Burning Man Arts Event in Desert Canceled Due to Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) --

Organizers of the Burning Man arts festival, which takes place every year in the Nevada desert in the U.S., have canceled the gathering, joining a string of other cultural and sporting events to be sidelined because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The event, which attracts over 80,000 participants annually, was scheduled to take place from August 30 to Sept. 7, and will instead be hosted online, the organizers said in a statement. In past years, participants at the event have joined together to co-create Black Rock City, “a temporary metropolis dedicated to art and community,” according to the organizers’ website.

The Burning Man is the latest in a string of international events, including the Tokyo Olympics, Wimbledon and the Glastonbury festival in the U.K., that have had to be canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. News of the cancellation comes as U.S. deaths from the virus exceeded 2,000 for the first time in a single day and the total cases in the nation topped half a million.

Organizers of the Burning Man plan to refund tickets to those who have already bought them, and are still working out how they will issue tickets for the virtual replacement and how much to charge. Existing ticket holders will also be asked if they can donate the value of their ticket rather than choosing a refund.

Ticket sales to the desert event make-up more than 90% of the annual income of the Burning Man Project, the nonprofit that runs Burning Man, it said. The event organizers have started implementing salary cuts for its leadership team and are laying off some staff members, many of whom they hope to rehire in the future, according to the statement.

“But we really need your support to survive. We will not be able to build Black Rock City in 2021 if our experienced team members aren’t able to be with us,” according to the statement.

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