It’s the truth, it happened again. The 1500 tickets that were made available on Sunday 10th February sold out in a flash. By 12pm 1500 people were hovering on the Quicket site, as the clock struck 12, all the allocated tickets were selected. It was a matter of high demand combined with a fast system on Quicket’s side. When some payments failed, those selected tickets became available again and so people were able to purchase tickets until about 1pm, when we were well and truly sold out.
But we know there are many concerns around the ticketing system.
So here is an update:
A shortfall of tickets for large-scale creative contributors:
When the first tranche of lower tier tickets sold out in 10 seconds on the 12th of December, quickly followed by the remaining higher tier tickets, we knew that many of the committed creative contributors may well have been caught short.
The directors made the decision to make 400 “safety net” tickets available for direct distribution to currently registered projects (up until 20 December, when the plan was put into effect), and to long-standing creative contributors who had registered a project in 2012, but had not yet registered one for 2013.
These contributors were identified through their registration forms, and the contact person for each creative group was sent an email asking for information on their ticket shortfalls.
If you are part of a long-standing creative crew, or a project that registered by 20 December, your contact person should have received a mail on the 20th, 21st, or 22nd of December, and again on the 14th of January.
Many of the teams we approached responded. Some had secured their tickets already when they were first released on 28 November. Some had a shortfall.
These 400 tickets were allocated to specific people for their specific role in a team, as motivated by the project team lead. They are non-transferable and their access codes have an expiry date in the near future. This was done so that team members had the ability to try to secure a lower tier ticket on 10 Feb if they wished, and the safety of a guaranteed ticket should they need it.
The list is now closed (before the last batch of tickets went on sale on Sunday), and all 400 tickets have been allocated.
The tickets were made available at R700 because that is the median ticket price – the AfrikaBurn approved budget reflects a cost of R670 per head to generate the event, and the number of tier 1, 2 and 4 tickets are determined in a carefully balanced ratio around this median point. AfrikaBurn is not benefiting disproportionately from the safety net tickets, nor risking going over budget.
AfrikaBurn will not be releasing more tickets.
We feel terrible that we cannot make tickets available to every person that wants to come to AfrikaBurn, it is not a comfortable thing for us to have to turn people away. But there is good reason for this:
- the capacity of the organization
- too rapid a dilution of the ethos possibly puts the future of the event and movement at risk.
- AfrikaBurn started life as a runaway juggernaut and this trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Practically, the growth of the event outpaced the growth of the organisation that runs it. The increased workload brought many dedicated volunteers perilously close to breaking point. This was one of the primary reasons behind limiting the numbers of tickets available to AfrikaBurn last year and now this year. In short, we’re been playing catch-up. We’ve made a big effort to bring more volunteers into the organisation, doing the important work of diversifying. We believe this will future-proof the event as well as enable us to grow the movement AfrikaBurn. On the positive side, our volunteer corps are growing and its possible that we might not have to do this in the future.
- Philosophically it seems enthusiasm around attending AfrikaBurn is out-pacing the uptake of the ethos – the principles the event aims to embody. AfrikaBurn isn’t just an annual party, it’s a year-round culture. The culture has to be successfully transmitted to new people in order for the event and the movement to survive.
As eager as we are to welcome our newest citizens into our community, it’s crucially important that we have a solid foundation of veteran Burners in Tankwa Town to meet, greet and acculturate eager new participants, ensuring that they not only survive the elements but also fully participate in the AfrikaBurn culture.
Your concerns:
Every year our ticketing system has to evolve according to new needs. The ticket landscape has changed quite dramatically with our decision to limit numbers along with the rapid growth in the popularity of the event
Please know every single criticism, suggestion and rant gets logged and considered in the design of the ticketing system. The principles that underpin AfrikaBurn are at the very centre of our considerations always.
Join the ticketing team!
If you are keen to get involved in the ticketing system for the next cycle please email [email protected]. Do this soon after AfrikaBurn, as this is when your input will be most effective.
We look forward to your involvement.
For all the thinking behind the ticket system for this year please peruse the tickets page: http://www.afrikaburn.com/the-event/tickets
If you have secured through a private sale please make sure that you transfer your ticket on Quicket’s ticket transfer facility: http://help.quicket.co.za/customer/portal/articles/942501-transfer-tickets-to-someone-else
