC community members. This event is to allow BIPOC burners an opportunity to speak directly to the GLEA Board about the open Board positions.

The Board of Directors would like to hear the experiences and ideas of burners who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color and answer your questions about leadership and what the future of Lakes of Fire could look like.

If you are interested in applying to be on the Board of Directors or have questions or thoughts about leadership in our community, please join us.

This conversation is intended to open up space for those who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color, as their voices often go unheard in majority white spaces. There will be a Board Open House that is open to all on August 17th.

Check out our Lakes Leadership page for the Zoom link and more BoD application resources.

BoD Virtual Open House

On August 17th at 9 pm ET, the GLEA Board of Directors will host a virtual Open House. This event is open to the entire community. During the Open House, the Board will take most of the meeting time to describe the duties of the Board and answer questions from the community.

Check out our Lakes Leadership page for more the Zoom link and more BoD application resources.

2021: Gratitude to the Community

LAKES LETTER || Gratitude to the Community

To our fellow members of the Lakes of Fire Community:

Being a volunteer Lead for GLEA and producing our annual Lakes of Fire event brings us all a profound sense of joy and community.  We grappled with the idea of holding our event during a pandemic, and even with our minds on the principle of Civic Responsibility it broke our hearts to cancel for the second year in a row.  We are committed to holding the safest possible event for all of us, and look forward to making memories with you again in 2022.

We want to thank you for your support with this difficult decision, and we are so profoundly grateful for all the generous donations made to GLEA to support our current and future financial needs. 42% of respondents to the ticket cancellation E-mail donated to our organization—one in five ticket holders overall—raising a total of $25,629.  Not-for-profit organizations of all kinds are struggling or have closed during the pandemic; your kindness and generosity means our expenses for the next year are met and we are in an excellent position to produce Lakes IN SPACE in the summer of 2022.  In what has been a very difficult year for all of us, you’ve given us the joy and community we’ve missed, and a too-unfamiliar feeling of light and hope for the future during a year of mostly darkness and despair.

We thank you for your donations, for your strength, and for our future.

We are proud to be part of this community, and we know that together we will reach the stars.

– The Leads of Lakes of Fire

The 2021 Community Broadcast for Lakes of Fire

LAKES LETTER || The 2021 Community Broadcast for Lakes of Fire

To our Burner Family,

As we look to the future, the Great Lakes Experimental Arts Board of Directors want to provide an update on Lakes of Fire 2021. If this does not answer your specific questions, please see our FAQ for more details.

Current Situation

Lakes of Fire takes place in the middle of June each year. As you may recall, the 2020 event was cancelled due to a life-threatening global pandemic. Unfortunately, the pandemic remains a significant safety concern as we enter 2021. We are heartbroken to announce, as a continued expression of Civic Responsibility: Lakes of Fire 2021 is cancelled.

We all deeply crave the experience of gathering round the lake. The void in our hearts has been deafening. There’s nothing more we want than to make good chaos with all of you. However, as we considered whether a 2,200+-person event can safely occur, the Board, with input from leadership, outlined criteria for what would need to be in place to safely hold an in-person event. While vaccine roll-out is underway, it is not clear that we will reach the widespread vaccination levels needed before June. Ultimately, the below criteria cannot be met for Lakes of Fire 2021.

Criteria for a safe future event:

1. Large outdoor events are legally allowed by local, state, and national authorities. Currently, state reopening guidelines [PDF] identify widespread vaccine distribution and utilization as a requirement before large outdoor events will be permitted.
2. The organization and leadership are able to meet safety and preparedness standards for a large, outdoor, multi-day event with the state and county health departments.
3. A critical mass of Lead Volunteers are committed, capable, and fully engaged in running their departments without compromising their health and safety.
4. The organization can afford the recommended safety measures and other potential costs (such as increased insurance premiums) necessary in order to produce a safe event.
5. As a whole, the leadership is confident that, as a result of planning, preparation, and conditions, those attending the event are unlikely to spread or catch COVID-19.

We also recognize that holding an event this year would impose an unequal hardship for some of the members within our community. The Board believes that holding an event during a pandemic that continues to disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and people of color would only serve to create another barrier to participation for those groups. It is our responsibility to create a space in which creativity and expression can bloom, and that cannot happen if we ignore obstacles that exist for only some groups within our burner family.

What about my Ticket?

Because we cannot know what the next year will bring, we are refunding all tickets. Our next event faces many unknown factors, such as possible required reductions in population size, additional insurance requirements, or increases in infrastructure costs related to COVID-19. We are refunding all tickets sold with as close to a complete refund as we can while ensuring we can continue onward as an organization and event. We anticipate refunds for full price tickets to be $106 and half price tickets to be $53. Tickets purchased under the Low Income Discount program will be refunded at about $60, which is the full refund minus unrecoverable processing fees. Please allow a few weeks for instructions to be emailed to ticket holders at the address associated with their BurnerTicket account.

We are providing an option for people to choose to donate their ticket costs to GLEA to help us maintain the event and fund the art that is at the core of our mission as an all-volunteer, non-profit, arts organization. Please do not feel obligated in any way to donate. It’s most important that you take care of yourselves and your families, and we know this money is sorely needed by so many.

How can I get a ticket for the next event?

Ticket Holders by Drawing or Transfer: If we are able to hold our event with our normal population size in 2022, every current ticket holder who received their ticket via drawing or transfer will have the option to purchase a ticket for a 2022 event. If significant changes to the event are needed (e.g., reduction in size for safety reasons), we may be required to hold a new lottery.  This includes all lottery ticket holders who retained their tickets, those who received their tickets via transfer, and low income ticket holders who purchased and kept their lottery ticket.

Volunteers: Volunteers who purchased tickets through our Volunteer Ticket program in 2020 and those who volunteered at least 8 hours in 2020/2021 will get ticket offers for the next event.

Directed Theme Camp Tickets: Because it’s been so long since commitments were made and camps will be re-registering and starting anew (potentially with member turnover) Directed Tickets for Theme Camps will be refunded and a new application process will be held for the next event. We are currently discussing whether we can take 2020 ticket allotments into account when deciding on DTC tickets for the next event. 

Departmental Tickets: Due to the changing needs of the organization every year, these tickets will be refunded and returned to the issuing departments.

Will there be another lottery?

Probably! After the usual organizational needs have been met, any remaining tickets will be put into a randomized drawing and allocated in a similar fashion as previous years.

What about my Art Grant?

The core mission of our organization is to support art. The art grants team is preparing a communication to all granted artists that will go out within the next 24 hours explaining your options. If artists have any questions please reach out to your art grant facilitator or the Art Grant team at artgrants@lakesoffire.org.

Additional Concerns

We anticipate increased expenses due to COVID-19 precautions when we are able to hold our next event. Depending on best practices, we will likely need additional washing stations, portos and porto maintenance, gloves, masks, or other infrastructure we haven’t anticipated. We will also need to follow public gathering size restrictions which may impact event capacity.

Lakes of Fire must continue to carry liability insurance in order to function – we cannot have a successful event without it. Event insurance costs rose steeply (in general) in recent years, and may either grow substantially or be nearly impossible to obtain, depending on the pandemic situation and legal landscape by the time the next event happens. Each of these may impact our total budget, and the organization may respond by increasing ticket prices. We will explore any options to prevent financially impacting future attendees, and will keep the community updated.

Further 2021 Plans

It is really hard to accept that we won’t be able to see each other around Lucky Lake in 2021, but we are dreaming of the day when we can safely get together to make Lakes of Fire magic happen face to face once more. Until then, keep inspiring us from a (social) distance with your creative expression. We hope you continue to find new ways to bring the wonder and joy that is burning into your communities and daily lives, and take care of each other.

We will reach out later in the year to talk about how we can still have a stellar burn experience together.

With love, mourning, and growing hope for the future,

BrewBear, Jackpot, Jin, Love Warrior, Megan, Moni & Skennedy

(in consultation with the Lakes of Fire Department Leads)

Board of Directors

Great Lakes Experimental Arts

Lakes Letter – Oct 18th 2020

LAKES LETTER || Introducing our 2021 Board of Directors | Code of Conduct Committee: Call for Volunteers

Introducing our 2021 Board of Directors

Many thanks need to go out to the 11 people who applied for the two positions available on the Board of Directors for 2021. The job requires a lot of time, energy, and care for the community and the event as a whole. There were many worthy candidates, but we chose two for their insightful perspectives on how to improve the event, their strong skill sets that complement the other 2021 Board members, and their undeniable enthusiasm for the event and for the work it requires.

We are proud to welcome Tony “The Love Warrior” Holmes and Moni “Donut” Pilcher! 

Please help us welcome and congratulate these rock star volunteers. They will be joining us as listeners for the months preceding the official switch out in January.

Our gratitude goes to Jessica “Rabit” Baile and Scottie Van de Vyver, our outgoing Board members, for working their asses off over the last 3 years to take care of the event and everyone involved with it. Your efforts are deeply appreciated, and we will miss your energy. Time to go be a part of the problem!

This event thrives through the willingness of burners to step up and volunteer – if you want to make a difference, please consider becoming a volunteer, asking your Department how you can show leadership, and apply for the Board in a future year!

Code of Conduct Committee: Call for Volunteers

Looking for a way to get involved with Lakes of Fire year-round? The Code of Conduct Committee is currently seeking volunteers.

We take Code of Conduct violations seriously, including having an accessible, safe, and publicly known process for reporting and handling issues.

The Conduct Committee’s role is to provide empathetic support, review conduct incidents, document reports, and make recommendations to the Board of Directors. We aim to ensure our participants can report issues without fear of retribution or bias and with confidentiality. Having a focused, anonymous committee to handle these reports creates community involvement, relieves any intimidation or embarrassment for reporters, and allows the organization to continue to provide a safe space for participants.

If you are interested in being a part of this anonymous, 5-person panel, please indicate your interest via the Code of Conduct Committee application form.

Please see our Code of Conduct to review what our community standards are and for more information on how to submit a report to the committee.  Thank you for keeping our burn a safer place for all.

Lakes Letter – Aug 18, 2020

LAKES LETTER || Lakes Leadership 2021 | Recruitment for Board of Directors | BoD BIPOC Open House | BoD Virtual Open House | BLM Action Statement Pending

Lakes Leadership 2021

During the ongoing pandemic and protests against systemic racial inequality, Great Lakes Experimental Arts and our entire community are challenged to look to the future with a new imagination. Our temporary, intentional, and physical community at Lucky Lake simply did not happen in 2020. No one felt the call to step up and fill an empty shift; no one got a taste of helping in a new department; no one got to take the reins as a first-time shift lead. We grieve the joy of coming together for the burn itself, and also more. We grieve a year of unrealized volunteerism against the backdrop of a nation that desperately needs more community, accountability, and mutual aid in every regard.

That’s why our Lakes of Fire leadership wants to connect to our community a little bit differently this year.

Lakes Leadership is a new page on our website. Here we will publish dates and links to virtual meetings to help shape Lakes of Fire in 2021 and beyond. These virtual events exist to describe our event’s structures and processes with more transparency, to recruit volunteers for leadership roles, and to solicit open feedback as we review and reshape our policies. Our goal is for this openness to attract community members into active org positions while also giving transparent insight and voice to everyone our policies affect.

If you are interested in having a voice in our policy or taking a leadership role in 2021, please go to the Lakes Leadership page. If you don’t see the kind of topics or meetings you are interested in, tell us! You can simply use the Lakes Leadership Suggestion Box.

Recruitment for the Board of Directors

Are you interested in joining the Board of Directors at GLEA? Great! We’re looking to onboard 2 new people in 2021.

Great Lakes Experimental Arts, Inc. is seeking highly-dedicated volunteers to join the Board of Directors. Board members are the legal face of Lakes of Fire and are directly responsible for the long term production and sustainability of our event. There are no prerequisites for joining other than a deep commitment to seeing Lakes of Fire continue to thrive.

If you feel you have the experience and desire to serve the organization, event, and attendees through this vital role, fill out the interest form before 11:59 pm EST on October 1, 2020 to be considered for the open Board positions.

BoD BIPOC Open House

On August 30th at 3 pm ET, members of the GLEA Board of Directors will hold a virtual Open House specifically for BIPOC community members. This event is to allow BIPOC burners an opportunity to speak directly to the GLEA Board about the open Board positions.

The Board of Directors would like to hear the experiences and ideas of burners who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color and answer your questions about leadership and what the future of Lakes of Fire could look like.

If you are interested in applying to be on the Board of Directors or have questions or thoughts about leadership in our community, please join us.

This conversation is intended to open up space for those who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color, as their voices often go unheard in majority white spaces. There will be a Board Open House that is open to all on September 4th.

You can send in your questions to the GLEA BOD 2021 Question Box.

If you know you’d like to serve on the Board of Directors, the LOF Board Interest form for 2020 is now available!

BoD Virtual Open House

On September 4th (time TBD and will be announced), the GLEA Board of Directors will host a virtual Open House. This event is open to the entire community. During the Open House, the Board will take most of the meeting time to describe the duties of the Board and answer questions that were submitted in advance. You can send in your questions to the GLEA BOD 2021 Question Box.

If you know you’d like to serve on the Board of Directors, the LOF Board Interest form for 2020 is now available!

BLM Action Statement Pending

The GLEA Board of Directors promised the community a written statement on specific policy steps to support BIPOC burners, elevate BIPOC voices, and explicitly address racism and racial inequality when it appears in our community. The statement isn’t ready yet. But work is happening. The BoD BIPOC Open House to recruit for at least one open Board of Directors position is the most specific and direct action the BoD is taking today.

The entire GLEA leadership understands the urgency and importance of taking transparent, specific action. We look forward to sharing more soon and appreciate everyone’s patience.

GLEA Statement: Black Lives Matter

Black burners put in their time, effort, and energy for Lakes of Fire and are an essential part of our community. Black burners, you are a part of our family and your problems are our problems. Black lives matter.

Lakes of Fire strongly condemns police brutality, racism, and fascism. We are outraged and sickened by the deaths of more innocent black people—George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade being only the latest in an endless string—at the hands of people who should be protecting us. This structure is perpetually maintained by the silence of the community; we will not be silent.

We see authorities violating the 1st Amendment rights of protesters and journalists around the country, and recognize the threat to the right of all people to express themselves—radically or otherwise.

Regional Burning Man events in the United States are often predominantly white, and would have a different relationship with police if we were a predominantly black organization. As a community, we must be firm and direct in addressing these crimes, and also must look inward for how racism plays a role in our own structure.

Lakes of Fire’s Board of Directors understands that our event and organization can do better at welcoming black people at the table and making sure their voices are heard. We will also do better at assisting black individuals who want to attend a burn for the first time so that we can better “welcome the stranger.”

To that end, we intend to modify our Code of Conduct to ban symbols of hate at Lakes of Fire. We know this is only the beginning – we will meet with our black burner family to discuss long-term strategies to make a difference in these ways. We will reach out to you by August about these steps. We want you to hold us accountable, and welcome discussion on ways we can improve.

Dismantling white supremacy is an active practice. The Community Ready Corps Alliances & Allies has a set of 5 methods to help people address internalized racism, and we encourage you to check it out.

Please also see these resources for education, organization, and action.

Burner Specific:

• Black Burner Project
• Diversity and Radical Inclusion: Black Lives Matter
• Fumbling Towards Inclusivity – Life is a Festival #32: JR Nexus Russ
• Communication, Mediation, & Conflict Resolution Strategies (BRC Ranger Manual)

General Resources:

• Black Lives Matter
• SURJ: Showing Up for Racial Justice
• Bystander Intervention
• What to Do Instead of Calling the Police
• Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources

Please reach out to us via email at board@lakesoffire.org if you have comments or suggestions on how we can improve as an organization.

We want our black participants to know that while we can’t ask you to expend more energy, we are ready to listen to what you need and how you think we could engage on this issue, both during this current protest and throughout the years to come.

BrewBear, Jackpot, Jin, Megan, Rabit, Scottie & Skennedy

Board of Directors
In consultation with the Lakes of Fire Leads
Great Lakes Experimental Arts

Community Broadcast for Lakes of Fire 2020

LAKES LETTER || Community Broadcast for Lakes of Fire 2020

To our Burner Family,

It is with a heavy, heavy heart that we must announce that Lakes of Fire 2020 is cancelled. This is the most difficult expression of Civic Responsibility we’ve ever attempted.

WHY?

We are facing unprecedented changes to our daily lives, without a clear end in sight. What has become clear is that we all play a role in preventing the spread of COVID-19, primarily by physically distancing ourselves and using good hygiene. We are all charged with disrupting the rapid increase in COVID-19 spread by avoiding group gatherings and doing our best not to increase the burden on already overwhelmed medical systems.

The impacts of this virus are far-reaching. Burners are using up their vacation hours they normally reserve for Lakes of Fire. Many are losing their jobs and the income they would use to create art and set up theme camps. Immunocompromised burners are making hard decisions to stay isolated to reduce risk of transmission, including members of our leadership. The strains on our resources and leadership are great and impede our ability to safely produce a successful event.

We are the Great Lakes REGIONAL burn, drawing people from many communities, and it is imperative that we act in the best interest of the community and the world at large. We come from nearly every state and many countries to the small town of Rothbury, which has just 500 residents in a rural county. We feel a responsibility to prioritize the community and avoid unnecessary danger.

WHY NOW? WHY NOT WAIT?

Making this decision now allows people to plan for the future as best they can. As a small nonprofit organization, this decision also enables us to cut current spending so that Lakes of Fire 2021 and beyond can be on strong financial ground.

WHAT HAPPENS WITH MY TICKET?

Your ticket will be honored for participation in Lakes of Fire 2021. We would like to extend the opportunity for current ticket holders who were the original purchaser of a ticket to obtain a refund, by request, until May 1st, 2020 OR two weeks from the time the refund button becomes available, whichever is later. If you currently have a ticket and you would prefer to transfer it to another participant, you will be able to transfer the ticket until the close of transfers for the 2021 event.

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS IF I HAVE A TICKET THAT I PURCHASED DIRECTLY FROM BURNER TICKETS?

Most original ticket purchasers have three options:

1. Hold on to your ticket. It will be honored for LOF21.
2. Transfer the ticket.
3. Ask for a refund (see below).

You must be the original purchaser of a ticket to receive a refund. A refund will be issued to the same credit card used to purchase the ticket.

Because low income discount tickets are not eligible for transfer, a LID ticket holder must either keep their ticket for LOF21 or request a refund.

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS IF I HAVE A TICKET THAT I RECEIVED VIA A TRANSFER?

Transfer recipients have two options:

1. Hold on to your ticket. It will be honored for LOF21.
2. Transfer the ticket.

We will not issue refunds for transferred tickets, because we can only issue a refund to the original credit card, not the current ticket holder. Neither the original ticket purchaser nor the current ticket holder may request a refund for a transferred ticket.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO REFUNDED TICKETS?

All refunded tickets will be placed into a new lottery pool. If you refund a ticket (including a volunteer ticket), the only way to get a ticket for LOF21 is by registering and participating in the ticket lottery for LOF21, or receiving a transfer ticket. The new 2021 lottery will require re-registration (and group selection if desired). Line positions in the LOF20 lottery will not carry over to the LOF21 lottery.

WHAT IF I ASK FOR A REFUND FOR A VOLUNTEER TICKET?

Once a refund is issued, you will not receive a new volunteer ticket offer for LOF21. You will have to register and participate in the ticket lottery for LOF21. If you refund your current volunteer appreciation ticket, it’s gone.

HOW DO I TRANSFER OR ASK FOR A REFUND?

Please see our 2020 Cancellation Ticket FAQ page for further ticket related details.

WHAT IF I RECEIVED AN ART GRANT?

Our core mission as an organization is to support art – the first payment is being disbursed to grantees and will stay with the artists, so that they can continue to create their projects. We hope that many, if not most of you, will stay the course, continue to build your fantastic space-y creations, and bring them to Lakes of Fire in 2021.

WHAT ABOUT MY ADDITIONAL DONATION FOR ART?

We are not only an event, we are an arts organization. Each year, we provide a portion of our revenue to a local elementary school to fund art enrichment activities for students. We will continue to provide that financial support for arts education via a portion of the donations we received during ticket sales this year. Funds from 2019 have also been allocated to special artistic community projects, which we are looking forward to unveiling at Lakes of Fire 2021. Thank you to everyone who contributed additional donation funds with their ticket purchase.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

Burners Without Borders works with communities to respond to disasters around the world. They have provided these resources for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic:

• BWB Response to COVID-19
• COVID-19: Call for Burners to Donate Supplies

If you see an unmet need in your community, read more about starting a project with Burners Without Borders.

If you have any extra personal protection equipment (PPE), please consider donating it to your local hospital.

Great Lakes Experimental Arts is donating our available PPE to Lakeshore Hospital in Shelby, near Lucky Lake. Many burner communities are doing the same in their neighborhoods.

WHAT NEXT?

Now is a time to make art. We need it now more than ever.
Now is a time to take care of yourself and each other. Your community needs support.
Now is a time to think of how our world might look after this has passed, and how each of us can shape it for the better. Our culture is ready for this. If any group of people can work collaboratively, it’s ours. We’re badasses!
Now is a time to stay connected and burn together… separately.

Once we’ve all had a chance to take a breath, we would love to engage you on how we can stay connected, and keep Burning together in the lead up to Lakes of Fire 2021.

For the answers to more general questions please see our General 2020 Cancellation FAQ. Ticketing-related details from this announcement will be available at COVID-19 Ticket Announcement and FAQ.

Next year was better,

BrewBear, Jackpot, Jin, Megan, Rabit, Scottie, & Skennedy
(in consultation with the Lakes of Fire Department Leads)
Board of Directors
Great Lakes Experimental Arts