Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event - Hardcover

Chen, Katherine K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226102378 ISBN 13: 9780226102375

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2009

Synopsis

In the summer of 2008, nearly fifty thousand people traveled to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to participate in the countercultural arts event Burning Man. Founded on a commitment to expression and community, the annual weeklong festival presents unique challenges to its organizers. Over four years Katherine K. Chen regularly participated in organizing efforts to safely and successfully create a temporary community in the middle of the desert under the hot August sun.

Enabling Creative Chaos tracks how a small, underfunded group of organizers transformed into an unconventional corporation with a ten-million-dollar budget and two thousand volunteers. Over the years, Burning Man’s organizers have experimented with different management models; learned how to recruit, motivate, and retain volunteers; and developed strategies to handle regulatory agencies and respond to media coverage. This remarkable evolution, Chen reveals, offers important lessons for managers in any organization, particularly in uncertain times.

About this title

About the Author

Katherine K. Chen is assistant professor of sociology at The City College of New York and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226102378
• ISBN 13: 9780226102375
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272