Northern Nevada Properties

Welcome to fabulous Gerlach in Northern Nevada!

Burning Man Project is bringing the spirit and magic of Black Rock City to the other 51 weeks of the year in Northern Nevada.

Gerlach provides a framework to support our neighbors locally and enables us to build a year-round rural community center that helps advance the goal of getting Black Rock City off fossil fuels. Our work to build a more sustainable nonprofit begins in our own backyard: Gerlach and Northern Nevada.

Multiple programs and properties are supported, including: Gerlach Events, Black Rock City Storage Program, Gerlach Workforce Development Center, The 360, The Oasis, and the Gerlach Art Program, part of the Washoe County ArTrail.

Learn more about “Why We’re Building a Permanent Hub for Burning Man Culture & Community” in John Curley’s Journal article, or read more about the future for Gerlach in this San Francisco Examiner article.

If you are interested in learning about or visiting our neighbors to the north at Fly Ranch, please visit their website or check out the calendar of 2023 Fly Ranch Nature Walks here.

Take a virtual tour of Gerlach and the surrounding areas:

> > > PROPERTIES < < <
The 360
The Oasis
> > > PROGRAMS < < <
BRC Storage Program
Gerlach Workforce Development Center
> > > THE FUTURE < < <

PROPERTIES

The 360 property near Gerlach in Northern Nevada, 2022 (Photo by John Curley)

The 360 is Burning Man Project’s newest experiment in community building. A makerspace property located just outside of Gerlach, Nevada, at the edge of the Black Rock Desert. The 360 will provide space for workshops, storage, and community support for theme camps; art projects; mutant vehicles; Black Rock City teams; and independent creators of all kinds. The foundation has been built for The 360 to support the goals set by Burning Man Project’s 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap (watch the Year Three Update here).

The Oasis is a central gathering and performance space for the Gerlach community—with shade, tables, a small stage, and room for local small businesses to sell their wares. In 2021, we had pizza, ice, water, and snow cone sales throughout the summer. In 2022 we continued our partnership with High Rock Pizza to bring delicious eats to our community & staff.

PROGRAMS

BRC Storage Program

The BRC Storage Program recently moved to The 360. The number one request from storage program participants has been met with year-round access to the storage facility!

In 2022, with the increased storage area of The 360, we were able to include almost 50 more groups in the container program. For these new additions alone, we reduced the distance cargo would have traveled, and the associated environmental impact, by over 30,000 miles per year!

Gerlach Workforce Development Center (GWDC)

The Gerlach Workforce Development Center leverages the knowledge and experience inside the Burning Man community to help workers ‘skill up’ and inspire social change. Classes have ranged from solar installation to rural economic development—and everything in between. Many classes taught skills applicable to both regional employment needs as well as employment opportunities at Burning Man Project. In 2022, more than 70 people acquired new skills and over half of those participants received a scholarship.

Our sustainability goals will be best met when members of the community both are able to learn the skills to work on their solar projects effectively, and also use these skills to help other groups in the community make the shift to renewables. As we turn towards a more sustainable future, this program will help us evolve from a goal of environmental sustainability to teaching the community how to put it into action.

And More…

Trailblaze Weekends

Trailblaze is a gathering of community members and makers creating art and infrastructure for Black Rock City and beyond.

In 2022, Trailblaze weekends hosted more than 100 theme camp organizers, mutant vehicle owners, art project leaders, volunteers, and Burning Man creators of all kinds creating art and infrastructure for Black Rock City and beyond. During these weekend-long events, participants collaborated on projects, contributed to the local community, learned new skills, and spent time getting to know their fellow makers.

Participants at a weekend-long Trailblaze event, 2022 (Photo courtesy of the Gerlach team)

NetZero BRC

Gerlach has been host to environmental and sustainability minded participants who gather at the annual NetZero Black Rock City event to showcase and incubate sustainable technologies created by the Burning Man community. In 2022, over 50 participants built a custom solar-powered shade structure and participated in a variety of workshops, discussions, and ideation sessions around solar, transportation, composting waste management, and so much more.

Makers Village

Makers Village has connected artists, theme camp crews, mutant vehicle builders, and BRC Storage participants with each other.

THE FUTURE OF GERLACH AND NORTHERN NEVADA PROPERTIES

As we look to the future, we are excited about the projects on our mountain-filled horizon. The development here in Gerlach is a journey that will happen over several years, and it is one that will be influenced by the local community in Gerlach, the tribes that call this region their home, and the Burning Man community. We invite you to join us on this journey, to visit fabulous Gerlach, and to share your thoughts about what should come next.

We are guests—Gerlach and our Northern Nevada Properties are on Numu (Northern Paiute) and Newe (Western Shoshone) land. At least four distinct Numu tribes have direct ties to the area. For around 73 miles of the drive along State Route 447 you will pass through the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. You can support Pyramid Lake Businesses & Tribal Enterprises in Wadsworth and Nixon. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum & Visitor Center is an excellent place to learn about the Tribe’s history and culture. We are learning and will continue to learn about this. There is more we can do to support Indigenous peoples, address settler colonialism within our culture, and support direct action. For more background see our land acknowledgment.