Firefly Arts Collective

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Firefly
A Burner Event
First year: 2003
Location: unknown
Month: July
Most Recent Event
Date of event: July 5 to July 8, 2007
Participants: 500
Website: http://fireflyartscollective.org
List of regional Burning Man events

Firefly Arts Collective is a non-profit organization that facilitates the annual New England regional burner festival 'Firefly'. Firefly is a regional event inspired by the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. Firefly is held in Vermont typically during July 4th weekend. Most of the organizers and participants come from the Boston metropolitan area and surrounding states including, but not limited to, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

Firefly is a camping event that celebrates art for art's sake and espouses a gift economy where no vending, sales or barter are permitted. Visual and performance artists from all over the New England region and the East Coast create a temporary community for the weekend. Participants share a wide range of talents from sculpting, painting, music, theatre, and DJing, to alternative forms of expression such as games, performance art, and circus talents such as aerial silks, juggling, and fire spinning.

The event adheres to the ten principles of the Burning Man event in Nevada. Among these are the LNT (Leave No Trace) philosophy, an environmental policy whereby participants are obligated to remove every piece of refuse that they generate while at the event, taking it with them when they leave. The themes of radical self-expression and radical self-reliance are also borrowed from Burning Man. In addition, the event is considered a "no spectators" event, meaning that all attendees are expected to actively participate in its creation, staffing, and general philosophy.

According to the event's official website Firefly is, "A celebration of self-expression and community! Firefly is a participatory arts and music gathering in the woods of Vermont." The event is organized and run completely by volunteers. On the last night of Firefly a giant wooden Firefly is burned. In 2006 the Firefly included fireworks launched from its top.

[edit] Weather

Firefly is held at the end of Vermont's mud and rain season. The road leading to the current event site is a dirt road that can become unnavigable by average vehicles due to mud. Firefly, like Burning Man, is not for the faint of heart. The event is *not* car camping, and the struggle to create a beautiful community in the middle of the woods is part of the magic that makes Firefly stand out from many other regional burns.

[edit] History

Firefly was started in 2003 by Boston burners. It was first held on NUHOC land in Shelburne, New Hampshire.

Tickets for the 2006 event were $30.00 USD each, and were handled in one release of 350 tickets. When tickets were sold out a limited number of additional tickets were released. Members of music bands were also sold tickets outside of the initial release.

Tickets for 2007 were sold for $35 USD each. They were sold in a release of 400 and a lottery of 100.

[edit] External links