May 1, 2024
Announcing New Central Texas Regional Contacts!
This is Acacia from the Regional Network team at Burning Man world headquarters. I’m reaching out with exciting news.
My team is honored to welcome Stephanie Vyborny, Jorge Luis Gamboa VIII aka the Ambassador, and David Salazar aka Poolboy, who are joining Starbaby and Clovis as the Central Texas Regional Contact (RC) team. We are onboarding three new RCs in the Central Texas region as Starbaby and Clovis have served for a decade or more (huge gratitude!), and are now succession planning for retirement within the year.
It’s our pleasure to introduce you to the new Central Texas RCs!
Stephanie Vyborny
Austin, TX
Stephanie (aka stephy, RainCzech) has been burning since 2004. Professional cat herder, proud mama, weirdo artist, community builder, and an engineer of the human soul. Joyfully serving and ever learning.
David Salazar aka Poolboy
Austin, TX
DPW metalshop, flipside site ops, founding member of Engulf. Honor to serve.
Jorge Luis Gamboa VIII aka the Ambassador
San Antonio, TX
Jorge Luis Gamboa is a technologist, cultural anthropologist, and experience producer. He has over 20 yrs. of production experience across a spectrum of roles and mediums. He received his playa name from an S class quest at Burning Man. Jorge Luis is a founder of the theme camp Motropolis and Regional Burn “AlmaBurn”. He has gone to Burning man 9 times and has worked on the large scale art “Build a Seat” at Burning Man. In the default world he is a tech manager for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Artist and business owner. His art studio “Studio 111” is a gathering place for the Burner Community in San Antonio.
February 6, 2024
Hi Austin and Central Texas Burners!
This Regional Contact search has closed.
Stay tuned, the Burning Man Regional Network team, in collaboration with local leaders, hope to announce new Regional Contacts in May!
Cheers!
The Regional Network Team
January 23, 2024
Requesting YOUR Community Feedback on Austin/ Central Texas Regional Contact Candidates
Hi Austin and Central Texas Burners!
YOUR FEEDBACK REQUESTED!
The Burning Man Regional Network team, in collaboration with local leaders, is searching for additional community leaders to build and nurture Burning Man community initiatives in Austin and the Central Texas region. These Regional Contacts (“RCs”) will serve alongside the current Austin RCs, Clovis and Starbaby.
These seven candidates have stepped up to volunteer as Regional Contacts and help keep the flame burning:
- David Salazar aka poolboy
- Stephanie Vyborny
- Matt DeVay aka CheeseWiz
- Jeremy Williams aka Chainsaw aka cSaw
- Justin W Hart
- Michelle DeFrance aka Ste. Michelle
- Jorge Luis Gamboa VIII aka the Ambassador
Regional Contacts work to help strengthen and foster connections in local regions. As such, we request your feedback about each candidate under consideration. This assists us in making the best selection for your local community.
If you know any of these candidates, please complete this community feedback survey no later than midnight PST on Tuesday February 6th, 2024.
Your confidential feedback assists us in making the best selection for your local community. All feedback from this survey is provided to the RC selection team anonymously – all identifying information is removed – that said, please do not add identifying information to your narrative answers unless you intend for your identity to be known.
ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE:
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7688726/Austin-RC-Feedback-Survey
Please share this link far and wide, we appreciate all the feedback we can get!
You can learn more about the Regional Contact selection process by reading these:
If you have questions about this process or additional feedback, which cannot be captured in the survey, please don’t hesitate to email us via regional-network@burningman.org.
Thank you!
January 8, 2024
Deadline for self-nominations EXTENDED!
Our team is now searching for community members to contribute their spark and step into the Central Texas Regional Contact role.
Regional Contacts volunteer year-round to build and nurture Burning Man community initiatives on a local level. They facilitate communication and collaboration with and between local community members, various local community groups and the Burning Man Regional Network Team. Could this be YOU?
*Read More Below*
If you feel qualified to self-nominate to be a Burning Man Regional Contact, please complete these two items by FRIDAY January 19th, 2024:
- Email regional-network@burningman.org: please add Austin Regional Contact in the subject line and introduce yourself. Share more about your local involvement and your relevant leadership experience. *AND*
- Complete the Volunteer Questionnaire. Log into your Burner Profile and complete this survey. You MUST CHECK “Regional Contacts” as one of your 3 teams in order for us to receive this form. If you have already filled out a VolQ form, please check that you’ve indicated “Regional Contacts” as one of your areas of interest.
Key dates in our Central Texas intake process, subject to change, are:
- January 19, 2024: Deadline to self-nominate with letter and submit volunteer questionnaire.
- January 23: Opportunity for community feedback on candidates opens via confidential survey.
- February 2024: Candidates will be interviewed by the interview team.
- March 2024: Final decisions made and announcements shared.
If you feel like you may be a good fit for the Austin / Central Texas RC team, we warmly welcome you to step up and take part in our selection process. If you have specific questions, reach us at regional-network@burningman.org.
Please share this announcement to your socials and your communities throughout the Central Texas area!
Sincerely,
Acacia, Project Manager on the Regional Network Team
December 22, 2023
Hello Central Texas Burners!
The Burning Man Project Regional Network Team has exciting news! We are launching the search for Regional Contacts in the Austin and Central Texas area to empower and support cultural growth across your region.
Austin Regional Contacts, Clovis and Starbaby currently steward the community, but because Austin has such an active, engaged, and exciting region, we all agreed they need some well-deserved help!
Our team is now searching for community members to contribute their spark and step into this leadership role. Regional Contacts volunteer year-round to build and nurture Burning Man community initiatives on a local level. They facilitate communication and collaboration with and between local community members, various local community groups and the Burning Man Regional Network Team. Could this be YOU?
If you live in the greater Austin region year-round and are interested in becoming a Burning Man Regional Contact, please read about the Regional Network, search process, and Regional Leadership Criteria.
Please do not apply until you’ve read all of these resource pages!
As an Austin/ Central Texas RC, we are looking for the following skills and attributes:
- Collaborates, works well with a range of personalities, and can build bridges between community members across the region, including welcoming new burners and re-engaging established members.
- Actively listens and responds to community needs and ideas.
- Expresses themself with strong written, verbal, and public speaking communication skills; understands the importance of communication as a community-building, engagement and strengthening tool.
- Holds strong tech & social media skills, including:
- Google Group email lists (it’s expected that RCs post and approve posts to the list in a consistent and timely manner)
- Website management skills (basic editing of the Austin Region’s webpage)
- Welcomes feedback from the community and recognizes the need for a leader to plan for their own eventual succession.
- Maintains a mindset of flexibility about ownership rather than possession and is willing to help build a team through delegating and sharing responsibilities to develop the leaders of tomorrow.
- Embraces difficult conversations conflict resolution and community mediation skills.
- Has capacity to take on the full duties of the Regional Contact role.
If you feel qualified to self-nominate to be a Burning Man Regional Contact, please complete these two items by Wednesday January 12th, 2024:
- Email regional-network@burningman.org: please add Austin Regional Contact in the subject line and introduce yourself. Share more about your local involvement and your relevant leadership experience. *AND*
- Complete the Volunteer Questionnaire. Log into your Burner Profile and complete this survey. You MUST CHECK “Regional Contacts” as one of your 3 teams in order for us to receive this form. If you have already filled out a VolQ form, please check that you’ve indicated “Regional Contacts” as one of your areas of interest.
After the window to self-nominate closes, we’ll send out a community feedback survey to gather community input on each candidate.
Key dates in our Central Texas intake process, subject to change, are:
- January 12, 2024: Deadline to self-nominate with letter and submit volunteer questionnaire.
- January 16: Opportunity for community feedback on candidates opens via confidential survey.
- February 2024: Candidates will be interviewed by the interview team.
- March 2024: Final decisions made and announcements shared.
If you feel like you may be a good fit for the Austin / Central Texas RC team, we warmly welcome you to step up and take part in our selection process. If you have specific questions, reach us at regional-network@burningman.org.
Please consider amplifying this announcement to your socials and sharing with your communities throughout the Central Texas area!
With Excitement,
Acacia, Project Manager on the Regional Network Team
Photo Credit: Debbie Wolff
Art: Identity Awareness Family by Shane Pitzer
Year: 2017