Announcing Virginia Regional Contact Search

Hello Virginia 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 Virginia to empower and support cultural growth across your region. 

Previous Virginia Regional Contact, Stephanie Davenport stewarded the community, and has since retired. Because Virginia has such an active, engaged, and exciting region, we all agreed it’s time to onboard a new RC team! 

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 Virginia 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 a Virginia 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 Virginia 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)
    • Basic WordPress management skills (basic editing of the Virginia Region 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 two items by Thursday July 11th:

  1. Email regional-network@burningman.org: please add Virginia Regional Contact in the subject line and introduce yourself:
    1. Share more about your local involvement and your relevant leadership experience.  *AND*
    2. Include one sentence that helps your Virginia community remember where they may have met you (for the community feedback survey) – 160 characters max.
  2. 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 Virginia RC search process, subject to change, are:

  • July 11: Deadline to self-nominate with intro email and volunteer questionnaire.
  • July 12: Opportunity for community feedback on candidates opens via confidential survey.
  • July 26: Community Feedback phase closes (2 weeks).
  • August: Candidates will be interviewed by the interview team
  • September: Final decisions made and candidates notified; onboarding begins
  • October: New RC announcements shared with the community

If you feel like you may be a good fit for the Virginia 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 Virginia!

Announcement link: https://regionals.burningman.org/Virginia-RC-search

With Excitement,

Acacia Coast 

Project Manager, Regional Network 

Burning Man Project 

Photo Credit: infernoasis
Art: In Flight
Year: 2014