Burning Man Opens Up The Books

Costs are high and rewards are higher for the team that produces the large-scale music and art festival Burning Man. Once a year tens of thousands of patrons flock to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada where they make up Black Rock City. This year Burning Man will be held on August 26^th-September 2, 2013. Burning Man prides itself on being dedicated to the community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. This isn’t the traditional music festival in the least bit, the team describes the festival as more of a city, wherein almost everything that takes place is created entirely by its inhabitants. Unlike other festival productions, Burning Man publishes their comprehensive financial statements as part of their annual “AfterBurn Reports” pictured below.

The statement above reflects the year-round expenditures of the managing corporation. Outside services, facilities rent, travel, office/computer supplies, utilities for the San Francisco and Nevada offices, donations to local Nevada schools/organizations, postage, shipping/freight, gifts/promotions are all important factors to take into account when composing a financial statement. Who knew telephone charges could be so costly? Reading this kind of information and interpreting it to one’s own understanding comes from being financially literate. In today’s market in any sector it is critical to be financially literate. What is particularly interesting about this financial statement is that it includes the specific donations to local Nevada schools and organizations, $222,000 dollars is a lot of money the schools can benefit from. Having an easily accessible financial report from a music festival is gold to graduate students trying to conduct research for a niche market. Factors in the statement reflect 2011’s numbers because their 2012 statements have not been posted yet officially. The next section of the statement focuses on expense categories that include both event-related and organizational items. Tax and licenses, payroll, outside services, insurance, and meals/food are documented carefully and can show future producers and budgeters what trends in festival cost to look out for.