Regional Contacts
Wisconsin
The BurningSNOW Center for ExperiMENTAL Arts is located in Milwaukee
and serves as regional contact center for Wisconsin. Nearby cities include
Madison, WI and Chicago, IL. We interact with the regional contacts from
Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Canada and others. We organize Snowflake
Village at Burning Man, a meeting place for Midwesterners. In addition
to our regular weekly Sunday night meetings, we hold regional urban burns
on the Solstices and Equinoxes which are attended by people from all
over the region. We also offer fire-spinning instruction year-round.
| main contact: | Eric B. Griswold (Niacin) and Marilyn P. Besasie (Russian Wulfgar) |
| burning since: | 1997 |
| personal quote: | "Forget Paris. Go to Burning Man. It's one of the world's centers of innovative design. You will see more astonishing things in a day than you will ordinarily see in a year. People from the Midwest can especially benefit from this. To contribute to this connection is a privilege." |
| email: | Wisconsin Regional |
| announcement lists: |
Subscribers to the announce list will receive updates about related
events within their local community; announce lists are not open discussion
lists, therefore, all posts are routed through the Regional Contact.
To subscribe to the announce list for this region, send a blank email
to: wisconsin-announce-subscribe@burningman.com |
| discussion list: | Discussion List: We currently have NO discussion list. |
| related url: | The Regional
Contact Web Page: www.clevian.com/wisconsin_contact.htm Snowflake Village, the village of Midwesterners: www.clevian.com/snowflake.htm |
| local event calendar: | Don't forget to check the Calendar for year around events in your area. |
Event Photos:
Recent Events:
2008:
- In summer 2008, we created the "INSPhIRE" event, an official Burning Man Regional Event, taking place in Milwaukee. It featured multiple bands, fire dancers, an effigy burn, and introduced a new life size fire sculpture, "The Dancing Man Puppet."
- Co sponsored the Riverwest Mardi Gras Parade. A parade through our artistic district, complete with fire and costumes.
- Started having local Meet n Greets anywhere they are requested in Wisconsin.
- Weekly meetings are held every Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. at the BurningSNOW Center, 2578 N. Weil Street, Milwaukee, WI 53217. These include Newbie Orientations, Build Parties, Potluck Dinners, and many other fun activities.
- Wisconsin people are helping create another interactive art piece
for the base of the Man called "Talking Voting Booth."
2007:
- Co sponsored the Riverwest Mardi Gras Parade. A parade through our artistic district, complete with fire and costumes.
- Had four Local Regional Events, on the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox, and Winter Solstice. Each featured performers, and a different effigy Burn each time.
- Organized Bicycle Speed Dating on the Playa.
- Volunteers at the BurningSNOW Center help create "Corn Woman," an interactive art exhibit featured at the base of the Man.
- Fire performers from Wisconsin, joining with Temple of Poi, spun fire in the Fire Conclave on the night of the Burn.
- A Video crew from Wisconsin was official press at Burning Man and broadcast the results on cable t.v. in Milwaukee.
- Weekly meetings are held every Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. at the BurningSNOW
Center, 2578 N. Weil Street, Milwaukee, WI 53217. These include Newbie
Orientations, Build Parties, Potluck Dinners, and many other fun activities.
- 2006: SnowFire, Milwaukee's own fire spinning troupe that has performed in Burning Man's Fire Conclave, put on a spectacular show at Center Street Days, among many other performances throughout the year.
- Fire performers from Wisconsin, joining with Temple of Poi, spun fire in the Fire Conclave on the night of the Burn.
- A Video crew from Wisconsin was official press at Burning Man and broadcast the results on cable t.v. in Milwaukee.
- Wisconsinites organized both Playa Speed Dating and introduced the new Messiah For A Minute interactive game.
- Weekly meetings are held every Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. at the BurningSNOW Center, 2578 N. Weil Street, Milwaukee, WI 53217. These include Newbie Orientations, Build Parties, Potluck Dinners, and many other fun activities.
2005:
- Co-sponsored the Riverwest Mardi Gras Parade. A parade through our artistic district, complete with fire and costumes. Article and photos published in the Shepherd Express, Milwaukee’s biggest alternative newspaper.
- Brain Box back on the air in 2005! Re-started Brain Box Television, a cable access t.v. show bringing unique information from aruond the world. Brain Box appears every Friday at 10:00 p.m. and every Saturday at 11:00 p.m. on cable channel 96 in Milwaukee.
- Chartered the Poi Club
at UW Milwaukee, a registered student organization, helping to
bring the art of poi to the Milwaukee area.
2004:
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer Gary Porter won an award for his photography and story about the Burning Man festival.
- Article in MKE Magazine: "Lead lemming: Burn and learn, Spinning flames with poi-fection takes practice.”
- Organized four regional Burning Man events, held at the BurningSNOW Center for the Experimental Arts. These included the Spring Equinox Compression Party, the Summer Solstice Power Party, the Fall Equinox Exhaust Party, and the Winter Solstice Intake Party. Each one featured live music, poetry, gift economy and a ceremonial inflammatory figure.
- Set up a booth at the Locust Street Festival, the longest running free neighborhood festival in Milwaukee. We gave away literature for Burning Man, gave poi demonstrations, and sold knick-knacks to raise money for the Regional.
- Began the practice of opening the BurningSNOW Center on Gallery Night and Days, often with a guest artist.
- Facilitated again the creation of Snowflake Village for 2004. This theme village included camps from around the Midwest and Canada, including: Clevian Circularity, Gray Matter Gym, Space Vikings, Angel Fairies, Bop Camp, Videogasm.
- Poi classes held weekly at Historic Turner Hall, Milwaukee.
- The SnowFire performance troupe performed fire poi at Art Bar, Ring of Fire Glassworks, Hotcakes Art Gallery and many times with the Hale O'Malo Polynesian Revue.
- Three Members went to San Francisco in December to study at Temple of Poi with Glitter Girl, and make a pilgrimage to Burning Man Headquarters.
- SnowFire attended the Chicago Full Moon Fire Jam in July and participated in the North Halstead Annual Halloween Parade as fire-spinners.
2003:
- Halloween Firespinning show at Bremen Street Cafe - October 31st, 2003
- Lecture to School of Architecture and Urban Planning -September 2003. Wisconsin Regional Contact Eric Griswold delivered a lecture about Burning Man to about 200 people.
- Wheel of Fire -August 2003, helped organize a series of fire processions at Burning Man on the night of the burn in cooperation with Mutaytor's Heartbeat of the Man event.
- Facilitated again the creation of Snowflake Village for 2003. This theme village included camps from around the Midwest and Canada.
- Articles in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - June and August 2003. An excellent article written by
- Sunday, July 13, 2003, article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Gary Porter, “Burning Man’s Warm Welcome.” Another article by Crocker Stephenson called "A Chance For The Gloriously Wacky To Dance, Play With Fire," can be found in the Thursday, June 5th edition of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and also online.
- The Institute for Thought won a $2,000 grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation for development of the BurningSNOW Center for the Experimental Arts in Milwaukee.
- In July 2003 The BurningSNOW Center began offering introductory poi training classes open to the public.
- The BurningSNOW Fire Troupe conducted a number of summertime public performances of firespinning as part of the Mayor’s offices’ new busking program.
- Set up a booth at the Locust Street Festival, the longest running free neighborhood festival in Milwaukee. We gave away literature for Burning Man, gave poi demonstrations, and sold knick-knacks to raise money for the Regional.
Please check back for even more information about the Burning Man community
in your area. We're gathering more details — coming soon! 
