Summer of Spark 2017 – After burn Report
Summer of Spark is a family friendly burner community event which celebrates the spirit of self-expression and creativity by gathering together for one full day to share art, music, workshops, community activities, education.
Event Details:
Event began June 3rd 10:00 am and carried over to June 4th ending at 2:00 am, with an option for overnight camping. Event occurred at Gibson Ranch in Sacramento County, CA. with 510 total participants including around 140 volunteers, 16 theme camps and six placed art pieces.
Profit and Loss:
Budget to be audited by SVS board, but current numbers as of 12/1/16 are as follows.
Expected Budget: $ 20,790.00
Actual: $ 14,999.72
Income from tickets: $ 23,365.00
Event Profit $ 5,575.28
Price Level QTY Value
Pre-Sales
Tier 1 tickets – $30 124 $ 3,720
Tier 2 tickets – $35 98 $ 3,430
Tier 3 tickets – $40 200 $ 8,000
Camping – $10 130 $ 1,300
RV – $45 35 $ 1,575
Presale Subtotal $ 18,025
Door Sales
Ticket Sales at the Door 88 $ 4,400
Camping at the Door 58 $ 580
RV at the Door 8 $ 360
Total Sales $23,365
Event Execution:
Weather was agreeable for the event and was in the mid to high 90’s; this was lucky since it was 110 the same weekend the year before.
Successes:
Overall: This event was a success considering the short schedule for planning of the event. This event came together well particularly considering that it was the first year for the region doing an event of this type. For the most part the event went by smoothly, and participants appeared to have fun.
Theme Camps: There were lots of interactive theme camps, so the event space was very lively.
Art: Based on extensive pictures online there were a lot of people posing for pictures with various art pieces.
Event Space: Participants had a great number of camps, sound stages, chill areas, costuming areas, and eateries to participate in with other members of the community.
Communication: Internal communication was improved by adding Basecamp for internal planning and communication.
Children: Ring of Rug Rats was a great success, a child friendly theme camp that gave children of all ages a place to socialize, explore and create art. The theme camp also handed out special identification wristbands to parents and minors.
Color Coding: Theme Camp color codes was established this year with green being all ages friendly, yellow was PG -13 rating and red was for over18 activities. We had several camps that would be green in the daylight and then transition to yellow and or red as the night progressed.
LNT: This event was a leave no trace event and very little trash or garbage was left to be cleaned up.
10 Principles: This event operated under the 10 Principles”; as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture. Summer of Spark followed these principles:
♦ Radical Inclusion ♦ Gifting ♦ Decommodification ♦ Radical Self-reliance ♦ Radical Self-expression ♦ Communal Effort ♦ Civic Responsibility ♦ ♦ Leaving No Trace ♦ Participation ♦ Immediacy ♦
Areas for improvement:
Since this event was a new venue and slightly changed format from previous events, it gave us a clean slate. Unfortunately, this also created some challenges in how the event was defined by the official event criteria which affected our ability to make plans and start promotion. In the future we need to clearly define requirements to be considered a multi-day event.
By the time contracts were signed and event leads were selected and team leads brought on, we had basically 2 months to plan and execute the event. All things considered it still went pretty well.
Promotion: We must start much earlier in advance to increase ticket sales, and volunteer participation.
Communication: Internally, externally and for policies in general there is still an opportunity for improvement. Since most of the policies were new to this event there was inconsistent messaging being distributed to the team and then to volunteers and attendees. The event could benefit from having a person in a specific PR communications role. This person should start before most other roles to get basic information out to the community about the event.
Location: The venue was great, although in future years we should plan earlier in the year so fire is not a limiting concern. This year there was a no burn policy implemented county wide at the time of our event because of high fire danger. We are planning our next event earlier in the year, to mitigate the fire danger.
Sound: It also seems that now that we have experienced the venue we might be able to keep sound on longer at a reduced level without disturbing neighbors. That would help meet the expectations of a number of the event attendees for late night dancing beyond the wireless headphone option that we provided. This location now has a Zero sound policy after 10:00 PM.
Sanitation Facilities: We could have used a few more, and need for Logistics and DPW to keep them stocked throughout the event.
ADA: Information, advice and public notification will be a priority for future events. ADA representation should be engaged early to enable those with handicaps full access to event. We had one community member arrive with her disabled husband and she was unable to discern if the facility would be accessible with his electric wheelchair. Future events will have ADA review and access planning.
Permits: We will make sure all permits are completed well in advance of the event to meet all state county and local requirements.
Volunteer Coordinator: Establishing a standalone volunteer coordinator for all SVS events is needed. By creating a volunteer support system we believe it will unify our community and have then eager to support out events.
Our team believes there are no failures just lesson learned. Overall this was a successful event and a great learning experience. We plan on taking all the experiences from our past events and using them to make our next event run even smoother while giving participants an enhanced experience.