Statement from Firefly Arts Collective Leadership on Firefly 2020

 

As of this Monday, March 23, Governor Baker has issued a stay at home advisory, to begin at noon on Tuesday the 24th. This highlights even more the seriousness of the COVID-19 situation. After careful consideration, Firefly Arts Collective is postponing Firefly 2020. We will explore having Firefly at an alternate date later in the year, if it becomes safe to do so.

The Art Grants cycle is well underway, and a number of grants have thus far been given for projects to appear at Firefly 2020. As an arts-focused organization, we are happy to honor these existing commitments should the artists desire to still complete the projects. Art Grants will be in contact with these folks to disseminate information about what this will look like. New grants for the July 2020 event, including the Moonshot Grants and the 2nd Round Creativity Grants, will not move forward at this time. Stay tuned for information about future art grant programs later this year.

The Firefly community will certainly feel the loss of our primary in person gathering, so please maintain your connections with other people through digital/virtual means. We’re all in this together.

Firefly Board & Festival Committee

Firefly is a multi-day arts festival that happens in the woods of Vermont on 4th of July, inspired by the Ten Principles of Burning Man. We are a community putting on a noncommercial DIY weird art party, not at all affiliated with the commercial music festival of the same name.

Firefly is a participatory, community-driven event

Photo by Joed
Photo by Joed

“Participatory” means all of us who attend work together to create this event. There is no paid staff– just the community that brings this together. The people setting up elaborate camps, the parking lot crew, the Rangers, and even the Leave No Trace group that stays after, are all community members. Everyone that comes to this event is expected to help out in some way beyond their own camp and art project.

If this is your first time, you will be pleasantly surprised by how this changes the usual paradigm of how an event plays out. YES, it is more work and NO, there is no one to pick up after you. But this creates a very strong community, and we all know we are in for this crazy ride together. Jump in, get involved, and see how it will change your life.

Our Culture

This event operates under the 10 Principles of Burning Man: not to dictate of how people should be and act, but as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture as it has organically developed. Firefly, as a regional Burning Man organization, follows these principles:

Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical Self-Reliance, Radical Self-Expression, Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation, Immediacy.

Read more about the culture: what makes us different
Photo by Pretzel

Get Involved

Announcements will (sometimes) be updated on this page. This includes any Firefly or related community gatherings (mostly in the Boston area) that may happen throughout the year– come to a Burner meetup and meet other awesome people!  You can sign up to get announcements by email too, look for announcements on the official FB page, or join our Facebook group.

If you’re interested in joining in on planning the next Firefly, go to our Join a Core page to browse the many ways of getting involved. Volunteer cores are often looking for more leadership, browse our open leadership positions here.

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