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Town Hall

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Your Board of Directors Candidate Announcement

Board Candidate Info

Click the arrow to expand each section and read the candidates info.

Akshay Johar

Akshay Johar

   

What’s your passion?

1. Bringing more People of Color into our community
2. Bringing efficiency into process
3. Bringing people together to create magic
4. All things Tech

 
 

Tell us about any theme camps, art projects, production roles, volunteering you’ve done in the past.

  Critical NW Ambassador Lead – 2022, 2023, 2024
Fire Camp Lead – 2023, 2024
Coconut Water Supply Company Camp Lead – 2024
Fire Camp Board Member (Treasurer) – 2023, 2024
 

Tell us about any projects you’re particularly proud of and a bit about the experience completing them. These don’t have to have been in the burner community, just something that demonstrates your capabilities and interests.

  1. Critical Ambassador role – made it fun, inclusive. Have a high rate of volunteering
2. Critical Passports – developed from ground up and executed at a shoe string budget
3. Theater – Stage Manager for a variety of productions/musicals in the Seattle area
4. 20 Year Microsoft tech veteran – recently retired (or rather taking a well deserved break)

What skills do you bring to the board? How could you leverage your skills and knowledge to help INW?

 

What do you have to offer the burner community, specifically? What impact have you had on burner community since you’ve been in it?

I am on the board of directors for Fire Camp, and have been on the board for Pratidhwani (a 501.3c that brings South Asian theater to Seattle), so I have familiarity of being on a board of a non profit. In addition to being involved in the above two communities, the skills that I bring to the board are also from a long standing career in tech/Microsoft (20 year veteran) as a people manager and technology leader.

I also like to think of myself as a fun, respected individual in the community

  I work in Critical Production every year since I started going to Critical. What I typically offer in my role as an Ambassador there is high energy, enthusiasm to all participants, as well as members of Production. What do I have to offer is the same level of enthusiasm to all our initiatives, wherever the need be.

One of the other big things that I can offer currently is time – I am funemployed by choice and looking for a way to contribute and make a difference. The biggest impact (I think) I have had on the burner community , is bringing new folks into the community as well as bringing people together to create the magic in the forest once a year.

What makes you a good leader?

 

Why should the community choose you over other candidates?

What makes me a good leader is past experience, a radically inclusive approach, a fun and energetic personality, and a well connected community member   The community should choose whoever they think can represent their interests, vs. pitting one person against another.

Are you running to tackle particular issues? Tell us about them!

 

Which committees interest you? Please elaborate on why you picked those committees. 

In no particular order:
– Bringing POCs to our community is something I like to do and have a passion for.
– The complexity of the conduct committee piques my interest
– Tech – I would love to bring some efficiency into the tech process
– Events – I would love to be a part of the process that figures out what, where, and how
  Events – I love planning parties for thousands of my best friends

Tech – I love data, design, and the comforting glow of a laptop

Acculturation – I want to help welcome those new to the Burning Man community

Conduct – I want to help INW improve the safety of its events

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Answered this in the “running to tackle particular issues” question

       

In conclusion- please share any final thoughts or further info you’d like the community to have.

Thank you for considering me!

Leeds “Rabbit” Main

Leeds “Rabbit” Main

What’s your passion?

Empowering everyone to contribute and reducing barriers for people to be artistic.

 

Tell us about any theme camps, art projects, production roles, volunteering you’ve done in the past.

  I’m one half of the Pie Chute camp for Critical ’23 and various times throughout the last 4 years, lead the Double R Diner at Critical ’24. I ran winter themed hot chocolate hut installation at SeaCompression ’23. I was camp and art lead for The Thirteens installation at Neotropolis ’24. I’ve volunteered at multiple Criticals (Gate, LNT, Parking).
 

Tell us about any projects you’re particularly proud of and a bit about the experience completing them. These don’t have to have been in the burner community, just something that demonstrates your capabilities and interests.

  The Thirteens installation, at the Neotropolis festival in southern California, is a cyberpunk video lounge. The installation includes several art pieces I crafted, and I coordinated a dozen other artists to incorporate their proficiencies into the installation. The installation temporarily inhabits a 10×10 high ceiling room that is part of a series of art installations that are built in a fully themed city that has no camping within it, for the event. My installation also has an immersive narrative as a Death Cult concerned with reincarnation as a potted plant. To get the installation completed, I created documents to coordinate and track artistic work, and ran twice weekly progress meetings 3 months running up to the event. I really enjoyed helping everyone add their expertise, no matter what it was, to the installation, it ended up representing the combined effort of all 12 artists and myself.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SCp7tLQJqixzs9Cs8

What skills do you bring to the board? How could you leverage your skills and knowledge to help INW?

 

What do you have to offer the burner community, specifically? What impact have you had on burner community since you’ve been in it?

My main skills would be organization to promote accountability and encourage collaboration.   My main impact on the burner community is feeding it pie, and producing the pandemic art walk in 2020 and 2021. The art walk was a late summer effort to get burners to put art on their lawns, list their location on a common map, and invite the wider community to safely see art while the big Burn and Critical were on hiatus due to COVID19. I built the website, application, map, and coordinated with IgnitionNW to promote the event. The Pie Chute is a project Julie and I built for the art walk, and it blossomed into baking over 6800 pies to date. All pies are hand-made from local fruit gathered from gardens in my neighborhood. I made the chute and hand-painted the signs,

What makes you a good leader?

 

Why should the community choose you over other candidates?

I lead from the front and invest in others using their expertise to effectively contribute. I also am comfortable with my vision being altered, recognizing other’s can, should, and do a great job when given the opportunity to own projects within the larger effort.   I’m a detailed organized person who is invested in the community.

Are you running to tackle particular issues? Tell us about them!

 

Which committees interest you? Please elaborate on why you picked those committees. 

I’m really interested in promoting and helping the community do art.   Events – I love planning parties for thousands of my best friends

Grants and Scholarships – I have a deep appreciation for art and understand what it takes to make it happen

Tech – I love data, design, and the comforting glow of a laptop

———————————————————————————————————–
Grants and Scholarships because it helps artists build bigger, and I’d like to make sure that they get that money in-time to build and create. Events because events are one of the core ways that collaboration is driven within the community. Tech because that’s something I have familiarity with as a professional software QA, and have built tech solutions for projects I’ve worked on in the past.

       

In conclusion- please share any final thoughts or further info you’d like the community to have.

I really appreciate the community and am excited to work with the board and everyone to create events that provide the opportunity for everyone to become an artist.

Josh “Reboot” Olson

Josh “Reboot” Olson

What’s your passion?

Figuring out how things work and, if useful, making them better

 

Tell us about any theme camps, art projects, production roles, volunteering you’ve done in the past.

  I have served as Producer of Critical NW three times (including CNW 2025). I was Safety Director for Critical NW 2023 (before being field promoted). I have volunteered for medical at Critical NW and Seacompression, and as Medical Lead at Critical NW 2022. I am a Black Rock Ranger, including volunteering for the emergency dispatch role. I’m also a Puget Sound Ranger.

I’m the artist behind Ourcelium, a ring of electronically-driven mushrooms each of which is a light&sound “instrument” that participants can play.

 

Tell us about any projects you’re particularly proud of and a bit about the experience completing them. These don’t have to have been in the burner community, just something that demonstrates your capabilities and interests.

  The project that comes to mind is the pilot of a Burner Express-style bus service at Critical NW 2024. We were searching for solutions to a scarcity of parking area at Critical NW. Our team evaluated several options, each with significant drawbacks. We settled on trying out the bus service, despite it representing a financial risk if we were unable to sell enough tickets. We approached the project thoughtfully and, despite our best efforts, only sold a fraction of the tickets we would have needed to break even on the option. By the time we were sure of this, it was late enough in the season that we knew canceling the service would have been a major disruption to the plans of the burners who had bought tickets. So we decided to take the loss in order to keep our commitment to those burners. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Quest (Associate Producer 2024) and a team of volunteers helping shuttle riders to their camps onsite, the bus ran on schedule and provided a fun and effective option for those who had bought tickets.

I picked this example to illustrate that sometimes we are required to make decisions from a place of incomplete information. It’s important to learn from the eventual outcomes, but without regret. In my view, the express bus was a successful test of a good idea, and one that we can improve on in the future to serve more people in a fiscally responsible way.

What skills do you bring to the board? How could you leverage your skills and knowledge to help INW?

 

What do you have to offer the burner community, specifically? What impact have you had on burner community since you’ve been in it?

I have a diverse skill and knowledge set (thx ADHD). Including but not limited to: project and people management, emergency management, community development, software engineering, radio technology, and strategic planning.   Like everyone who volunteers, brings art, organizes theme camps, creates gifts and experiences, and otherwise helps manifest our weird, magical community… I Participated.

The specific nature of my participation is answered in other questions here, but as for what I accomplished in those roles:
– I have made our events safer and our operational practices more professional by instituting Incident Command System methodology and training in production leadership, as well as rewriting our event plan safety protocols.
– I have promoted accessibility and inclusion by instituting a Census, creating an event-operated golf cart mobility assistance service, and many smaller instances of leading by example.
– I have supported volunteerism by expanding production leadership roles to distribute load, and by exhibiting a volunteer culture of balance, respect, and boundaries.
– I have offered kindness and support to fellow burners.

tl;dr: I have big ideas and a track record of executing on them.

What makes you a good leader?

 

Why should the community choose you over other candidates?

I’m a good listener and effective communicator. I defer to expertise. I’m eager to have my mind changed by a persuasive argument. I believe in servant leadership: empowering people to accomplish well-defined roles, supporting their needs, and holding them justly and compassionately accountable.   Because they think I’d make a more positive impact, I suppose!

Are you running to tackle particular issues? Tell us about them!

 

Which committees interest you? Please elaborate on why you picked those committees. 

I am! I intend to work on expanding volunteerism, increasing board transparency, and
enhancing accountability.

As an example of one such initiative: I believe the community would be better served by the board of directors taking an active role in producing its events.

Currently, production of our events (Critical NW and Seacompression) is delegated to a small (1-3) group of Producers, who hold near-total authority and responsibility for making sure the event gets pulled off. This has advantages, but the disadvantages include: Producer is a very challenging job that is difficult to find volunteers for; siloed interaction/accountability between board and production teams; and a top-down model of leadership that isn’t perfectly aligned with our community value of Communal Effort .

Instead, I propose shifting to a model where a small group of board members are the Producers of the event, and much of the initiative for accomplishing the many moving parts of event production be distributed more widely to volunteer leaders.

This would address a number of challenges we routinely face: It would increase accountability for event production, removing existing barriers between board and Producers. It would ease the overall burden on Producers, making it easier for us to find people willing to volunteer for the role (a significant problem we face). It would empower volunteer leaders and incentivize expansion of volunteer leadership by including more community members.

I have already been selected as Producer of Critical NW 2025. So why also run for the board? Because I believe in leading by example. If I think it’s a good idea for board members to produce the event, then I should be the first to enact that model.

  Events – I love planning parties for thousands of my best friends

Tech – I love data, design, and the comforting glow of a laptop

Acculturation – I want to help welcome those new to the Burning Man community

Conduct – I want to help INW improve the safety of its events

———————————————————————————————————-

I am already an active member of the Events and Tech committees and have contributed to many important decisions and initiatives on behalf of the community in these contexts. I am also especially interested in the missions of the Acculturation and Conduct committees, and would consider contributing to them if the need existed.

If you’re reading this, consider joining a committee! All INW community members are invited, and it is an excellent way to get involved and feel you are making a difference.

       

In conclusion- please share any final thoughts or further info you’d like the community to have.

<3

Derek “Sean” Spratt

Derek “Sean” Spratt

What’s your passion?

Creating a space where people can try out new things and explore and grow with them. When I first went to burning man … I saw fire and the community provided a way for me to grow in appreciation of this. That freedom to grow, and enabling it for others with their own passions or discoveries … is what I love about what we do for each other.

 

 

Tell us about any theme camps, art projects, production roles, volunteering you’ve done in the past.

  I’m a performer often and I volunteer with Rangers and more recently Gate. I like solving puzzles or figuring out how to get there from here. I’ve been a part of Temple Guardians, Creme Burners, Trailer Trash (Hooker Support Camp/Web of Dreams), Do More Now and of course Ignition FIRE Troupe. I like helping out and have interacted with a lot of our local camps. I mostly spin fire locally and this last year I helped with generating artwork for the communications for Revenge of the Dragons.
 

Tell us about any projects you’re particularly proud of and a bit about the experience completing them. These don’t have to have been in the burner community, just something that demonstrates your capabilities and interests.

  I don’t have any particular projects to speak of. I’m good at connecting people to solve impossible problems. I’m good at motivating people. I’m particularly proud of gatherings at gasworks park and my place in the fire spinning community.

What skills do you bring to the board? How could you leverage your skills and knowledge to help INW?

 

What do you have to offer the burner community, specifically? What impact have you had on burner community since you’ve been in it?

I’m an excellent problem solver. I dislike drama. I’m very competent in a lot of areas. In my work life, I am a Technical Project Manager for a UK pen testing company. I have been a green dot for years. I am passionate about appreciating and understanding other departments.

I think that I enjoy helping with acculturation and possibly conduct committee.

  I think that I bring a level of compassion to people in the community. I strongly support giving people space to learn and grow and try new things. In my role as a ranger, I’m also helping diffuse issues or helping people figure out how to carry on thru intense dramas. As time has gone on, I’ve grown in rangering and am presently one of BRC’s trainers for this region. I have been a participant in many groups, from theme camps to staff camps to ridiculous nonsense with the fire community too.

What makes you a good leader?

 

Why should the community choose you over other candidates?

Being a good listener.   I’m patient, calm, and kind. I have spent years in this community and have a familiarity with how things need to happen to get events from planning to completion. I love our region and have been to a lot of other regional events so I have seen quite a few approaches to the same puzzles.

Are you running to tackle particular issues? Tell us about them!

 

Which committees interest you? Please elaborate on why you picked those committees. 

I am not.   Events – I love planning parties for thousands of my best friends

Grants and Scholarships – I have a deep appreciation for art and understand what it takes to make it happen

Tech – I love data, design, and the comforting glow of a laptop

Acculturation – I want to help welcome those new to the Burning Man community

Conduct – I want to help INW improve the safety of its events

 ———————————————————————————————————

Tech — I’m amazing with data and toys.
Acculturation — Burning Man was -hard- for me. I had never really been out of the lab. It took me a long time understanding how I fit.

Conduct matches to what I do with Rangering and I think that I can offer a unique viewpoint there.

Events, because this is the most issues to solve.

       

In conclusion- please share any final thoughts or further info you’d like the community to have.

I miss my region. I moved to Leavenworth and I would like more ways to connect and help out. I’m over in Seattle at least once a month for open practice and Friday fire. I’ve spent some time with the board and I’m starting to get a better understanding of how things work.