San Diego Regional - YOUtopia 2012 - 10/18 - 10/21/2012

[Nicole_H]

YOUtopia is the San Diego Burning Man Community's official Burning Man regional event where we celebrate the vibrant creative and communal elements of San Diego and the surrounding areas. The theme for this year is Metamorphosis – Shift Happens. A 4-day/3-night camping event, YOUtopia takes place on the La Jolla Indian Reservation Campgrounds from Thursday, October 18 at 10am until Sunday, October 21 mid-day.

I just got back from a YOUtopia site visit, and well, all I have to say is that YOUtopia's going to be amazing this year, that's for sure, but we want MORE! MORE art, MORE playshops, MORE performance, MORE theme camps, and MORE YOU!

The planning team has been working long and hard to make "YOUtopia 2012: Metamorphosis - Shift Happens" the most exciting YOUtopia this community has ever seen, and it's only with YOUR participation that we can truly fulfill this goal!

IMPORTANT DEADLINES
September 23rd - This is the last day to submit a request for an art grant. If you have some amazing art and need our help getting it to YOUtopia, fill out our art grant application.

September 30th - This is the last day you can submit applications for playshops, theme camp placement and art placement, and also the last day to submit applications if you'd like to bring a performance to YOUtopia. Please be aware that even if you didn't apply for an art grant, you can still apply for art placement so the Art Placement team can highlight your art to its fullest advantage.

So scurry on over to our website: http://sdyoutopia.com/ to fill out applications and/or purchase your tickets. Don't delay, this event has sold out for the last three years, we don't want you to miss it!

[Ninja Nemo]

Hi Nicole,

I'm planning to attend YOUtopia (already have ticket), but I'm having trouble finding any substantial "survival guide-esque" info regarding the event. I looked through the YOUtopia website and did some "googling" but couldn't find much. Things I'm interested in are:

-Layout of the event - Is there a playa? Where do we camp? Are there maps from prior years posted anywhere? etc.

-Conditions of the event - What's the ground like? Is the playa big? Where would I place my art? What's the LNT policy (can I dig post-holes?)

-Pictures - What did it look like in the past? There are only a handful of flickr streams and Youtube videos and the majority aren't very informative (mostly fire spinning & DJ'ing).

Whereas one can easily learn all this about the burn, I'm having trouble getting a basic understanding of what to expect from YOUtopia. As I would like to contribute some art to the event, this info would be very helpful for a first-time YOUtopian. I'm very sorry if I missed something obvious, but hopefully this info will help more people besides just me.

Thank you!
-Yang

[Nicole_H]

Hi Yang,

Thank you for your questions, and I'm glad you'll be joining us at YOUtopia!

I'm in the process of putting together all kinds of information to add to the website, survival guide style, and should hopefully have more information up there soon. But for the moment....

There's no "playa" per se. The La Jolla Indian Reservation campground is comprised of a combination of forested land with dry scrub like brush on the higher elevation areas. During the year, the campground is open to weekend campers, so the conditions aren't what you'd call harsh except perhaps in some areas where it might be more difficult based on the combination of terrains. Some areas are super shady, others are completely exposed to the sun during the daytime, some areas are flat, others are hilly. It's a mountain environment, and during that period of October, just as is typical of southern California that time of year, it can be fairly hot during the daytime, and cools down quite a bit at night. Maps from previous years would probably not be all that helpful in terms of describing the terrain visually, as the maps we've created have been more stylized for placement. However, Google gives a pretty good satellite view if you're interested in checking that out: http://goo.gl/maps/rCz6n. In addition, the campground website itself has some pretty good photos of some of the areas YOUtopia will be taking place. For example, this is area 4, one of the areas we'll be occupying: http://www.lajollaindians.com/index.php ... camp-sites. Here's area 6, another area we will have available during the event: http://www.lajollaindians.com/index.php ... camp-sites.

If you're not camping with a theme camp, there will be a large amount of open camping available. Parking will generally be separate from the area where you're camping. You can haul your stuff to your camp area, unload, and then drive back to park your car. There will be volunteers onsite to assist you with finding a good spot and to help you park your car.

If you'd like your art to be placed by our art placement team, you're welcome to fill out our art placement form, where you'll be asked to describe your art, among other things. In fact, I'd encourage you to fill out the form, as the information you fill out there will, if it's submitted in time (by September 30th), we will also include it in our online and printed event guide.

I really appreciate you taking the time to ask such thoughtful questions, and hope to get something more informative up on the website in the next week. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.