>> i think a lot of times we look a community and we say, there is this one and this one, and we all have our own agenda, when our agenda is to create great work. if you're interested in that, you are part of our community. >> it is a pleasure to have you here tonight. >> we are trying to figure out a way to create a space where theater and presentation of live work is something that you think of, the same way that you think of going to the movies.

of course, it has been complex in terms of economics, as it is for everyone. artistically, we have done over 35 projects in four seasons from presenting dance, producing theater, presenting music, having a full scale education program, and having more than 50,000 visitors in the building almost every year. a lot of our emerging artists generate their first projects here, which is great. then we continue to try to support figuring out where those works can go. we have been blessed to have that were produced in new york, go unto festivals, go on to the warsaw theater festival. to me, those are great things, when you see artists who think there is no or else of someone being interested in me being a woman of color telling her story and getting excited about it. that is our biggest

accomplishment. artists becoming better artists. what is great about surely coming back to brava, we have this established, amazing writer who has won a slew of awards and now she gets an opportunity to direct her work. even though she is an amazing, established writer, the truth is, she is also being nurtured as a director, being given space to create. >> and the play is described as ceremony and theater meet. in the indigenous tradition, when you turn 52, it is that the completion of an epic. the purpose of this ceremony is to celebrate. whenever you have been caring for the first 52 years, it is time to let it go.

they have given me carte blanche to do this. it is nice for me in the sense of coming back 25 years later, and seeing my own evolution as an artist and a thinker. the whole effort even to put the indigenous woman's experience center stage is very radical. because of the state of fear, it is a hard road to hold up an institution. it really is a hard road. i am looking at where we're 25 years later in the bay area and looking at how hard it is for us to struggle, to keep our theaters going. i would like to think that i am not struggling quite as hard personally. what i mean by that is that in

tension, that commitment. what i see is that we're here to really produce works of not be produced in other places, and also to really nurture and women of color artists. i think that that is something that has not shifted for me in 25 years, and it is good to see that brava is still committed to that kind of work. you know? ♪ >> happy birthday to you happy birthday to you ♪ >> windy will talk about the reflection of the community, we can only go with what we have on our staff. south asian managing director. african-american artistic director. latino outreach person. to us, aside from the staff, aside from the artists that we work with him being a reflection of oz, yes, the community is

changing, but brava has always tried to be ahead of that, just that sense of a trend. i tried to make about the work that shows the eclecticism of the mission district, as well as serving the mission. that is what i feel brava is about. ♪ good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the commonwealth club in formed division, connect your intellect. that is our tagline. i am the president of the inform board. tonight, we have larry hardy. the founder of burning man and he is here to talk about the amazing place and phenomenon known as black rock city. he is one of the original

planners and architects. we are going to talk about the path of burning man, the future as well. before we jump into the question that had to do with what is going on, tell us about your new headquarters and how that came to be, why the move into the heart of san francisco? >> well, we were on third street, in what is left of san francisco's industrial district , and we got lonely, really. [laughter] we saw real estate values

dropping precipitously. as far as we were concerned, that was a good thing because it enabled us to move into market street. the city had encouraged us to do so, too, as they were very much interested in revitalizing market, 6th and market, which is essentially part of the tenderloin. we thought there were a lot of opportunities there. we know something about making urban environments vital. given the present political

move, people are open to new ideas. that is true across the country. our burners are being asked to come into centers of various cities for aetna. -- right now. whehowever, as soon as things gt better, they are escorted out. but we might begin to break that cycle. it is just wonderful to walk out on the street and see the world walking by. >> are you giving the twitter deal? >> yes, we are. we just founded a new nonprofit. black rock arts foundation,

which is dedicated to spreading interactive, a collaborative art throughout the world. now we have founded but we call the burning and project. -- what we call the burning man project. it eventually leads to the event itself. this is a wonderful opportunity. the thing about burning man, when you look at the variety of people that go there, when you look at this environment, where all the normal boundaries are down in every department of human knowledge and endeavor.

if you ask what possible application that we have created that may be useful loud in the desert, -- what would it have an application to? education, urban planning, disaster relief. needless to say, we are ambitious than we think we can affect the course of things. we hope to in this century. >> i wanted to dig a bit more into that. i would love it if you could maybe help contrast the radical levels of participation and involvement that you see at burning man with the current status of san francisco.

for a city that has so many creative and imaginative folks, perhaps there could be more to be done on the civic involvement front here. >> we formed a relationship with mayor newsom a while back. i met him at his office and presented to him -- major artistic genre at black rock. and this is portable monumentality. we told him there are great

portable monument works of art all around the bay area. not so much in san francisco, but certainly in oakland. in the east bay. there are some facilities left in the city. being an acute politician, he soon realized what that meant. it was the answer to a political problem. if you put a piece of art in a neighborhood, community members will bicker about it endlessly. if it is only there to be there three months, that is something else coming in deed. i could see a light bulb above his head when we said that. -- something else, indeed.

one could just create art paths out of durable materials upon which you could amount to such works of art. then the entire city, given the supply of createive talent, the whole city could be a revolving work of art. that would be wonderful. that is what black rock city is. why not transpose that to san francisco? i think the city is now looking at doing art paths for that purpose. it would not be hard, given the abundance of -- after so many years in the desert, there is a huge backlog of brilliant art.

magnificent piece is done by armies of artists working together. so that is an obvious things that could be instituted. i also pulled him that we did not have any trash cans in our city. we did not really continue that dialogue. [laughter] >> the question that everyone in san francisco is asking now, i'm going to ask you as a formality. are you going this year? have you ever missed one? have you ever wanted to? >> no. [laughter] at one time, i was very much needed -- i am still needed, from time to time.

although, if i and my partners have done our job, we should not be needed that much. i am like anyone else out there. it is a big place. it is hyperactive. not only are there 100 things, but they are all happening at one time. thousands of things happening at one time. i feel dwarfed by it. it is humbling. i have an idea of what is coming up, but you have to realize, burning man is very much a spontaneous creation, and the emergent phenomenon. that means you do not really know what is going to be there. we fund art, but that is only a

fraction of the art that happens. we had a guy a few years ago show up unannounced with a 10- story modular skyscraper. i just want to see what is going to happen. [laughter] >> speaking of what is going to happen, looking at the activities going on around the monumental art, the people that are in this emancipated state of mind, how does it stack up to the average city, as far as number of injuries and such, in

that window of time? >> it is a remarkably safe place, actually. there is no pavement. [laughter] and you cannot drive your car. that eliminates most injuries right there. it may feel like the world is coming to an end when the dust rises and the colts the world, but it is not. it is true, your habitation could blow away if you do not secure it. but that is not the end of the world. [laughter] in terms of public safety, it is very -- and we have emergency response times that would be the envy of any city that size.

we are very well organized. you are more likely to fall in your bathtub and break your hip. there are some typical injuries, but mild. we have had a couple of deaths, but from natural causes, one from an accident at the event site. of course, what city hasn't? we used to scare people with that. in the old days, just to let people know, this required hardihood. we put down that people had died here. well, they have died everywhere.

and we still scare some people a bit. people are not used to this unmediated environment. as long as you drink water, you are probably going to be ok. there is not a lot of criminal activity. everyone is really over provided for. to meet the survival challenge, they oversupplied. superfluous goods that people end up giving away to one another. there is really not a lot of crime. there is too much to do. [laughter] >> could you talk more about that factor, that there is an abundance of good, which is

interesting, being in the desert. the economic system that is up there. we talked a long time ago for a "for a magazine" story. one of the things that you said is that commerce, in an of itself, is not the enemy. it is the backbone of civilization. >> to be against commerce is to be against your clothing. who would be against commerce? we just said we are living in a world that has been overly come modified. where everything has been turned into a commodity value. people do not have the identities. we are world full of brands and no identity.

you can read your entire life -- you can do your business and go about in the world using your credit card and never really look anyone in the eye. a world in which things have been comodified, things that should never have been. you cannot put a price on love. you cannot put a price on things that make life meaningful. but this isn't a consumer culture. even though we know we cannot keep it up. if the chinese adopt our lifestyle, we are all goners, we know that. it is not the third world anymore, it is the developing world. well, they are developing and

they want things, too. the 21st century will be about competing for resources. there are not enough in a consuming world when there is no limit of appetite. it is a philosophic position. it would be interesting for people to live in a world as people did at the beginning of the modern era and centuries before. people were not relentlessly comodified, the way they are now. people should live in an environment where nothing is bought and sold, just to see what it is like. you know what that is like,

within families. there are family that fight about inherited, property, but in any decent family, you are not buying and selling to one another, you are giving. that is a gift economy. it is predicated on the idea that some things have an unconditional value. you cannot put a price on it. we just said, everything is a gift in our city. you cannot buy or sell anything. there is no advertising. you are not surrounded by this nattering pandemonium of commercial messages, which is so relentless.

and lo and behold, we discovered, had a certain point in a community, when everyone is giving, -- people began to have experiences that were revelatory. they began to feel like they were in touch with that unconditional reality, which perhaps in their youth they identified as their life's goal. it creates a world in