Hello Community Builders around the world!
Burning Man’s future is 365 and everywhere: more Burning Man for more people, in more places, throughout their lives. When people connect and create together, they build relationships and ideas that they carry back into their communities.
People around the world are already making this vision real. Burning Man Project is exploring a 2028 global gathering of community leaders from around the world, and we’re looking for a city and community who would be interested in potentially co-hosting it with us.
Could this be you?
Why we gather
Burning Man culture is built year-round in hundreds of communities around the world, often by people who have never met each other, many times solving problems someone else has often already solved. Bringing our global network of artists, community organizers, civic partners, and emerging leaders together in person allows skills to transfer, collaborations to form, and ideas from one city to ignite in another.
Every gathering Burning Man Project hosts generates imagination and connection to advance a more creative and connected world. This one also nurtures and inspires community leaders and culture-makers of many kinds in a peer-to-peer sharing forum that offers an opportunity to step back for self-reflection, to go deep on what we’re each building in our own communities and to boldly imagine the future together.
What we’re looking for
We’re seeking a host city and team that can co-create and run this event with Burning Man Project in service of the global community. Full funding for this event has not yet been secured. The final funding model will require active partnership to scope and plan a financially feasible and affordable event for the community. We are especially interested in hearing from:
- Locations: Submissions welcomed from any country or continent
- Existing Burning Man hotspots: Cities with an active, established regional community and a track record of producing regional events, art, or gatherings
- Cities with strong municipal support for arts, culture, and civic engagement: Ideally with a history of, or clear openness to, city or regional funding and in-kind support for cultural events and conferences
- Cities that are culturally vibrant, want to be recognized for their cultural uniqueness, or are seeking to improve their cultural vibrancy: We have successfully partnered with cities that have unique cultural offerings and those wanting to jumpstart their cultural landscape
- Places with aligned potential local partners: Venue operators, city officials, cultural institutions who are ready to commit in the early planning stages
We’re also open to new ideas about how to gather and how to enhance the shared experience. This won’t look exactly like gatherings of the past, and we invite you to be our partners in re-imagining these events.
Ideal host characteristics
- A core team able to take on co-leadership roles for the full planning cycle including help anchoring logistics (approximately 12+ months)
- A network of volunteers who can assist with planning, logistics, and on-the-ground operations
- Creative spaces:
- A primary venue that can comfortably accommodate at least 400 people, with the ability to expand if registration exceeds expectations
- An environment that feels inspiring and relevant to community builders, makers, and artists and resonant with Burning Man culture
- Affordable venue options, ideally with realistic paths to municipal support (nice but not required)
- A plenary space plus multiple breakout rooms (sized for groups of roughly 20–60 people each)
- Accessibility: International airport access (less than 90 minutes from airport to venue) and reliable public transit within the city. Venues should be wheelchair accessible.
- Municipal and civic relationships: Existing or emerging ties to local government, tourism boards, or cultural agencies that could support permitting, funding, or promotion
- A confirmed local partner or two, even informally, who can help anchor logistics and credibility with the city early on
What hosting means for your community
What hosting means for your community
Hosting this event is an opportunity to deepen local relationships, raise the community’s profile with city government and cultural institutions, advocate for the importance of Burning Man culture where you live, and create a lasting sense of ownership and pride among local participants that carries beyond the gathering itself. We want to hear your vision for what this could mean where you are.
How to respond
If you’re interested in exploring a co-host partnership, please email community.events@burningman.org with:
- Your city and a brief description of your local/regional Burning Man community
- An outline of your potential core team and volunteer network
- Potential venue(s) and their approximate capacity
- Any existing or potential relationships with municipal, civic, or cultural partners
- Why this gathering, in your city, in 2028, matters to your community
Deadline to express interest: December 1, 2026 though sooner the better.
We’ll review responses on a rolling basis and will follow up with every respondent for a conversation so we can explore possibilities together.