About Critical Massive

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2007 marked Critical Massive’s 5th year and was held during the last week of June at Royal Arches Park in Maple Valley, WA. This was Critical Massive's first year as a week-long event, after operating in previous years as a 3 and 4 day weekend. Attendance peaked at 450, despite questionable weather early in the week. Fortunately we were graced with beautiful, sunny weather during the last weekend.

Activities at the event covered a diverse range including community coffee klatches, power tool drag races, high tea & cake socials, cuddle domes, bars, movie theatres, giant birthday cakes with video games, belly dance, open mike, aural cubes, fire, and of course dance parties.

Critical Massive History

The event began in 2001, originally called, simply, "Massive". In 2003, both the name and the event expanded, and Critical Massive grew into a multi-day campout and festival. Since then, it has become the official "regional burn" for Washington State. Previous locations that have hosted Critical Massive include Lake Bronson Family Nudist Resort, and Lake Area Recreational Club.

Yearly Attendance:
2003-280
2004-474
2005-575
2006-525
2007-450

CM Mission Statement

The purpose of Critical Massive is to carry forward the principles of Burning Man throughout the year through organized regional events. The Northwest community produces events that create the opportunity for burners and anyone for that matter to come together locally to produce art that celebrates the profane and the profound. We celebrate through music, interactive art, installations, and theme camps.

CM Objectives

Produce and promote community-building events in The Pacific Northwest
Promote and support aligned community-building events in BC and Washington, (e.g. Vancouver Recompression, SOAK in Portland)
Support performance art and installations by the collective and aligned collectives.

CM Constituency

Massive is a collective of participants who have attended the Burning Man Festival, based in Seattle, WA. It also includes those who share a similar philosophy. It includes connecting burners from Vancouver to Portland. Our constituency is also very well defined through IgnitionNW, the local regional board who are the caretakers of community funds and umbrella for the local regional events including Seacompression and Critical Massive. Join now!

Critical Massive Principles

Critical Massive subscribes to the Burning Man Project's Statement of Principles. These principles provide the guidelines for all regional events over the Burning Man Regional Network.

Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.