Blazing Swan

Blazing Swan
Blazing Swan Logo spray painted onto an art piece in 2015
Location(s)	Jilakin Rock City, Kulin, Western Australia, Australia
Inaugurated	2014
Most recent	April 1–7, 2015
Next event	March 23–29, 2016
Website
Blazing Swan

Blazing Swan is an annual regional Burning Man event held in Kulin, Western Australia. It is an experiment in temporary community and artistic expression, and is guided by ten main principles, including radical inclusion, gifting and radical self-reliance. The event occurs around Easter each year, with the 2016 event scheduled for March 23–29. The event location is in dry bushland near Jilakin Lake, and is referred to as Jilakin Rock City. Each year a swan-shaped wooden effigy is built and burned at the culmination of the event.

History

Blazing Swan was started by a collective of artists/producers whom have all attended the Burning Man Festival in the USA and were inspired to organize an official regional event in WA.

Year	Theme	Date	Participants	Ticket price	Notes
2014	Inception	24–28 April	1400	$145-$195
2015	Inspiration	1–7 April	1900	$145-$255
2016	Illumination	23–29 March	Limited to 2500	$150-$250

Culture

Ten Principles

Blazing Swan is understood not as an event, but as referring to a way of life lived consistently with these 10 Principles. They are meant to be taken as a whole, as a set of commonly-understood values.^[1]

• Radical Inclusion: Anyone may be a part of Blazing Swan. We welcome and respect the stranger. No pre-requisites exist for participation in our community.
• Gifting: Blazing Swan is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
• Decommodification: In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
• Radical Self-reliance: Blazing Swan encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
• Radical Self-expression: Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
• Communal Effort: Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote, and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
• Civic Responsibility: We value civil society. Community members who organise events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavour to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
• Leaving No Trace: Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible,
  to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
• Participation: Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
• Immediacy: Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

Theme Camps

Theme camps are an integral part of Burning Man culture. These are established by the event participants and contribute to the unique identity of Blazing Swan.

Theme camps at Blazing Swan 2016 include:

• 1. The Far Away Tree Tribe - ҒΔTT camp
• 2. The Anti-Precludian Reading And Performance Society
• 3. Silent Disco: Illumination
• 4. Fort Swan
• 5. Twisted Jah
• 6. Blaze Skate Park
• 7. Papazahns
• 8. Shiva's Tea House
• 9. Warm & Fuzzy Theme Camp
• 10. Pirate Pikelets AKA Blazing Swan- Steampunk Pancake Kids Kamp - SPKK
• 11. Outrigger Island
• 12. Ropespace
• 13. KaMp Koasis
• 14. Camp Anita Cocktail
• 15. Aruma
• 16. Kaleidoscope Mandala
• 17. Forbidden Fruits
• 18. Saraswati's Song
• 19. High Flyers Disc Golf Club
• 20. Detox
• 21. Shadynastys
• 22. Flaming Big Kids Funpark
• 23. The Alliance AKA The @lliance
• 24. Dragon Fire
• 25. Fairy Tribe
• 26. Serene Green
• 27. Fluffs on Tour
• 28. Camp Unicorn Powwwwwerrrrr
• 29. The Church of Belligerence
• 30. The Lab
• 31. Tribal Tribe
• 32. High Tide
• 33. Soundscape
• 34. Visual Creation Manipulation Station
• 35. Fire Tribe
• 36. Community Roots
• 37. Jam Camp
• 38. Pom Pom Palace
• 39. The Bomb - Blazing Swan Information Radio
• 39. Phoenix Dreams
• 40. Moonbase
• 41. MoVeMeNt MaDdnEsS
• 42. TBC (Heavy Petting Zoo)
• 43. Mike Parry & Associates
• 44. Art Slut Society
• 45. GSN
• 46. Booth With No Name
• 47. Greasy Pirates
• 48. XYZ
• 49. No Limit Camp
• 50. Liberation Station
• 51. The Soup Kitchen
• 52. Black Lagoon
• 53. Camp Random
• 54. Temple Guardians
• 55. Tribal Progression

Blazing Swan, Inc.

Blazing Swan, Inc. is the not-for-profit incorporated association dedicated to organising the annual Blazing Swan event. Its headquarters are based in Fremantle, Western Australia. As per Blazing Swan Inc.'s constitution, its main objectives are to:

(a) organise, develop and promote:

(i) an annual arts, music, and cultural festival which is inclusive, accepting, and safe;

(ii) other related events promoting self expression, identity and understanding;

(b) foster and create new art projects in Western Australia;

(c) develop and support workshops and training activities;

(d) support and develop community based fundraising events to further the Association’s objects;

(e) train volunteers to facilitate the Association’s objects; and

(f) conduct the Association’s activities in an environmentally sustainable manner.^[2]

Community Involvement

Blazing Swan Inc. is involved with a number of community art projects and philanthropic activities in Western Australia. Some examples are:

• Providing significant art grants to the community to encourage creative expression.^[3]
• Donating $10 from each ticket sold at the 2015 event towards funding a full-time age care nurse to the Shire of Kulin.^[4]
• Partnership with the Australian Government's 'Work for the Dole' program, to help job seekers gain skills and experience that give back to the community and can help them find a job.
• Donating a three metre wide metal sculpture created by Matt Bray to the Shire of Kulin, as a permanent public art offering.^[5]

References

1. "10 Principles of Blazing Swan". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
2. "About Us". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
3. "Art at Blazing Swan". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
4. "Blazing Swan Comes To WA". Rotunda Media. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
5. "Blazing Swan memento: Kulin's giant egg". ABC Great Southern WA. 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-12-30.

External links

• Official website