How the Opulent Temple came back for 2008 Keep Track Here…

After BM last year we were about 31k in debt from our ’07 effort. It’s a fair question to ask, how the hell did that happen? To make a very long story short, we spent more than we intended, and we raised less than we budgeted. We took on 2 large projects that should have been spread over 2 years, but we were feeling ambitious and went for it. The Star Stage and the Bamboo Synergy Dome. The Star Stage was partly self funded by Rich Martin, with the remaining expenses as part of the camp’s budget. The Bamboo Dome was one of the all time great failed projects in BM history. Sad to say, we spent at least 25k on it, and during lifting a rope got caught under a tire, a key truss broke, and the project was still possible but not safe so we had to choose to scrap it. It was not, as had been rumored due to design failure (not directly anyway…)
The bamboo sits on a ranch in Livermore, we’re looking for a buyer. After the pain of that experience none of us had the heart to go try it again. We’re done with bamboo! (Know a buyer?).
(read on below)

On the fundraising tip, we’re also sad to say some of our fundraisers which should have made a lot more money did not. We did not get the level of community support in terms of attendance that we’d imagine we’d get given our years of such a large scale offering to BRC. We’re still confused as to why, and would love any feedback. We did proper undergrounds, club gigs, and some in between. We did straight breaks parties, house music parties, and even a more trancey / progressive one. One theory is we throw too many, which we understand, but also becomes self perpetuating, as when one does crappy it means we have to throw another to try and make up the difference… Another theory is people just assume we will be there, whether they show up at our fundraisers or not. You can imagine how this attitude makes it even harder than it already is to do what we do. It is never a foregone conclusion we will be there, please don’t take our, or any LSSAC’s presence – for granted!
So… as costs escalated with our projects, as they inevitably do, and fundraisers didn’t make as much money as they could have / should have, in our minds there was no turning back as we had come too far along in our projects. Different camp members (like 12) payed for things on their credit cards and hoped to be paid back some day.
After lots of support from the community and dj’s that have played for us, we came back from this deep ’07 debt to show up again for this coming year. For the record, here’s how it happened.
After BM ’07 : $31,000 in debt
-$2500 debt owed to a camp member who donated it back to camp
$28,500 in debt
Then we did this:
~2000 in community driven individual donations to our camp after BM. (From $5 to $1k)
~4000 raised at Decompression Recompression after party at Mighty
~2500 raised at Sacred Dust post-playa fundraiser / CD release party at Supperclub
~3000 raised at Breakfast in Bed NYD party – special thanks to D:Fuse for playing for free!
~600 in donations in exchange for getting some Opulent Music since we made past recordings available.
~1000 in donated DJ fees from OT djs appearance at ‘The Show’ @ the End Up
~11,000 raised at DJ Dan benefit – Very Special thanks to Dan for playing for free on a Saturday night – hug this man and thank him when you see him, this was obviously huge in making a big dent!
~2700 raised at Sensory Illumination OT benefit in Boise Idaho. Special thanks to Greg Briggs for throwing us this party.
= $26,800 Raised.
= $1700 in debt still
~5400 raised at underground party, ‘A Match Made in Heaven’ on 4/19
= PLUS $ 3700 (NO MORE DEBT- we are into the positive cash for 2008)
+ $1000 raised at Spectacle, a fundraiser thrown for by some supporters in in New Mexico on May 31st
+ $3600 raised at ‘Get Lucky’ at Supperclub on June 13th
+ $3500 raised at OT benefit at cargo, London, organized by Ali B & Dylan Rhymes.
+ $ 420 raised at OT benefit in LA from Hipgenesis and Pocket
+ $6515 raised at Funky Dust at Mighty w/ Lee Coombs & The Scumfrog
Now, our budget this year is ~$40,000
~We got a $10,000 donation from an anonymous donor (the same one who was going to match funds came to the event and decided to donate a fat 10k)
So this is why we are still having fundraisers, we want to go to the playa on a balanced budget, we do not want to spend half a year digging ourselves outta a hole.
Thanks for all your help! you can continue to support us by by direct donations, attend our fundraising parties, buy some cd’s, camp with us, or just spread the word.
So why doesn’t the Burning Man org do anything to support the highly popular LSSACs? See the separate entry.