AfterBurn report: MicroBurn 2019

Introduction and Event Information

MicroBurn 2019 was our sixth annual event, and again it took place at a family run Eco Farm in Powys, mid Wales. The event was four days long, with approx 175 memberships in line with previous year.

MicroBurn’s strength is its strong sense of community, and remaining at this size allows relationships and collaborations to grow year on year. Participants came from across the UK and further afield globally as far as Israel & New Zealand! The majority of attendees had attended a burn before, although we had approx 10% first time burners and 30% who had never attended MicroBurn before. 

MicroBurn continued as a Private Limited Company (as setup in 2018) with official listing on the UK Companies House directory and completion of all required information delivered. The financial accounts for 2018 and 2019 will be submitted in early 2020. 

MicroBurn 2019 was run by around 30 Leads, covering all areas from pre-event comms & planning roles to event time roles such as Build, Rangers, Welfare, Kitchen and many more. MicroBurn uses Slack for online communication & regular online video calls, which are both open to anyone in the community who would like to join whether they are a named lead or not. We strongly believe in transparency and communal decision making as opposed to a hierarchy system.

We have a strong participation ethos; a burn this size needs a high proportion of volunteers and everyone is encouraged to do their bit.  We had over 200 event time shifts, with approx 95% of these filled pre-event and then others filled either during entry process at Gate or during the event. 

MicroBurn 2019 was a successful event overall, with plenty of September sunshine and different activities & art provided by the community. 

Tickets Sold

In 2019 we continued to have separate memberships & kitchen memberships, allowing people to ‘opt in’ to the communal meals or have the option of paying a lower price if they prefer not to be part of the kitchen project and be self reliant with their own food. 

The Memberships were sold in two waves in June & July, with all memberships selling out. In addition to adult & child standard memberships, there were also low income memberships & free carer memberships to provide inclusive options to the community. Low Income memberships were limited and applications were reviewed by a committee. 

MicroBurn also sells parking passes & live-in vehicle passes separately to memberships both to manage the numbers on site due to limited capacity and also to encourage participants to practice ride sharing and use public transport where possible in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the event and promote sustainable travel. 

Finances

Ticket sales, including parking permits, additional donations and memberships of the kitchen project, generated £14,159. The total amount of money spent was £13,501, with £1,911 of that being spent on food, the breakdown of other costs is shown below. 

More details can be seen in the 2019 Financial Summary

Finances

Ticket sales, including parking permits, additional donations and memberships of the kitchen project, generated £14,159. The total amount of money spent was £13,501, with £1,911 of that being spent on food, the breakdown of other costs is shown below. 

More details can be seen in the 2019 Financial Summary

What Happened at the Event?

Theme camps

The theme camps at MicroBurn are a little different to larger burns, as the camping is all in one field in more of a ‘free camping’ style. However we have multiple structures around the main site area either which are permanent structures on the farm, or temporary structures which are brought by participants and are used by different groups for projects and activities. 

Theme camps this year included costume camp, electric lazy lounge & Camp Brioche.

In addition to the theme camps there is a MicroBurn bar, with donations provided by the participants to create drinks and many merry times to be had. 

Art

MicroBurn may be small in size, but it still provides many sparks of creativity in our community and beautiful art. We spent approximately £500 on art & decor. The MicroBurn tradition of ‘pimp a portaloo’ continued with creative decoration, lighting and even sound effects to enjoy on your trip to the porta potty! 

The 2019 effigy was in the shape of a rocket, and the effigy burn was fantastic with nearly all of the participants coming together in one place to enjoy the burn.  

Entertainment

In 2019 we had over 60 events & workshops submitted to the WWW guide, with events from treasure hunt, radical listening workshop, massage for beginners, womens’ circle and many more. 

And we had the yearly tradition of the infamous MicroBurn cabaret held in the old chapel, with an array of talents on show from the sublime to the ridiculous in true burner style.

Event Safety

Participant safety and wellbeing are a priority at MicroBurn, and much thought and effort is put into keeping everyone safe and well. There is always a Site Lead on duty 24/7 during the event who is the escalation point for any issues, and is an experienced & trusted member of the community. 

Medic

As in 2018, MicroBurn contracted the services of a trained medic to be present and provide care to participants as required. The cost was considered well worth it for the wellbeing of participants and peace of mind of the organisers. MicroBurn is over an hour drive to the nearest hospital and this also allowed us to be more self reliant as a community. 

This year the medic’s services were much needed due to a medical emergency on Saturday night. We did eventually have to call in the local emergency services however the risks were greatly reduced and the medic was also able to liaise with the emergency services. 

Rangers

MicroBurn’s Rainbow Rangers looked out for us all throughout the event. Two training sessions were held, and the Rainbow Rangers provided 24/7 coverage during the event time. The Rainbow Rangers were also invaluable during the medical emergency in 2019, providing support to the medic and the site lead in managing the situation. 

Welfare

Welfare Enough again provided Welfare support for participants at MicroBurn. Welfare was based in a quiet yurt and was open 24/7 to participants. Training was provided at the start of the event to Welfare volunteers.

Effigy and Temple Burns

We have a dedicated Fire Safety Lead, as well as our Health and Safety Lead, who organised all fire safety equipment, liaised the Effigy build team and coordinated a team of fire marshals for Burn. 

Conclusion

All in all, MicroBurn 2019 was a successful event, thanks to the huge amount of preparation and work poured into the event by everyone involved during the event. 

We are fortunate to have an amazing community with many experienced MicroBurners who come back year on year, as well as burners with experience of other burns in the UK, Europe and globally. We can all always learn from incidents and experiences, as well as from each other and we will only evolve to be stronger as a community.

Next year we would like to further expand our year round fundraising efforts to provide additional art grants funding, as well as year round volunteering to support the farm where MicroBurn is held and the local community.