About What If

What If, previously known as Burn in the Forest (BitF) is the Greater Vancouver Interactive Arts Society’s (GVIAS) Official Burning Man Regional annual summer event.

About What If & Burning Man Regional Events

PARTICIPATION!

On top of the 10 guiding Principles that shape burner events, the most significant difference between a “typical” festival and Burning Man Regional events like What If is citizen participation.

Whereas at most commercial events, you pay your admission and in exchange become a spectator for whatever entertainment the producers have prepared for you, at What If all activities, stages, theme camps, workshops, art, and performances are independently produced by What If citizens and offered free of charge for the benefit of everyone.

Check out last year’s BitF Org Chart to get a sense of all of the wonderful humans who’ve stepped up to volunteer their time to make the event happen!

What’s a Burning Man Official Regional Event?

This official status allows GVIAS and the What If Production team to utilize the trademarked logo and words such as ‘Burning Man’ in their materials and promotion. The Burning Man Vancouver Regional Contacts are tasked with overseeing and ensuring that the event adheres to all guidelines, requirements and that the event follows Burning Man’s 10 Principles.
Read more about the criteria here: Burning Man Official Regional Event.

Burning Man Regional Network Info: regionals.burningman.org
Burning Man Vancouver Regional News Page: facebook.com/vancouverburners

GIFT YOUR PASSIONS!

The beautiful tapestry of citizen contributions is what makes What If special. Citizens dedicate their effort and time to the things that they are passionate about, then build them, bring them, and let the others experience this amazing gift. The What If experience is the sum of a thousand citizens’ passions, laid out for all to experience, like a fantasy carnival midway.

The most rewarding way to experience What If is to create something that stokes your passions, and share it with all of us! You can DIY and be your own rockstar, or collaborate and create lasting connections with other citizens!

Head on over to the PARTICIPATE section to learn more about getting involved.

To learn more about the local community and all of the ways to connect, see: https://linktr.ee/vancburners

History of What If & Burn in the Forest

Burn in the Forest began in 2002, when a loosely organized group of Burners from Vancouver decided it was time to create an outdoor camping event aligned with the 10 Principles of Burning Man. Many in the community remember those early years as something truly magical: a gathering in a beautiful natural space, shaped by minimal central organization and maximum participation, where everyone contributed to creating an experience unlike any other.

The original site, located on the Squamish River, was a popular destination for outdoor events. Because it was situated on Crown land, the event was able to operate as free or by donation. Unfortunately, increasing pressures from overuse and human encroachment on natural habitats led to the site’s closure. In 2006, a young grizzly bear began frequenting the area, and the land was ultimately closed to public access.

In early 2009, a new site was secured at Squamish Valley Campground. At the GVIAS Annual General Meeting that year, a nearly unanimous vote confirmed that the name Burn in the Forest would once again be used for the summer camping event.

In 2015, just six weeks before the scheduled event, access to Squamish Valley Campground was lost due to Crown land use issues. Fortunately, the Production Team had already been exploring options to support future growth, allowing the community to secure a new home at Cheam Fishing Village, located on the traditional lands of the Cheam First Nation near Agassiz, British Columbia.

In 2019, circumstances led to another relocation, this time to the Snug Lake Amphitheatre.

After several years without the opportunity to gather and celebrate together, Burn in the Forest returned in 2022 with a later-than-usual event held in September in Merritt, British Columbia. The community returned to Merritt again in its traditional mid to late July timeframe, beginning in 2023 and continuing to the present.

Following the 2024 event, the community undertook a collective process to rename its flagship gathering. You can read more about the details and reasons behind this change here: Burn in the Forest name change project info.  While the name has evolved, our commitment remains unchanged. We are confident that What If will continue to be every bit as memorable and meaningful as the Burn in the Forest events of years past.

To get involved or learn more, contact the What If Production Team via the Contact Us form, or join the What If Facebook Group to connect with fellow participants and the wider community.

To connect with the local community on various platforms, see: https://linktr.ee/vancburners.

10 Principles

New to What If or the Burning Man community? These 10 Principles are the foundational roots of this community and participation forward. You’re encouraged to get to know these perspectives. Tune it on how they currently pepper your days. Witness how they can influence your life before, during and after What If.

Radical Inclusion

Anyone may be a part of What If. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Gifting

What If is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

Decommodification

In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorship, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Radical Self-Reliance

What If encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

Radical Self-Expression

Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Communal Effort

Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Civic Responsibility

We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavour to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

Leaving No Trace

Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Participation

Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

Immediacy

Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

Consent

Considered as the “11th Principle” by some, consent respects the autonomy of the individual, who has the right to make their own choice about their own body, property, personal space and privacy. Read more about The 11th principle Consent.

Post-Event Reports & Financials

One of the conditions of being recognized an an Official Burning Man Regional event includes that all accounting must be transparent, and post event wrap up reports & Financials be posted publicly.
Read more about what it means to obtain Regional Status.

 

 

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