The Spoken Word Stage is a uniquely welcoming and egalitarian space for communication and self-expression, located on the 3 o’clock side of Center Camp.
The stage consists of three different segments to follow the flow of the day:
The Speaker Series morning hours (For more information click HERE)
The Spoken Word segment of the day
The Open Mic evenings
To schedule time to share your words, email me and I’ll set you up with (up to) two 15-minute sets. Longer sets can sometimes be accommodated - include your performance desires (including scheduling constraints) and I‘ll do what I can to make it happen!
If this seems like a little bit too much commitment, we also keep a few slots open throughout the week for walk-up performances. If you want to play this a little looser, just come talk to me at the stage, and I’ll do my best to get you up there! I’m not hard to find! I’m the 6’ tall woman at stage right with the clipboard and the radio!
We do our best to create a diverse and egalitarian space for people to share their stories and ideas - and we are loathe to tell people what they can and cannot express on this stage.
We also believe very strongly in the Burning Man Principles of Radical Inclusion, Communal Effort, and Civic Responsibility, and thus find it necessary to set forth some expectations, in order to keep the SWS the welcoming, vibrant place it is.
This ought to go without saying, but we want to make sure this is a clearly communicated boundary:
Racist, sexist or homophobic speech is not welcome in this space. Targeting, mocking, and othering people is deeply wounding and offensive, and we cannot condone it with our silence.
Understand that your audience - those lovely people that are giving you space to perform - are a diverse, multi-ethnic group, from wonderfully different backgrounds. Trying to get laughs at the expense of those that are different is an act of aggressive bigotry.
If you’d like more clarification, please click HERE and read these amazing, illuminating articles
Now that we have that out of the way - and to those of you who already knew this stuff like the back of your hand - thank you for bearing with me!
Back to the fun stuff!
To schedule your spot on the Spoken Word Stage, email me at magenta@burningman.org
Your words are a gift! Please bring us your unique, beautiful, painful, creative, bizarre, thoughtful, introspective, ridiculous thoughts, stories, and poetry!
For pieces under ten minutes, please come to our amazing Open Mic, from 5pm-8(ish)pm, run every day by the marvelous Nonsense Man himself!
First come, first served; sign-ups begin at 4pm!
Come to listen, learn, and be heard.