Apogaea
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| First year: | 2004 | |
| Location: | Lake George, Colorado United States |
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| Month: | June | |
| Most Recent Event | ||
| Date of event: | June 5 to June 8, 2008 | |
| Participants: | 660 | |
| Website: | www.apogaea.com | |
| List of regional Burning Man events | ||
'Apogaea' (meaning "far from Earth") is an annual collaborative outdoor arts and music festival, held in early summer (June 5-8, in 2008) near Lake George, Colorado as a Colorado regional counterpart for the Burning Man event. At an elevation of 9,500 ft., Apogaea ("Apo") establishes a temporary autonomous zone where radical self-expression, inclusiveness, and self-reliance are the hallmarks of its participants.
Like the Burning Man event, Apogaea includes art, DJ-music, live music, camps, and theme camps. Apogaea has a Creative Grants program that provides financial assistance for artists wanting to create their work. Theme camps at Apogaea have included the cowboy-themed Dome on the Range, the hillbilly-themed Smokin' Bones BBQ and Hoedown, the Green Screen Project, and the cat-themed Purrfectly Pink Pussie Palace. Like many Burning Man-inspired events, fire art plays a large part, and includes performance art (fire spinning) as well as stationary art that incorporates fire. Apogaea has generally had a central "effigy" that burns on the Saturday night of the event. However, all fire at Apogaea is subject to local or regional fire bans in dangerous conditions; Apogaea 2006 was under such a ban and had extremely limited propane fire art and no effigy burn. Effigies at Apogaea have included:
2004: no effigy
2005: Buddha
2006: Eagle (not burned due to fire ban)
2007: Eagle
2008: Giant Squid
Apogaea is organized and run by an unpaid Board of Directors and a wider circle of volunteer leads in areas such as Art, Safety, Operations, Communications, Administration, Outreach, and Volunteers.
As of 2008, Apogaea runs from Thursday noon to dusk Sunday. Ticket prices in 2008 were $25 for scholarship tickets, $50 for pre-sale tickets (online and at ticket outlets in Colorado), and $60 at the gate. Apogaea is an all-ages event, though minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, and those under 21 are given different color wristbands. There are generally no free tickets given out (e.g., for artists or musicians), based on the philosophy that everyone attending is expected to contribute something to the event--whether it's their volunteer work, their participation, their camp, art, costumes, performance, or creativity--and Apogaea is not in a position to judge or value the merits of one person's contribution, creativity, or time over another's.
