Trust Burning Man to pull out ingenious ways to cover operating costs. With increased ticket prices compared to last year and the introduction of a new “Da Vinci” ticket pegged at $1200 each, Burning Man can boast of a $3 million surplus in their coffers.
The newly-introduced Da Vinci ticket is a homage to the great patrons of the Italian Renaissance, and is in relation with the Burning Man theme this year, titled “Da Vinci’s Workshop”. The ticket itself does not offer any extra perks to the buyer, positioning itself as more of a collectors’ item.
(Courtesy:Β www.transformingadjustments.com)
The Da Vinci ticket initiated a mixed bag of opinions from regular Burning Man attendees, the so-called Burners. In spite of being almost three times more expensive than the regular ticket, the da Vinci allocation was sold out in no time, with the first consignment of 500 tickets flying off the shelves on Wednesday and Thursday during the sale. A second lot of 500 passes is expected to be available soon.
While some veteran Burners appreciated these premium passes and were ready to pay a few extra dollars regardless of where they went, some of them were skeptical about this approach.
Pre-sale tickets and parking passes saw an increase in prices too, while the generalΒ and low-income passes stayed the same in terms of cost.
This major restructuring of the prices ushered in about $2.94 million extra in revenue. Burning Man authorities mentioned that some of this cost would find its way into art, although the exact amountΒ was still undecided.Β Scalpers still had a field day with pre-sale tickets, causing inconvenience to ticket buyers.