Camping With Us

Suspended Animation is a tightly knit crew of kinksters who are serious about having fun. We work hard, we play hard (or wet, as the case may be), and we put on a hell of a camp. We are extremely low drama and take fierce pride in our ethos, believing that the reason we get to have so much mad-house fun is because of our discipline and dedication.

If you’re interested in joining us, please take a few minutes to read this whole page. It’ll give you some idea what’s involved in camping with us.

Who are we?

Our focus on the playa is having a great time while accomplishing amazing things. We look for people who are like us:

• Easygoing even under difficult circumstances.
• Low drama.
• Highly capable and reliable.
• Hard-working.
• Fun to be around.

In order to maintain the intimate nature of our camp, we limit membership to 35 people. Most of our crew are kinky, but that isn’t a requirement for joining us. Most of our crew are from the Seattle area, although we have people who come from as far away as Germany.

For a better sense of how we operate, take a look at our core values.

Camp policies

Suspended Animation isn’t for everyone. Before joining us, please be aware of some of our key camp policies, and think hard about whether they’re right for you. If you haven’t already, please read all of our camp policies, taking particular note of the following:

1. Suspended Animation is run as a benevolent dictatorship by the camp imperators, Scout, Devi, and Zang. In practice, we lean toward a highly informal, devolved style of management. Nonetheless, we don’t operate by consensus, and we don’t spend much time processing.

2. We are not a sober camp, but neither are we a party camp. We absolutely prohibit drugs and alcohol during all of our public events, and expect that any substance use within camp will be discrete and moderate. In particular:

• Substances are never the focus of any activities in camp. Passing around a bottle of whiskey is OK; having a kegger is not.
• Members and guests should never be visibly impaired when at camp.

3. We’re pansexual and sex-positive. If you aren’t completely comfortable being around a wide variety of genders and sexual orientations, you don’t belong with us. Or, really, anywhere else at Burning Man.

Time commitment

We’re a hard-working camp, and we expect everyone to carry their own weight. By joining us, you commit to:

• Come to camp meetings whenever possible.
• Join a logistics prep team and help out with preparing us for playa. This should be less than 10 hours of work.
• Be available for all of Crunch Weekend, when we do almost all of our pre-playa prep. We will likely only use one day, but you should block out the whole weekend.
• Help out with truck load and unload.
• Work 3 event shifts on the playa (typically 2 - 3.5 hours each).
• Work 1 housekeeping shift on the playa (fetching ice, de-MOOPing, etc.)
• Attend the entire burn with us.
• Tear down the camp.

Camp dues

Camp dues are $400 per person. We don’t want to turn anyone away because of cost, so we have a few options to make camp more affordable:

• We operate on a sliding scale: you can choose to pay anywhere between $300 and $400 depending on your ability.
• We also offer full and partial need-based scholarships.

Your dues cover all camp-related expenses, but don’t cover your ticket, personal transportation, or equipment.

Our total operating costs come to about $400 per person. Suspended Animation generally runs a deficit, and is subsidized by Zang.

What do you get for your dues?

• Breakfast every day, water for drinking and showering, and Cytomax for drinking.
• Ice service for your cooler.
• Transport for your bike and all your gear from Seattle to BRC and back.
• Access to all our camp amenities: showers, a well-stocked kitchen, limited power grid, swank lounge, and more.
• Early entry passes to the event (skip the gate line!)
• You get to be part of one of the coolest camps on playa.

What do you need to provide?

Burning Man's principle of radical self reliance applies to Suspended Animation. We provide extensive infrastructure and support, but you are responsible for your own burn.

You need to obtain your own ticket to the event. We can often get direct tickets for our members before the main ticket sales, but we can’t guarantee that we’ll get enough for the whole crew.

You are responsible for all your equipment, including tent, bike, and personal gear. We have a residential shade structure that protects our tents from sun, wind, and nosy people—each person or couple gets a 10’ x 10’ plot for their tent.

SA officially provides breakfast every morning. In addition, individual crew members usually provide dinner for the crew every night (although this is not guaranteed). You are responsible for your own lunch and snacks, in addition to bringing back up food in case you miss a group meal. Group meals generally include vegetarian options and can often but not always accomodate other requests.

Transportation

We coordinate travel to BRC, but we don’t provide it—you’re on your own for getting yourself to and from BRC.

Most of our crew travel from Seattle to BRC over two days. You may be tempted to do the whole thing in one day, but please don’t. The trip is long and dangerous, and nobody is capable of safely doing it in one day. We’re deadly serious about this: one of our crew suffers from serious permanent medical problems caused by a severe crash on the road to BRC.

SA will transport your gear from Seattle and back, so you only need to arrange transportation for yourself and your travel gear. Because of the very real chance that you will get separated and stranded on the desert in transit, you should travel with enough food, water, and shelter to survive a day or two without resupply. We generally spend the night in Alturas, CA on the way down and in Bend, OR on the way home.

As a general rule, it’s best to send most of your gear on the truck and carpool to BRC. Four people plus survival gear can fit in a good sized car, and you’ll save money, carbon, and camp space by carpooling. Plus, twice as many people means twice as many shenanigans.

Plus ones

Many of our crew want to bring a partner to BRC. Plus ones are a big part of our culture, and get special consideration in the recruiting process.

What is a plus one?

For our purposes, a plus one is someone without whom you wouldn't want to go to Burning Man. Typically a plus one is a romantic partner in a long-term, committed relationship. A plus one is not your best friend, your mom, your play partner, or that really hot guy you met at the bar last week. Plus ones do not get plus ones.

Plus ones generally become regular camp members after their first year.

How are plus ones special?

Your plus one gets preferential treatment during the recruiting process: we'll interview them earlier than other candidates, and we'll bias toward them when selecting crew. So long as you let us know about your plus one before camp is completely full, there's a very high likelihood that we'll invite them to camp with us.

Be aware that you are responsible for your plus one: if they require care taking or cause problems in camp, we expect you to proactively help find a solution.

How are plus ones the same as everyone else?

In most ways, plus ones are regular crew members. They go through the standard interview process, pay dues, work the same shifts as everyone else, and are held to the same standards. Note that plus ones are not guaranteed a space: we occasionally decide with great regret that a plus one would not be a good fit for us.

I wanna go! What now?

It probably won’t surprise you to know that we have a pretty rigorous screening process for new members. We put a lot of effort into assembling a high-functioning crew, and we’re very thoughtful about who we add. With that said, we’re always looking for good people. If you’re interested, we’d love to talk to you.

To get started, just drop us a line. After some introductory email, we’ll have you talk (in person if possible) with Zang to let you ask questions about SA, and to get a sense of whether you’d be a good fit for us.