Hello Upstate and Western New York Burners!
We’re writing to you from Burning Man world headquarters and we have exciting news! We are launching the search for volunteer Regional Contacts in Upstate New York to empower and support cultural growth across your region.
Former Upstate New York Regional Contact (RC), Deena “Painter” Salzman previously stewarded the community, and has now retired. Because Upstate New York has such an active, engaged, and exciting region, we all agreed it’s time to find a new RC team for the region!
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 Upstate New York 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 Upstate / West New York 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 greater Upstate New York 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
- Website management skills (basic editing of the Upstate New York Region’s page)
- Moderation of various social media platforms
- 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 items by June 21 July 2:
- Email regional-network@burningman.org: please add Upstate New York Regional Contact in the subject line and introduce yourself:
- Share more about your local involvement and your relevant leadership experience *AND*
- Include one sentence (160 characters max) that helps Upstate New York community members remember where they may have met you (for the community feedback survey)
- 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.
Applicants that have not completed those requirements will not be considered.
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 this RC search process, subject to change, are:
- June 6: Launching our RC search
June 21July 2: Deadline to self-nominate with intro email and volunteer questionnaire (2 weeks)- July 3: Opportunity for community feedback on candidates opens via confidential survey
- July 17: Community Feedback phase closes (2 weeks)
- July 25-29: POrtalBurn!
- August: Interviews, Black Rock City Prep
- August 25-Sept 2: Burning Man!
- September: Discussions, decisions and candidate onboarding
- October: New RC announcements shared with the community
If you feel like you may be a good fit for the Upstate & Western New York 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 New York!
Announcement link: https://regionals.burningman.org/upstate-ny-rc-search/
With Excitement,
The Regional Network Team
Photo Credit: Debbie Wolff
Art: Identity Awareness Family by Shane Pitzer
Year: 2017