Burning Man CEO, Marian Goodell has announced that this year’s event will be a virtual festival instead of an in-person gathering.

This news comes in a statement from Marian Goodell that reminds us that “the pandemic is not over” and says that Burning Man will return in 2022.

Originally, Burning Man was scheduled to run in-person between August 26th and September 3rd at a desert location in Black Rock City, Nevada.

Previously the organisers had said the festival could go ahead, but only for attendees that had been vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus. This caused a backlash from its fans and the organisers backtracked to say they were reconsidering that decision.

It would appear that after reconsidering, they have decided the event can’t safely go ahead during the pandemic, and instead they have decided to do an online edition with live-streamed music. This will be the second consecutive year that Burning Man has been forced to run online.

In a video, Marian Goodell explains: “We know that in 2021 the need for a community has never been stronger, and building a community is what Burners do best. We also recognize that the pandemic is not over. We’ve listened to your feedback and are really grateful for all the work you’ve been doing to get ready for Black Rock City. But we’ve made a difficult decision based on the best information available. We have decided to focus our energy on the construction of Black Rock City 2022. It’s too important to do the half-ccosas, so next year we’ll do twice as much.”

Burning Man’s virtual 2021 event will run from August 21st to September 5th, and they have promised to build “larger, richer and more interactive environments to play, collaborate, celebrate and participate in meaningful virtual experiences.”

For more info, you can watch their official announcement video found below, and you can find more info HERE.