Burning Man co-founder said what the festival has become makes him a ‘little sad’

• Burning Man co-founder John Law wrote in an essay for the San Francisco Standard that the festival has lost its anarchist soul and transformed into a playground for the wealthy elite.
• Law, who helped relocate the event to Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1990, stated that today's festival is barely recognizable from its original vision as an anarchistic collaboration of equals. “What it became makes me a little sad. ... I won’t pretend that Burning Man isn’t fun. But the festival is barely recognizable from what we made. Burning Man has lost its anarchist soul,” Law said.
• He highlighted how wealthy attendees now stay in luxury camps with private chefs and arrive on business jets, turning the event into a commercialized escape hatch.
• The festival's growth has been dramatic. Law said attendance increased from roughly 70 people in 1990 to 25,000 in 1999. In 2019, that number had increased to nearly 80,000.
• Concerns about the festival's accessibility have also risen as ticket prices for this year's event range from $550 to $3,000.

IN FULL

Burning Man co-founder says festival ‘has lost its soul’ and become ‘Disneyland for the well-heeled’