COMMUNITY
YOUtopia is about community and fellowship among all. Creating an environment where all feel safe and welcome.
YOUtopia Spring 2023
The State of Our YOUnion
Have you heard the good news? YOUtopia has risen from the difficulties of last year. We have a new date! And we have a new venue. We’ll need a few moments to get the website updated and get the applications for everything open again, but we didn’t want to make you wait. So without further ado, the postponed YOUtopia event will be:
Date:
June 7-11
Location:
Jacumba, CA at the De Anza Springs Resort
Theme:
The Dreamland Menagerie
Your Tickets
If you kept your ticket from the October event, it will be honored in full. Thank you for keeping the faith with us and allowing us the space to find a new and better home for YOUtopia.
All refund requests based on our extended policy have been processed. Credits that were offered will be honored for this event only. If you are not able to make the new event date, you can fill out the refund request form for the next two weeks or tickets can be resold at face value.
Additional tickets will be made available after we determine pricing and availability.
The Year Ahead
We have big goals this year and want to have two YOUtopias: The Spring make-up event and then our regular annual regional burn in October. Let’s get this one under our belt first before we start hatching any more chickens.
We are excited to get our community creator space, CoLab, up and running again. Our amazing CoLab team regrouped after we had to move from our Mission Gorge location. We found a smaller space that we can utilize while looking for a permanent spot. The space is adjacent to the Balboa Bar in Bankers Hill, on 5th Avenue, next to Balboa Park. We share the space with the OB Template. Finishing touches are being put on it before it can be open for general use, but expect announcements over the coming months.
We Need You
There are three spokes in our community wheel.
- YOUtopia is our opportunity to shine and share as a community and the fundraiser that supports other activities throughout the year.
- CoLab is our space that provides free/at-cost classes and tool access to local artists.
- SDCAP is the 501c(3) fiduciary responsible for the legal and financial infrastructure that makes YOUtopia and CoLab happen.
Each organization is 100% volunteer led. We are here because we have been transformed by our experiences and want to give something back. We are a do-ocracy and the things that get done are the things that people volunteer to get done.
Coming out of the pandemic, we have lost some of our momentum. People move, move on, and find other pursuits that best align with where they are in their lives. We honor that and what they gave while they were here.
But there are always new people with a new vision that can build on what came before and we want to welcome them to participate. If that feels like you, reach out to us and we’ll find the right place to involve you. The pay sucks, but the experience is great.
We do have a few specific needs for volunteers right now
YOUtopia needs some additional lead positions filled related to:
- Art Curation
- City planning
- Ice Sales
- Road Warriors/Parking
- Theme Camp Liaison
- Volunteer Coordinator
Details on positions can be found here. Please apply via our Department Lead Application with your areas of interest and we will find a place where your interests and skills can make the greatest and most enjoyable impact.
- If you are interested in more on-the-ground help at the event, send us an email to volunteers@sdyoutopia.com and tell us what your area of interest is.
- The SDCAP Board is recruiting people who are great at having constructive discussions on difficult community issues. It is even better if you have an area of specific expertise, such as a legal background or fundraising. We are a professional organization with legal fiduciary responsibilities to the community and the government. If you are serious about creating the infrastructure that lets the art happen, send an email to bod@sdcap.org.
- If you are interested in helping with SD Colab by lending your skills to teach classes or set up collaborative arts projects or to be part of the general volunteer crew, please reach out to info@sdcolab.org.
Can We Do Better?
As volunteers, we donate our time, skills, effort, heart, and soul to the community that we believe in. This gives us many gifts, including the opportunity to feel of service to the community and an opportunity to flourish in ways that we may never get in the default world. We hope that our contributions will be valued and that our efforts will be met with respect. However, we have heard that we can do better as an organization and are looking to find the best ways to create a sustainable volunteer community that feels valued. We are listening.
In the same way that we can improve as an organization, we can also improve as a community. It is dispiriting to see accusations posted on social media. There are real people doing hard work behind each insult. Please remember that every year brings fresh talent to our production team who deserve the chance to prove themselves without carrying the sins of their predecessors. Moving forward, in order to be more constructive when we see a need for change, bring your specific concern to community leadership by emailing feedback@sdcap.org. Don’t cast rocks at strangers from the dark. Become part of the solution.
Final Thoughts
Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves why we are here. Let our best light come out so we can be our best selves. This community is amazing and capable of creating the coolest, weirdest stuff. Let’s hug it out, realize how much we enjoy each other, and come back together as a community that loves and supports one another.
One of our brightest lights, Denise Lozano, was lost recently. She was an integral part of the CoLab team, always driving us as a community to do better and show up for others in ways we hadn’t considered. Her life demonstrated the intersectionality of what our best aspirations could be. She was a part of many communities, giving fully to each, and connecting them with each other. Her loss will not only be felt by us, but by the people she brought us in touch with. In her honor, let us find ways to reach out to those who aren’t just Burners, but who could be transformed by the experiences we have had.
If you want to see people IRL, we do meet-ups the first Wednesday of the month at the Redwing. Bring a friend who you think would add to our community, but may not come on their own. If you’ve been on the sidelines of the community, jump in. The water is warm. And if you have drifted away from the community, come back in with a fresh perspective and see what we’re trying to create.
Thank you for your continued participation in the San Diego Burning Man Community. The leadership of SDCAP, YOUtopia and CoLab are looking forward to an amazing new year and want you to be a part of it.
The State of Our YOUnion is good and getting better and better.
Cable, SDCAP President, PLT
Cecile, CoLab and PLT
Diane, CoLab and PLT
Emily, YOUtopia PLT
Jeff, YOUtopia PLT
Katie, CoLab
Nicole, SD Burning Man Regional Contact
Reva, CoLab
Richard, YOUtopia PLT
Thomas, CoLab
Trish (Trixxy), SDCAP Treasurer
Vic (Jolly Rancher), CoLab Managing Director, SDCAP
CREATIVITY
BE Yourself. Let your imagination take hold and become the art that you love.
MUSIC
Established sound camps and music play continuously throughout the event. From soothing sound circles to high-energy dance parties, YOUtopia observes that all music is special and appreciated.
INDIVIDUALITY
Importantly, YOUtopia is about…YOU. Make the event your home with plenty to see and do. With a community and atmosphere that breeds enlightenment, safety, and warmth.
The San Diego Collaborative Arts Project
Unifying People Through Art.
The San Diego Collaborative Arts Project (SDCAP) supports individuals, groups and communities in the San Diego, California region in producing and demonstrating collaborative arts and projects, particularly those that model the principles of: (1) Radical Inclusion; (2) Gifting; (3) Decommodification; (4) Radical Self-reliance; (5) Radical Self- expression; (6) Communal Effort; (7) Civic Responsibility; (8) Leave No Trace; (9) Participation; and (10) Immediacy.
SDCAP’s two main projects are YOUtopia, the San Diego Regional Burning Man event and CoLab, a meeting and art build warehouse in Mission Valley.
SDCAP Offers year-round funding opportunities for collaborative art and civic engagement projects including past support for Maker Faire, San Diego Burning Man Community Pride Parade & Festival, Art Around Adams (Music & Art Walk), and Figment San Diego and more.
