Humans of the Temple
We’re assembling an amazing team of humans who believe in the following principles. Get to know a few of them here. We’d love for you to join us!
We are devoted to creating and cultivating our 2024 Temple in alignment with the following values:
CHECK IN
We take responsibility for ourselves, checking in with our bodies and our spirits to clarify our needs and wants. We understand that taking care of our personal containers allows us to be resourced in gifting of ourselves to the Temple container.
care
The Temple holds space for the full spectrum of human experience, from grief and self-reckoning to celebration and intention-setting and we honor that. We accept the reality of what is happening around us, and take care to bear witness to it with as much equanimity as possible.
COLLABORATE
We are a team and the Temple belongs to all of us. We are stewards of its transition into the material plane, and we recognize that that happens when we approach each and every fellow steward with a "YES AND," solution-oriented mindset.
COMMUNICATE
We communicate our needs, wants, and solutions in as non-violent of a way as we are capable. We recognize that words cast spells ("spell"-ing) and we take responsibility for our communication, verbal and non-verbal.
CONSECRATE
We honor the sanctity of every aspect of the Temple: the space we are creating, the land it will be created upon, the people to whom that land belongs, the materials with which it will be formed, and the souls who will cross paths with it in one form or another. When we choose to consecrate this, we open ourselves up to magic.
LEAD ARTIST
Glitter Kitty is an artist and activist entrepreneur. Her first large-scale activism community was Levo (1MM+ members, 30K Local meetups), which she co-founded to demystify the path to purpose after being the first woman in her family to attend college. Levo helped her to find her purpose as a creator and in 2022 she founded Recto Verseau, a visionary multimedia Art House focused on supporting the regenerative feminine principle through disruptive narrative. Recto Verseau brought Disturb My Slumber to the Playa in 2022 (pictured here by Ben Henretig immediately prior to its burn).
Caroline was inspired to create the Temple of Together after experiencing the tumultuous terrain of her own soul retrieval and integration. Her intention for 2024 is CONSECRATION, and she is devoted to bringing the Temple container to life with acceptance, love, and potency.
Maissa Sader
lead architect
Maissa is an architect and designer, originally from Lebanon, now residing in Lisbon. Alongside her partner Karl, she has recently established their design studio, Kamai. In 2019, in collaboration with Lead Artist Caroline Ghosn, they began to explore creative proposals for the Playa: Do Not Cross (2019), Disturb My Slumber (2021), and the Temple of Return (2022). With Temple of Together, she wishes to help create a haven to welcome people from all horizons.
Paul “Sparkle Pony” Franke
build lead
I’ve been building deep playa burning man projects for 15 years. My happy place is engaging people in designing and building large-scale public art. Art that everyone can enjoy and participate in bringing to light.
As part of Flux, I believe that anyone can be an artist and build big art. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a tool or even thought for a minute you could draw or paint or sculpt. It’s all about a person’s willingness to transform and be transformed. What matters is your drive to learn and the passion to create. The inclusive process of building Temple doesn’t just create public art; it creates public artists, who then go on to transform both others and new places.
TJ “Tree Jay” Lee
JEDI COUNSEL
Tree Jay has had the honor and pleasure of working on the Temple since 2012. He was Lead Build on the Temple of the Heart, and a lead builder on 2023, 2019 and 2018 Temples. He helped to form the Temple Builders Guild in 2020 and continues to bring continuity and fun to the Temple Project. Tree Jay will be helping this year mentoring a new generation of Temple builders. Drawing from years of experience he will assist the leadership and crew to bring to life the Temple of Together.
Nonstop Symon
Leave No Trace Lead
Nonstop Symon started going to the playa in 2006. In 2010 he felt a calling to be a part of something else out there. That year he volunteered with the temple crew and has been back with the temple crew every year since, even invited by David Best to build a Temple in Ireland in 2015. As of late he’s been focused on the Leave No Trace aspect of the playa builds. Respectfully taking care of the land that we build on is the core of his being. It’s not a one person job but up to the whole crew to leave no trace. He’s got the knowledge and tools to help everyone pull it off. There are many roles to play in the process of a temple build. His gift to the community is making sure your temple doesn’t leave a trace.
Mike “Just Mike” Keeler
OPERATIONS LEAD
Mike has been involved in some wonderful big art projects both on and off the playa, including The Folly, Paradisium, Sonic Runway, Carillon, DMS, and Temple of the Heart. Helping build both the art and the community is what makes it most meaningful. The Temple, in particular, brings together such an amazingly diverse, gifted, and supportive group of people, with a focus on creating the heart of BRC. He’s been especially adept at embracing the chaos and bringing a little zen to the process.
DIGITAL LEAD
Kiana Toossi is a multi-disciplinary designer and photographer based in New York City & Los Angeles, leading her creative studio, Holiday Studio. With key influences from ephemera and decades of the past, Kiana’s work pairs minimalism with a sense of play.