Gateway Burners

To the Gateway Burners Community, As we get closer to the end of 2020; a year in which the term unprecedented times has been thrown around like a baseball at a Cardinals game; the Gateway Burners Board of Directors has been meeting to discuss what we can do with regards to our community and our Burn. We won’t bury the lede here. After a number of discussions and reviewing feedback provided by community members over the past month (via the Gateway 2021 Event Input Form), the... Board of Directors doesn’t feel like we can safely and reasonably plan an event for summer 2021. Planning an event of this size takes a considerable amount of time, and right now we have no idea what we’ll be looking at with regards to COVID-19 infection rates, nor vaccine availability (things a number of you pointed out on the Input Form). Even if those things were more certain, there would be significant added costs to the organization; event insurance would likely go up in cost, if it was even available; additional toilets would likely be needed; hand-washing stations would need to be made available as well; any sort of rapid-testing kits that might be available (which currently aren’t completely effective) would come with added cost, too. Then we’d also have to look at state mandates which change month to month, and consider capping our event at a lower number of participants than we currently have. All of these considerations, and others, makes us feel like any attempt at an in-person event would fly in the face of the Principles of which Burning Man is supposed to be about. While no one on the board was happy about that conclusion, the decision was unanimous. We know this isn’t what anyone probably wants to hear. We certainly miss Burning, and we miss interacting with our community, both at Gateway Burn and elsewhere. This year has been rough for each and every one of us. There is hope on the horizon, though, and we are cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to hold large, in-person events in 2022. Ultimately, that will be a decision for the 2021-2022 board of directors. As for 2021, we’ll be trying to hold some online events so that our community can still come together safely, albeit virtually. We’re still trying to figure out what that looks like and we’re taking other events that have been held in a digital medium into account. We have no doubt that there will be some feelings, questions, comments, concerns, inquiries, rants, raves, obscenities and more that you want to share with us. We encourage you to do so, and we’ll try our best to engage with you. Feel free to leave comments on our Facebook post, message any of the board members (Evin Fritschle, Una McGarry, Pettrov Pterodactyl, Kevin McPherson and Mike Howell) or email us at [email protected]. Sincerely, The 2020-2021 Gateway Burners Board of Directors

Hi everyone, Now that the new Gateway Burners board of directors has started to meet, one of the first things on their plate is looking at the possibility and feasibility of holding an event in 2021. We want to hear from you. Sometime in the near future, please take a few minutes to go and give us some feedback via this form: https://forms.gle/88PXrqfxnCEK4RXr7 On 11/4/2020, the board will begin compiling the responses and looking at ideas for what we think we can do next yea...r. This is a great chance for you to share your opinions, thoughts and ideas with us for a 2021 event. We hope to hear from you.

Announcing Gateway Burners 2020-2021 Board of Directors! Despite many nominations, this year only five people accepted their nomination for Board Member. This made elections unnecessary and allowed us to move right along to announcing our new board. Let’s congratulate the new Gateway Burners Board of Directors: ... Evin Fritschle Kevin Mercury McPherson Mike Howell Pettrov Pterodactyl Una McGarry Each nominee was asked to provide a statement on their qualifications for nomination. Their individual statements are included in the comments section below.

Community Planning Meeting via conference call at 7pm tonight (Wednesday 9/9). Please call 319-527-3510 and enter code 172245. If you have any problems getting on, please comment here and we will do our best to try to get you into the call.

BOARD NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! What does a Board Member do? -Upholds Gateway Burners mission statement and incorporates the 10 Principles into our operations ... -Establishes a vision and long-term goals for Gateway Burners -Establishes a budget and approves spending -Ensures compliance with Burning Man’s rules and regulations -Maintains compliance for IRS 501(c)(3) status as a tax exempt organization -Makes executive decisions for the organization and engages community in decision making whenever possible -Provides support for the Event Coordinators and Department Leads If you or someone you know would be a good fit for this role, send their information to [email protected]. If you are a community member and would like to help be a part of the vetting committee for new Board Members, please send your information over to [email protected] with vetting committee in the subject line. For more information click the link below: https://docs.google.com//15H54QCgBPpNs0FWMOYey0znpcr/edit

Nominations for Gateway Burn 2021 Board Members are now open! If you or someone you know is interested in joining the Board, please email their name and contact information to [email protected]. Follow the link below for more information on qualifications, responsibilities and the selection process: https://docs.google.com//15H54QCgBPpNs0FWMOYey0znpcr/edit