Greetings fellow bugs and burners, we bring you an important announcement about Modifyre 2022.
Well, we’ll just get straight to the point - Modifyre will not be going ahead as usual on the Paddock this July.
Whilst this is going to be disappointing news to many of you, the positive news is that we’re going through a metamorphosis this year in order to re-emerge as something even more beautiful and sustainable.
Read on to find out the whys and wherefores…
LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD…
Modifyre has flourished over the past 8 years into an event that attracts people from all over, who come together to play, express, share, and discover all that our community has to offer. The magic that’s been created on our paddock over the years has touched all our lives in many ways.
We went from a small group of folks to an event that brings several hundred people together. We’ve managed to pull off something year after year through the sheer force and determination of participants gifting their time, skills and knowledge.
That said, the annual event has transformed into something that requires a great amount of input and energy. And this is mostly from a small number of volunteers. So, we’ve hit a fork in the road.
SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE…
Last year’s event came with many challenges, and whilst it was pulled off beautifully despite this, many of the crew were burnt out.
Following the event, a group of about 30 people gathered for “Reconception” to discuss ways that the burn can work for us, and not the other way around. A key theme from the weekend was introducing the principle of RADICAL CARE and how we can weave it into the way we organise the event. Have a listen to this podcast for a summary from the gathering https://www.modifyre.org/post/re-conception-recap-with-marisa-and-malyon-3
SO WHY POSTPONE THIS YEAR’S EVENT?
As you all know, Modifyre is a completely volunteer run event created by it’s participants, and it can only happen if we make it happen. And, as we started to fire things up again this year, we realised that we don’t have the team to make the big annual event happen. This is because many existing crew need a gap year or are unavailable, but also because we need to grow our crew to sustain an event of that size.
So, by removing the responsibility of an event with complex infrastructure - ie site management, theme camps, art registrations, grants, big builds, governance, legislation etc, we can give ourselves space to breathe and come together to celebrate what our original purpose was. It gives us time to redefine and restructure how we organise the main event, so we can come back in 2023 stronger than ever!
WHAT NEXT?
This shift in focus this year opens up the opportunity to plan smaller events more often - burner picnics, pub crawls, creative days, special workshops, even a warehouse party, the options are endless!
We can confirm Minifyre will be going ahead, likely to be April or May - we’ll be in touch once a date is confirmed. We’d love volunteers to help us plan and create it.
STAY UP TO DATE & GET INVOLVED!
If you want to get involved in the year-round organising or have an idea for a smaller event, get in touch jointhecrew@modifyre.org or come to an event and say hi! New faces are always welcome.
The best way to stay up to date with Modifyre news is to subscribe to our newsletter and blog https://www.modifyre.org/
This is a really exciting time for us, so let’s see what we can create together this year and how we can transform.
Keep on burning bright 🔥
Much love,
Your Modifyre Production Team
