Some good news from the Burning Man folks. Maybe some critics swill have second thoughts. Black Rock City, LLC, the organization that hosts the annual Burning Man event, has announced it will donate $97,200 in proceeds from ice sales at the 2010 event to various charitable, art and service organizations in Northern Nevada.
“It’s about being a good neighbor,” said Larry Harvey, founder and executive director of Burning Man. “Without the support of the communities, law enforcement teams, governments, and businesses of Northern Nevada, we could not have had the success we experienced this year.”
Since 2003, Black Rock City has donated more than $566,500 to Washoe and Pershing County charities. Each year, the total donation amount has increased, even in 2009, when Burning Man’s revenue and population went down.
Gift Recipients for this year include Nevada Museum of Art, Nevada State Museum, Historical Society of Dayton Valley, Sierra Arts Foundation, Nevada Discovery Museum, Gerlach Volunteer Fire Department, Gerlach High School, Gerlach General Improvement District, Gerlach-Empire Senior Citizens Palace, Crisis Call Center, Friends of the Black Rock, Pershing County Senior Center, Lovelock Lion’s Club, Marzen House Museum and the Lovelock Food Bank, among others.
“Donations from our ice sales at the event are one of the ways we can say thank you,” said Marian Goodell, director of business, communications and Department of Public Works. “We are pleased that in this new year — in this economic climate — we are able to provide charitable gifts to our friends and neighbors.”
For 20 years, the Black Rock Desert outside of Reno, Nev., has been home to the increasingly popular and influential Burning Man event. The annual art event, which began on a beach in San Francisco in 1986, has grown to attract 50,000 participants annually, from every state of the union and 23 countries worldwide.
