So you’re interested in being a Regional Contact? Great! We welcome interest from Burners who want to serve their local regional Burner community by helping facilitate year-round participation in Burning Man culture.
The Burning Man Regional Contact (RC) Selection Process
The selection of Burning Man Regional Contacts is a highly collaborative process involving the participation of a region’s local community members in careful consideration of each applicant. Here’s an overview of what happens:
- The Regional Network team constantly evaluates the needs for RCs across the Regional Network. Perhaps your region does not currently have a Regional Contact or a local Regional Contact is stepping down or needs some additional support. Regional Contact searches typically happen between October through April, before we shift our focus to making Black Rock City happen. We ask for your patience during our event production crunch time.
- An open call-out inviting anyone in the region interested in serving as a Regional Contact is shared through a region’s announcement email list and any regional social media groups.
- After the application period ends, community feedback is collected about each candidate through a confidential feedback survey. The survey link is posted to the region’s local regional announcement list and social media groups.
- An interview team of the region’s active Burner community members reviews each candidate’s application and anonymous community feedback keeping in mind specific needs a community has for an RC outlined in the open callout for applicants. The team then schedules interviews with candidates who advance in the process – sometimes this includes every candidate. Scheduling and completing interviews can take some time. After interviews are done, the interview team provides a final recommendation report to the Regional Selection Committee.
- A Regional Selection Committee, including representatives from the Regional Network team, reviews the recommendation report and asks any follow-up questions of the interview team and RC candidates. A final decision is then made.
- All candidates are contacted to inform them of the decision. A new Regional Contact will be asked to sign the Volunteer Regional Contact Agreement and complete an online orientation before a formal announcement will be made by the Regional Network team to the local announcement list letting the community know the outcome of the process.
In some cases, a Regional Contact applicant may be asked to enter into a mentorship with a neighboring Regional Contact to form a connection to the Regional Network and facilitate the development of a local community.
Ready to let us know you’re interested in serving as a Regional Contact? Here’s what to do.
- Familiarize yourself with the Ten Principles and the Regional Contact Leadership and Criteria Expectations.
- Read the Volunteer Regional Contact Agreement closely to understand the opportunities and responsibilities of an RC and the types of support Burning Man offers to Regional Contacts.
- If, after reading through the items in steps 1 and 2, you feel that the Regional Contact role is right for you, please email us at regional-network@burningman.org to let us know you’re interested. We will respond and send you additional information.
Every community is unique and may have unique needs of a Regional Contact or team of co-RCs. We invite you to consider the opportunity to offer *your* unique qualities and skills to serve your region while growing your community leadership skills.
We look forward to hearing from you!
If you ever have any questions about the Regional Network, please email regional-network@burningman.org.