Burning Man Regional Contacts

What is a Burning Man Regional Contact?

A Burning Man Regional Contact (RC) is a dedicated volunteer who serves as a bridge between Burning Man Project and local Burner communities around the world. RCs embody the ethos and culture of Burning Man in their regions, helping to cultivate thriving, year-round communities that embrace and celebrate the 10 Principles of Burning Man.

Kiwiburn is the longest-running Burning Man international Regional Event, held almost every year since 2004. Over 25 years old, the Burning Man Regional Network plays a key role in the year-round extension of the Burning Man experience, supporting it as a global cultural movement.

The Regional Network comprises over 250 volunteer Regional Contacts in 106 locations across 36 US States and 34 countries helping facilitate communication amongst local Burners, Burning Man Project, and other regional groups. These community leaders host over 80 unique official Regional Events annually on six continents.

Not everybody has the opportunity to get to Black Rock City. But with the Regional Network growing steadily year after year, more and more people around the world will have the opportunity to experience Burning Man culture.

Burning Man is currently represented in New Zealand by long-time Kiwiburners Pete Lumos Wyatt and Shelley Watson, your Burning Man Regional Contacts.

About us

Like many of you, a friend told Pete Lumos Wyatt to go to Kiwiburn, so he did in 2008 and he has been back to every one since then. Pete was given the playa name Lumos, because as well as a profound believer in solar power he has over 25 years experience spinning fire as both the Fire Safety guy and the guy with some of the craziest fire props around.

Lumos soon became a Ranger, a member of the ExCom team and the Art Grants department, and he founded Kiwiburn’s Mobile Art Department that deals in all forms of art that moves. His pirate ship cruised the lake at the Mangakino site from 2009 until we moved to Hunterville, where he has had five different art cars since then.

He has been to Burning Man twice to build art, firstly with the 2011 Temple of Transition and again in 2016 The Giant Weta. When not working as a senior Ranger Lumos can usually be found working as a senior Fire marshal, he has served at Kiwiburn, AfrikaBurn, and a long list of the various burns in NZ and Australia including Blazing Swan, Burning Seed, 3rd Degree, Underland, Raglan Burn, Ignition and Modifyre.

BONZA (Burners of New Zealand and Australia) is an Australasian burner leadership group which Lumos has been an active participant of since its beginning in 2017, often giving a presentation at the yearly conference. He also gets involved in BONZAAR’s podcasts covering all aspects of Burner life.

Shelley Watson first went to Burning Man in 2006 and has been to every Kiwiburn since 2007, served on the ExCom twice for a few years each time, started the Communications Team and set up the Art Grants department in that time too. A graphic designer, she created the logo and many of the early posters, patches, stickers, wristbands and other related Kiwiburn collateral. And she has been part of sound camps at Kiwiburn where she cut her teeth DJing rock music as miss mixtape. In 2017, Shelley represented Kiwiburn at the Burning Man Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in San Francisco, presenting an overview of Kiwiburn which was well received by attendees.

An integral part of the crew who received an Honoraria Grant from Burning Man to make a sculpture of a giant weta to take to Black Rock City in 2016, Shelley designed the logo, brand, and all the promotional materials, as well as managing all the social media channels, filming and editing videos, co-hosting fundraising events, and taking hundreds of photos of the build through to the finished art. She has also been to Burning Seed, Raglan Burn, Underland and many other unofficial burn-style events, such as Ignition, and is involved with helping BoNZA happen each year.

In 2024, she started a community engagement initiative called Leftover Love with the purpose of collecting leftover non-perishable food during the Burn and upon exodus, with it all being donated to local community organisations to distribute to those most in need.

How we can help you:

Are you interested in creating a local burn or burn-style event?
What Burning Man resources could help your community?
Do you want to create a civic project where you live?
Are you heading to Burning Man and in need of advice?

Email your Regional Contacts newzealand@burningman.org

Announcement List:

The New Zealand Announce list is a moderated announcements-only list for events of interest to local Burners. Recipients get regular updates, event listings, and Burning Man news from this list.

To subscribe, send a blank email to:
newzealand-announce+subscribe@burningman.org