Once again, The Burning Man Project is upon us, kicking off Aug. 30 and running through Sept. 7. And, once again, Lulu Jones will be responsible for ticketing this annual large-scale, desert event that focuses on art, self-expression, self-reliance and civic responsibility. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the Saturday evening before Labor Day: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man. As in years past, the entire gathering will be held at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north-northeast of Reno.
Lulu Jones
Jones started volunteering for Burning Man Ticketing in 1999, doing bulk mailing. She soon became hooked. After leaving the pharmaceutical chemistry career she had gone to school for, she found real-world chemistry working with Rebecca Throne and supporting the ticketing office for the Burning Man Project. That was in 2011.
After working together through Burning Man’s first sell-out, developing the festival’s Secure Ticket Exchange Program, and spearheading the redesign of the venue’s stand-alone, 19-window box office, she took over the department in 2022. She states, “I’ve been working with our three-person team since then to meet the revenue needs of an approximately $60 million non-profit and support our community while doing so.”
An Accomplished Woman Ticketing Burning Man
Throughout the year, The Burning Man Project endorses multiple smaller regional events across the United States and around the globe guided by the Burning Man principles of inclusion, self-expression, communal effort and civic responsibility. As Director of Ticketing, Jones manages planning, execution and strategy for ticketing and box office operations for all of these year-round gatherings as well as for the big, 70,000-person event.
She states, “Currently I’m responsible for setting yearly goals in line with the organizational roadmap, overseeing and guiding the year-round team, hiring, onboarding and supporting our seasonal box office team members and collaboratively planning the yearly sales cycle to be in line with communications; revenue; technology; and, most importantly, cultural and community goals.”
After a deep breath, she adds, “My favorite part of the job is seeing the impact that Black Rock City and Burning Man has on people. The event enables people to choose their own paths of engagement and participation, which means there’s really something for everyone and something else when you change your mind. Participants at Black Rock City coming together in community to build, create, explore and play is what inspires me to keep working year after year to ensure that our event is accessible to as many people as possible.”
Needless to say, the job is a challenging one. Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers. Participants create all the art, activities and events including experimental and interactive sculptures, performances, and even art cars, among other media.
Jones says her biggest challenge is finding the balance between creating ticketing models that support the culture and models that ensure financial stability for the organization. The performers and participants, of course, create the awe-inspiring music and art make the experience itself what is for fans and attendees. As a result, Jones concedes, “They feel a huge amount of ownership of the event. I always want to try to ensure that I’m keeping their needs in mind when developing ticket models. But with a 70,000+ person event, it’s impossible to please everyone.”
The Secrets of Her Success
Jones believes she has been successful at her job because she takes the time to really listen to what is going on around her. This means listening to people in other departments, to one’s co-workers, and “to that person on that other team who truly drives you crazy!” she cracks wise.
Jones prides herself on having always asked to go to meetings she wasn’t normally invited to. “By listening to everything going on around you in an organization,” she explains, “as well as what is going on directly in your department, you can look at your work from 30,000 feet and figure out how it fits in, how you can improve it, what the priorities are for the organization and how your team can work towards those priorities.”
Jones’ boundless optimism has also served her well in the job and in her career. She is particularly optimistic about the future of live events even though it seems more and more people want to stay home and stream their entertainment or shrink their worlds to the size of a smartphone screen. She says, “Humans will always want to be together and will want community and experiences that bring joy, excitement and awe. We want to participate in new things with new people and express ourselves as a means of forming connections. Live events provide all of that for our patrons, fans, participants and community members.”
She continues, “The only pessimism I have with regard to live events is directed towards predatory ticketing companies who endeavor to take those things away from people through exorbitant fees; wild markups on secondary sales; and other overly predatory, profit-focused practices. As long as those of us in the ticketing industry support the live events and the people who want to go to them, I will continue to be optimistic about live events for years to come.”
And with this being our Women in Ticketing series, does Jones have any advice for young woman reading this just starting out in the ticketing/live event business? Of course she does. “Speak up!” she urges. “If you have an idea in a meeting, say it. You were hired for a reason and, once you’ve spent time listening, show them they made the right choice by putting you in the role you’re in. Oh, and do not let yourself be interrupted! That’s common for younger women starting out, and you shouldn’t let it fly or it will keep happening.”
There’s No Business Like Ticketing Show Business
I have written this column for several years now. And one thing I have found is that pretty much every interviewee has some kind of funny anecdote about working in ticketing. Jones was no different:
“We always joke that the best – and worst – stories always start out with ‘This one time at Burning Man.’ Soooo . . . this one time at Burning Man, I had to work with the [Federal Aviation Administration] to impound a plane! The pilot had jumped out of it while taking some participants on a scenic tour over the city. Nobody else in the plane knew how to fly it, so they had to be talked into landing it by the tower. The pilot had his license suspended and his plane impounded, which involved hanging chains off of the wings and pounding t-stakes in front of it. I hope to someday impound a yacht at the event!”
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