Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the western United States. According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in , the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting , decommodification , radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility , leaving no trace , participation, and immediacy.
Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers; participants create all the art, activities, and events. These contributions are inspired by a theme chosen annually by the Burning Man Project. It has since been held annually, spanning the nine days leading up to and including Labor Day. Over the event's history, attendance has generally increased. In , 78, people participated.
Black Rock City LLC was formed in to represent the event's organizers and is now considered a subsidiary of the nonprofit organization. The Burning Man Project endorses multiple smaller regional events guided by the Burning Man principles in the United States and internationally.
This occasion evolved into an enormous annual festival of arts, music, and culture called Burning Man. Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice. Sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Larry Harvey's girlfriend, Janet Lohr, held solstice bonfire gatherings on Baker Beach for several years before , some of which Harvey attended.
When Grauberger stopped organizing it, Harvey "picked up the torch", with Grauberger's permission, and ran with it. Harvey later described his inspiration for burning these effigies as a spontaneous act of "radical self-expression". By , Harvey formally named the summer solstice ritual "Burning Man" by titling flyers for the happening as such.
