UnBroken Spring 2020 UPDATES
May 21, 2020
Refunds are Starting today!
Volunteers are starting the transactions for refunds to UBS 2020 ticket purchasers who requested them TODAY! A big thank you to burners who donated their ticket value, in full or in part. Your generosity has made it possible to issue full refunds. There are hundreds of transactions and each will be handled individually by volunteers. The target is to have all of them and any ensuing problems handled and wrap the whole process up by the end of May. That's the goal. Please be patient while we do our very best to meet it! Most of the requests will go out via Chase QuickPay with Zelle. You will get an email like the one below, with your refund amount indicated. Just hit accept money and it will guide you to your bank. --You are not required to have a Chase account when using Zelle. --Some banks require you to use their app instead of their website, and will let you know. If your bank isn't supported, please email refunds@houstonburners.org and we will try PayPal. A dozen or so of you have already worked out another method for your own refund, and that's how yours will come. Keep an eye out for these over the next 10 days. We'll notify everyone when we think we're done, and if you haven't received notice by then, please email refunds@houstonburners.org and we'll handle it. Thanks!
May 19, 2020
The refund period for UnBroken Spring 2020 tickets opened on May 4, and closed at midnight on May 18, 2020 (as per earlier updates and sent to emails associated with original ticket purchasers).
PLEASE BE PATIENT: After the 2020 UBS books are closed and the refund amount is calculated, every communication about it will be handled manually and ASAP .. it'll get done! Ideally this can be completed within a few weeks and refunds disbursed ASAP. Being able to close the financial books on the 2020 event with clarity and move forward was a major driver that encouraged UBS leadership to provide the refund or donation options for 2020 tickets. The event is essentially postponed, as many important elements will be carried forward into 2021, as much was already paid for and delivered. You may prefer to call it 'canceled' for 2020, that works too. Obviously the ticketing process will be new next year, but some wonderful things that will go forward include ART! And of course our yet-to-be-unveiled effigy that volunteers worked so very hard on. What will you bring?
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in this process, and especially folks who have expressed interest in how UBS ticketing (and volunteering!) works. The UBS team hopes to engage with you in person too, as soon as the pandemic allows. Be well people!
May 4, 2020
UnBroken Spring 2021 is our next UBS build and gathering (new ticketing process)
Due to the significant and prolonged impact COVID-19 has had on our families, community and livelihoods, UnBroken Spring "To The Moon" has been postponed until 18-21 March 2021. Save the date!
Thank you to the 70+ out of 100+ volunteers for UBS 2020 who helped guide this decision with responses to the volunteer questionnaire opened April 15th. There was support for a range of options for postponement, including dates in the summer and fall of 2020, but a majority also felt that a March 2021 postponement made sense.
The choice to postpone supports the extended preparation time that has been proven necessary to build a safe, vibrant event that represents our community’s creativity and strength. It hopefully also serves to minimize the uncertainty that everyone is still feeling as many begin to cautiously emerge into the world again.
Ticketholders received a notification on May 4, 2020 of event postponement and options for ticket handling through the email associated with each ticket sold for UBS 2020. THANK YOU for participating in the event, even just purchasing a ticket! You are what makes this community strong, even if our experimental city must wait until next year to be built.
An online form linked in the email sent to ticketholders provided an opportunity to request a refund for UBS 2020 tickets. The form was open for 2 weeks and closed at midnight (11:59pm) Monday, 18 May 2020. This time limit will allow refunds to be provided accurately without prolonged delay.
UBS 2020 had partially spent its budget in preparation for the event when cancelled with 6 days to go. The refund amounts available will be determined based on the quantity and ticket value of requested refunds when this form closes. As always, the event accounting will be reported fully to the community, including refund totals. (Individual refund requests and form responses will remain confidential.)
UBS 2020 Tickets: Refund and Donation Options
Ticket holders may select to receive the highest refund possible based on funds available.
If ticket holders would like to donate the full value of their tickets, they do not need to fill out the form. Ticket holders may also choose a partial donation in the form.
Donations will firstly be used to increase the value of refunds given to those who do request a refund, and will surely be greatly appreciated by those folks. If full refunds are achieved for all requests, any remaining funds will go to the general fund used to operate the Houston Burner warehouse beginning in June and to invest in the 2021 event.
When UBS 2021 tickets sales begin, 2020 ticket purchasers will again be contacted at the emails provided in 2020, and will be offered the first-tier, lowest price tickets.
UBS 2020 Tickets: Refund Process
NOTE: If you have a transferred ticket, please login to your BurnerTickets.com account to verify the transfer process has completed BEFORE completing the refund request form. Quite a few tickets are in limbo and if yours is one of them, we won't have access to complete your request.
IMPORTANT: If you select refund, you'll also need to enter an email address that you use for your bank account. The refund will be sent via Chase QuickPay which uses the Zelle app. FYI: this DOES work for people without a Chase account. If you cannot use this service, please enter a PayPal address, although please consider using Zelle given that it's instant vs PayPal's 3 day lag time or fees and is easier to track.
PLEASE BE PATIENT: After the refund requests are done, refund amount calculated, and the 2020 UBS books closed, every transaction and communication about it will be handled manually and it won't be overnight...but it'll get done!
NOT JUST WAITING FOR UBS TO RETURN: WHAT IS BURNING IN 2020?
Postponing until 2021 will provide time and energy for everyone to pivot towards revitalizing burner community activity during the rest of the year everywhere, at a new scale. This will continue to be challenging within the context of ever-evolving limitations on social gatherings and individual safety. Several activities in the works include:
- UBS 2020 volunteers will collaborate to reconcile lessons learned from the past year in order to improve UBS and strengthen, build and better coordinate our burner volunteer teams and awesome volunteer sub-cultures. Even if it needs a new name as “afterburn report” doesn’t really fit for 2020...
- Financials reconciliation for UBS 2020, partially dependent on completing this refund request survey (details below)
- Renewed focus on community tools and space for projects in the new Burner Warehouse space in June, with physical distancing as appropriate. Please reach out with ideas that can foster community participation and activity: board@houstonburners.org
- Revitalized roaming church nights with physical distancing as appropriate, taking place bi-weekly across Houston in safe settings; updates to be posted on https://www.houstonburners.org/church-nite/. Are you a potential host to collaborate and make an idea happen? board@houstonburners.org
- If circumstances permit, some kind of pre-compression burn gathering in fall 2020: Very early concept and your energy and interest is needed. While not looking to compete for resources with burns planned in the fall that may actually happen, the community interest in gathering for appropriately scaled activity is palpable.
Hopefully, this hits all the notes, but if you have remaining questions, as always: board@houstonburners.org!
Rescheduling-ly & Respectfully yours, Houston Burners volunteer board
April 2020 - New Warehouse Space @ 2016 Joanna St.
HB has reached an agreement with the property owner at the new warehouse space discussed in the form shared with the community 18 March: “Potential Warehouse Move Feedback Request and ?'s”.
Hearing that feedback, these are some specifics of the negotiation:
- To address continuing concern for the playing out of the pandemic in our community, the deal negotiated includes a delayed move-in of 1 ½ months
- Although full scale meetups likely won’t happen immediately, thoughts are to design new ways to have small group meetups to get the space ready for our return, including: small tours 4-6 people while Respecting Social/Physical Distancing (RSPD), small work groups to hit specific tasks while RSPD, and expanding more creative church nite scenarios RSPD
- Cost increases are addressed both by a reduction of lease rate of $600 in the 1st year and possible partial reimbursement of increased costs
The terms to BEGIN 1ST OF JUNE are as follows:
- Term: 1 year
- Rent: $1,275 for first 6 months, $1,325 for second 6 months*
- Deposit: $1,325 ($650 refund due from old space)
- Trash and Water included (new!: trash not included in old space)
- Tenant to pay any additional services: electricity (same as in old space)
- Tenant responsible for any approved improvements**
*HB may be reimbursed for the overage in rental costs from $775 old warehouse rent for a period.***
**HB may be partially reimbursed for improvements/build-out to the new space.***
***HB would not be eligible for these reimbursements until or unless a lease is secured.
The board would like to acknowledge that the decision to secure space in the midst of COVID-19 related uncertainty was not an easy one to make. We put a lot of thought and groundwork into the location possibilities and asked for a lot of community groundwork and input. We put a lot of thought into the risks and advantages, and ultimately decided that providing a physical space to connect our community was a priority and necessary as the air clears and we hopefully begin to emerge from social/physical distancing by June.
AS ALWAYS, ANY THOUGHTS QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ARE WELCOME AT board@houstonburners.org
April 12
Burning Man Project announced on April 10 that they will not be holding the Burning Man 2020 Multiverse at Black Rock City this year due to Covid-19. There will still be a Virtual BRC for Burning Man 2020 in the Multiverse. Read the statement with video by Marian Goodell here:
On March 12th, we postponed Unbroken Spring 2020 and our intention was to wait and see how the situation with the pandemic develops. We are looking to how other Burns have responded, including Burning Man and the scores of regional Burns around the world. Within the next week we will make an announcement about plans for UBS 2020.
VIRTUAL CHURCH NIGHTS
While we cannot meet up physically, we can meet up in other ways like Virtual Church Nights. Aside from the regular announcements & hang out kind of thing, we are holding Bingo, Karaoke, Skill Shares, Live Art, Trivia, and much more. If you are interested in hosting an event or workshop for the Houston Burner community, please let us know!
PAST ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you're looking for info from announcements over the past year, please visit our archival page > Past Announcements.
