Best Burning Man Project Podcasts (2025)

1
Thunderdome's Leadership Lessons 39:58

10d ago39:58

39:58

Thunderdome has been part of Black Rock City for 25 years. Marisa Winter has led it for most of that time. One need not experience it to benefit from the wisdom of a high-profile, high-intensity theme camp’s insights. Hear Marisa and Stuart talk through the leadership structure and community practices that result in the Thunderdome's chaotic harmon…

1
Pie Down Here: Listening Back—Alabama Sharecroppers and Communist Organizers, 1930s 37:43

18d ago37:43

37:43

Pie Down Here — Produced by Signal Hill In the 1980s, when Robin D.G. Kelley was 24 years old, he took a bus trip to the Deep South. He was researching and recording oral histories with farmworkers and Communist Party members who had organized a sharecroppers union in Alabama during the Great Depression. Kelly used those oral histories to write his…

1
Theme Campers Unite 52:21

24d ago52:21

52:21

Most people in Black Rock City live together in placed camps, aka theme camps, the most unique aspect of this unique event. BRC has 1200 camps. At the intersection of Communal Effort, Self-Expression, and Immediacy, theme camps gift a uniquely decommodified ‘third place’ of offerings and ambiance. At this annual symposium, staff and volunteers shar…

1
A Tribute to George Foreman: An Unexpected Kitchen—The George Foreman Grill 22:38

1M ago22:38

22:38

In 2004, we opened up a phone line on NPR asking people to tell us about their Hidden Kitchens— secret, underground, below the radar cooking, and how people come together through food. One caller told us about immigrants and homeless people, who didn't have official kitchens, using the George Foreman Grill to make meals and a home. Did George Forem…

1
The Gift of Food and Solar Power 55:24

1M ago55:24

55:24

Solar power is simple now, thanks in part to Burners who gift the power of the sun. The Burners in this episode also gift steamed rolls with savory fillings, called bao — so much delicious bao. The theme camp “Bao Chicka Wow Wow” has been a part of Black Rock City for a decade. Its campmates share the prosperity of bao with artist groups, volunteer…

1
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston - Revisiting Manzanar 44:49

2M ago44:49

44:49

In 1981 The Kitchen Sisters interviewed Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston for a story about life on the homefront during World War II. Jeanne told stories of her childhood growing up in Manzanar, a hastily built detention camp surrounded by barbed wire and armed guard towers in the midst of the Owens Valley in the Mojave desert, where Japanese Americans wer…

1
BRC Art Preview with Katie Hazard 47:22

2M ago47:22

47:22

Explore the magic monuments of Black Rock City 2025. Katie Hazard, Director of Art, leads the selection, placement, and installation of artwork, and she leads Burning Man's art grant selection committees. The ARTery is in the center of Black Rock City, slightly offset like the human heart. It’s the epicenter of art support for nearly 400 art pieces…

1
The Tom Luddy Connection: The Man, The Movies, The Rolodex 53:14

2M ago53:14

53:14

Tom Luddy was a quiet titan of cinema. He presided over the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley for some 10 years, co-founded and directed The Telluride Film Festival for nearly 50 years, produced some 14 movies, match-made dozens of international love affairs, and foraged for the most beautiful, political, important, risky films and made sure there w…

1
De-bureaucratizing Your Burn 57:13

2M ago57:13

57:13

Legend whispers of a time when Burning Man was a lawless Eden, a fiery playground of unbridled do-ocracy; no rules, just pure creative chaos. But as Black Rock City has grown into a thriving metropolis, so has the need for structure. We've gone from jokey forms for an ‘artistic license’ to complex permit obligations. We’ve gone from giving ourselve…

1
House/Full of Black Women 52:59

2M ago52:59

52:59

For almost a dozen years, 34 Black women gathered monthly around a big dining room table in an orange house on Orange Street in Oakland, CA — meeting, cooking, dancing, strategizing — grappling with the issues of eviction, erasure, gentrification, inadequate health care, and the sex trafficking of Black women and girls overwhelming their community.…

1
Rising Sparks - Bridging Burner Generations 42:29

3M ago42:29

42:29

Mutant vehicles! Theme camps! Art experiences! It all emanates from the community… overlapping circles of people who are everywhere between being newcomers and seasoned, local and global, young and old. Andie Grace talks with next-gen Burners Taylor Andrews, Kat Ebert, Mani Senthil, and Whitney Wilhelmy about how to find your crew like you never th…

1
Spotlight on Black Pet Care Entrepreneurs 36:30

3M ago36:30

36:30

Lured in by a blackboard sign on the street in Davia’s neighborhood announcing “Spotlight on Black Entrepreneurs,” we enter the creative and growing world of Black-Owned Pet Businesses. Lick You Silly dog treats, Trill Paws enamel ID Tags, The Dog Father of Harlem's Doggie Day Spa, gorgeous rainbow beaded Dog Collars from The Kenya Collection, Sir …

1
Temple of the Deep - Miguel Arraiz García 43:00

3M ago43:00

43:00

Hundreds of people create the temple in Black Rock City. It’s a community intent on creating a work of art that is a space for people to grieve and revive. For the first few years of Black Rock City we didn't have a temple. Now, people can't imagine living without it. Each year, participants create messages, tributes, and altars for who and what th…

1
The Anti-Inaugural Concert: Leonard Bernstein, Richard Nixon and the "Plea for Peace" music of 1973 Inauguration 33:14

3M ago33:14

33:14

Lady Gaga, Marion Anderson, Beyoncé, Frank Sinatra, Pete Seeger, Maya Angelou — musicians and poets have been powerful headliners at inauguration ceremonies across the years signaling change, new beginnings and reflecting the mood of the country and a new administration. In January 1973, following the Christmas bombing of Vietnam, conductor Leonard…

1
Will Heegaard and Footprint Project - From BRC to NGO 49:29

4M ago49:29

49:29

Disasters happen. Communities come together to recover and rebuild. Governments and NGOs help however they know how. Will Heegaard sees every disaster as a chance to build back greener. His non-profit provides power and water from nature. · power from the sun – instead of gas generators · water from the air – instead of plastic water bottles He hel…

1
Edna Lewis: Christmas in Freetown 5:56

4M ago5:56

5:56

Edna Lewis was a legendary American chef, a pioneer of Southern cooking and the author of four books, including The Taste of Country Cooking, her memoir cookbook about growing up in Freetown, Virginia, a small farming community of formerly enslaved people and their descendants established in 1866. Before she began writing books, Edna had been a cel…

1
A People's History of Burning Man - Volume 3 59:58

4M ago59:58

59:58

Back again by popular demand: more tales from Burning Man’s oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and talk with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it. Hear stories of early technology on the playa, in Silicon Valley, and on the internet. · Andie Grace, aka Actiongrl, interviews from the vantage of having co-creat…

1
Cecilia Chiang Spills the Tea 27:01

5M ago27:01

27:01

On the occasion of her 80th birthday in 2000, The Kitchen Sisters, along with food writer Peggy Knickerbocker, visited the home of Cecilia Chiang, the legendary Chinese-American restaurateur, chef and founder of The Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco for a bit of an oral history. Cecilia Chiang introduced regional Chinese cooking to America in th…

1
Chip Conley - Unexpected Gifts 46:27

5M ago46:27

46:27

He is a celebrated author, entrepreneur, leadership maven, and a founding Board Member of Burning Man Project. He’s a serial contributor to the culture and the cause. In this episode, Chip and Stuart explore how to use the 10 Principles to make conversations interesting and how a description of Black Rock City always becomes a riddle. They resist t…

1
Catherine Bauer Wurster, Housing Advocate: A Thoroughly Modern Woman 49:00

5M ago49:00

49:00

A pioneer in her field, Catherine Bauer Wurster was advisor to five presidents on urban planning and housing and was one of the primary authors of the Housing Act of 1937. During the 1930s she wrote the influential book Modern Housing and was one of the leaders of the "housers" movement, advocating for affordable housing for low-income families. Ca…

1
Burning without Going to Burning Man 53:09

5M ago53:09

53:09

Burners often speak about the work it takes to prepare their art, art car, or camp for Black Rock City, but for many, it doesn’t end there. A project sparked in the desert or at Regional Events can take on a life of its own, continuing year-round in surprising ways. What happens when a camp or mutant vehicle takes a break from Black Rock City? Afte…

1
Beyond Architecture: The Fantasy Worlds of Phyllis Birkby 45:28

6M ago45:28

45:28

Pushed to the side and rarely credited for her architectural work at Davis Brody, Phyllis Birkby became a significant figure in extending the lesbian women's movement to architecture during the 1970s. Her environmental fantasy workshops played a crucial role in galvanizing the community, providing a creative and empowering space within a male-domin…

1
Tom Price - From the Playa to the Planet 50:18

6M ago50:18

50:18

Tom Price co-founded Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Solar, and a company that gifts clean-burning kitchens to people in Kenya. Tom talks about the weather, specifically hurricanes, and how Burners Without Borders started and grows despite extreme circumstances because Burners are extreme! Tom’s tales of adventure include paperwork pranks and a…

1
Constellation Prize: Nightwalking 30:53

6M ago30:53

30:53

It is Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the day when millions of Americans go to the polls to vote for who will lead their towns, their states, the nation. Souls to the polls today across the country, and so much hangs in the balance. On this fraught and tender Tuesday, when all our nerves are frayed, we offer a moment of respite and contemplation — an ep…

1
Burning Curiosity - The Study of Burning Man 58:01

6M ago58:01

58:01

Academics from everywhere experiment, collaborate, and even interpret our stories of "This one time at Burning Man." In this episode, Stuart talks with people from Burning Nerds, an annual gathering of academics in Black Rock City. They keep it light, though; not too many unnecessarily fancy words. Dr Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä describes the technique us…

1
Burning Man is Everywhere 36:00

7M ago36:00

36:00

Everywhere? Regional events actively align with Burning Man's 10 Principles. 85 official events happen in 30 countries, with collectively more participants and more art grants than the original Nevada event. After 25 years, the combined regional presence is huge, diverse, and evolving, and it all started in one place: Black Rock City. Whether you'r…

1
The Hope and the Scope: Young People and the Political Moment 32:07

7M ago32:07

32:07

July 17, 2024, Washington, D.C. Some 200 young people from across the nation aged 14-19 — aspiring poets, storytellers, MC's, activists — are gathered in the nation’s capital for the 29th annual Brave New Voices Festival — four non-stop days of slam poetry competition, coaching, workshops, late-night freestyling and in 2024, voting information. In …

1
Volunteer Voices 44:22

7M ago44:22

44:22

Thousands of people volunteer each year in Black Rock City, for days, weeks, or months. Add to that the volunteers at the many Regional events around the world and it’s more than can be counted on fingers and toes. Why do we volunteer? Is it because we feel we received a gift and we want to pay it back, or pay it forward? Is it the meditation of ha…

1
Tupperware 10:52

7M ago10:52

10:52

Today, The Kitchen Sisters Present: “Tupperware” — an homage and a eulogy. It was 1980. Nikki and I had just met. We had just named ourselves The Kitchen Sisters. And we had just bought our first cassette recorder, a Sony TC-D5M. We hadn’t even taken it out of the box or been trained on it when we were invited to a Tupperware party our friend Kirst…

1
David Silverman: So That's How That Started 47:38

8M ago47:38

47:38

Burning Man doesn't make itself. The people who share their time and treasure, they create this weird wonder. Each of these people have stories about how Burning Man influenced their lives and how their lives influenced Burning Man. The Flaming Tuba Guy is one of these people. His name is David Silverman aka Tubatron. Andie Grace talked with him ab…

1
Manny's: A Civic Gathering Place 32:25

8M ago32:25

32:25

As elections loom, we need to get involved, step up to the civic plate, take part in discourse. And that’s what Manny Yekutiel has been driven to do since 2018. He’s created a community-focused meeting place in San Francisco — a gathering space for people to watch presidential debates, meet people working on the front lines of social change, and di…

1
Oprah, Kamala, and The New Orleans Four 17:38

8M ago17:38

17:38

There was a moment at the 2024 Democratic National Convention when Oprah took the stage — and the crowd went wild. She spoke boldly about Kamala Harris and her place in a long line of strong Black women who have paved the way. At one point she veered into the story of Tessie Prevost Williams, who recently passed away, and the New Orleans Four. Nove…

1
In Paiute Country: The Numa of Pyramid Lake 1:00:48

9M ago1:00:48

1:00:48

Allow us to introduce you to the people who called the Black Rock Desert “home” way before we did. This is your backstage pass to the original Burners of the Great Basin: The Pyramid Lake Paiute. Strap in for a road trip that's part history lesson, part cultural exchange, and essential listening for when you wonder, "Who lived here before we showed…

1
Burning Man: Archiving the Ephemeral 18:45

9M ago18:45

18:45

On the night of Summer Solstice 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James built and burned an eight-foot wooden figure on San Francisco's Baker Beach surrounded by a handful of friends. Burning Man was born. This summer, the 39th annual Burning Man gathering begins to assemble on a vast dry lake bed in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the nomadic ritual's home…

1
The Future of Burning Man 59:53

9M ago59:53

59:53

Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man Project, talks with a lively audience as part of Robot Heart’s Residency in Oakland, California. She is joined by Candace Locklear (aka Evil Pippi), Erin Douglas of the Black Burner Project, and Robot Heart’s Justin Schaffer and Satya Kamdar. It’s casual. It’s layered. It’s a room of Burners. What constitutes cult…

1
Henri Langlois and the Cinémathèque Française 31:18

9M ago31:18

31:18

In honor of the Paris Olympics and the astounding contribution of the French to culture and art of the world, The Kitchen Sisters Present, Archive Fever: Henri Langlois and the history of the Cinémathèque Française, featuring Francis Ford Coppola, Wim Wenders, Tom Luddy, Lotte Eisner, Simone Signoret, Agnes Varda, Costa-Gavras, Barbet Schroeder. He…

1
I Was Just Leaving... No Trace 54:45

9M ago54:45

54:45

Take a trip through the puzzle of porta-potties at a free-range event, highway happenings, and the new news about prep. This is deeper than “What is MOOP?” This is the ART of Leaving No Trace. It’s part of the Burning Man ethos, and it’s why Black Rock City is the world's largest Leave No Trace event. Now nearly 100 other Burning Man events around …

1
Linda Ronstadt Day 30:20

10M ago30:20

30:20

San Francisco officially declared July 15th Linda Ronstadt Day. In her honor, The Kitchen Sisters Present this story about her book, Feels Like Home, about her family, and the food, culture and music of the borderland of Arizona and Mexico where she is rooted. Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands is an historical, musical, edible mem…

1
Art That Inflames 49:39

10M ago49:39

49:39

Burning Man culture brings people together across all kinds of divides, yet we’re seeing an uptick of intolerance toward art and experiences in our community. The default world is often divided by ideology, religion, and politics. Could that division seep into this culture that aspires to welcome everyone? How can we navigate the turbulent waters b…

1
Traveling Route 66 — The Mother Road 58:59

10M ago58:59

58:59

Route 66—The Main Street of America— the first continuously paved highway linking east and west was the most traveled and well known road in the US for almost fifty years. From Chicago, through the Ozarks, across Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, up the mesas of New Mexico and Arizona, and down into California to the Pacific Ocean. The first road of i…

1
Live to Burn Another Day 50:34

10M ago50:34

50:34

Tony “Coyote” Perez may be the best at thriving (and not dying) at Burning Man. He is the Black Rock City Superintendent, the Burning Man OSHA Instructor, and the 26-year Burner whose job it is to put himself in harm's way and then get out of his own way! Sit in on a chuckling conversation between Stuart and Coyote. They put the wisdom in wise-crac…

1
Laying the Groundwork: Women in American Architecture, Spring 1977 26:33

11M ago26:33

26:33

In 1977, a cavernous, rarely used sculpture gallery in the Brooklyn Museum was filled with drafting tables, their tops tilted to display collages of the work and under-told stories of women working in architecture in the United States. We revisit this first significant effort to publicly tell the little known stories of American women in architectu…

1
Desert Arts Preview: Art of the Curious 49:43

11M ago49:43

49:43

400 works of art don’t just appear as if in a desert mirage. Well, they do, but not without a lot of people, tools, and funds. Planners are planning. Makers are making. Art grants are granting! Crews all over the world are creating installations for Black Rock City. Katie Hazard, Director of Burning Man Project’s art department curates some artist'…

1
A Floating City Vision - Mirabeau Water Garden, New Orleans 17:45

11M ago17:45

17:45

As this year's hurricane season ramps up, we go to New Orleans for a kind of biblical reckoning. A story of science and prayer, with a cast of improbable partners—environmental architects and nuns—coming together to create a vision for living with water in New Orleans. Mirabeau Water Garden, one of the largest urban wetlands in the country designed…

1
¡El Pulpo Magnífico! 51:48

11M ago51:48

51:48

“While there are many beloved mutant vehicles out there, El Pulpo, in both of its incarnations, is the most ‘beloved.’” ~Chef Juke, Communications lead for the Department of Mutant Vehicles El Pulpo Magnífico is a 28-foot tall giant octopus, a demented windup toy, a mobile kinetic sculpture with articulating legs, eyes, and mouths. It spews fire fr…

1
Dissident Kitchens 15:39

12M ago15:39

15:39

On February 16, 2024 Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died under unexplained circumstances in a penal colony in the Russian Arctic just weeks before the election that enthroned Vladimir Putin for another six years of near-absolute power. Within days of Navalny’s death his wife Yulia Navalnaya rose up, spoke out and vowed to continue her husband’s s…

1
A People’s History of Burning Man - Volume 2 59:56

12M ago59:56

59:56

Back by popular demand, more stories from Burning Man's oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and talk with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it. Stuart and Andie remember to remember the most memorable parts. Here’s a fresh batch: Chris Radcliffe, artist, con artist, prankster, and shadow founder of Burning Man…

1
Eleanor Coppola: Notes on a Life 52:43

12M ago52:43

52:43

On April 12, 2024, Eleanor Coppola, artist, filmmaker, mother and wife of director Francis Ford Coppola, died at her home in the Napa Valley surrounded by family. She was 87 years old and had lived a most remarkable life. Shortly before her death, Eleanor had completed her third memoir. In it she wrote: “I appreciate how my unexpected life has stre…

1
Burning in Europe: Stories of Home 46:25

1y ago46:25

46:25

Burners from around Europe gather to teach and learn and to conjure ideas for the future. Burning Man’s 7th European Leadership Summit just happened, and we recorded some conversations for you. Passionate people from the corners of Europe share with Stuart and kbot what they get from Burning Man culture and what they gift back to it. Hear a cultura…

1
Fire in the Hole - Vets in BRC 48:57

1y ago48:57

48:57

There are a whole lot of military veterans in Burning Man’s history and Black Rock City’s neighborhoods. Combat veterans Dr Raymond Christian (Army) and Samuel Williams (Marines) share stories with Stuart Mangrum (Air Force) about transitioning into civilian life, bringing survival skills and leadership chops to BRC, and finding tribal camaraderie……

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Burning Man Project Podcasts

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