Burning Man Co-Founder Coming To Cleveland Heights

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — One of the co-founders of the world famous Burning Man festival will host a discussion on community and placemaking in Cleveland Heights.

Michael Mikel co-founded Burning Man, which draws more than 70,000 people to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada each year. Festival attendees engage in "creative expression" for a week. Mikel will speak at the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. campus on Friday.

Mikel's Cleveland Heights event is called "The Art of Community: A Discussion with Burning Man Co-Founder Michael Mikel." The discussion will raise money to support the renovation of the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. campus.

"At Coventry P.E.A.C.E., we are seeking to create a sustainable, supportive and collaborative environment for the community to create, share, learn and grow. We see a lot of parallels with the kind of environment that the Burning Man culture supports,” said Deanna Bremer Fisher, Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Campus president and executive director of FutureHeights.

In addition to Mikel's speech, guests will be able to tour the campus and take in a free screening of the film "Spark: a Burning Man Story" in Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Park.

The event will begin with a meet and greet with Mikel for PEACE Maker ticket holders at 6 p.m. The discussion will start at 7 p.m. The movie screen, which is free and open to the public, will start at 9 p.m. in the park. Warning though, the film is not rated and may not be suitable for children.

Tickets for Friday's event start at $50 and can be purchased online.

The Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Campus is starting a facilities planning process, which it hopes will lead to a land lease with the Heights Libraries, the renovation of its 1970s-era building, and self-sustaining operations.

The campus was once an elementary school and part of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District. The building ceased operations as a school in 2007 and was then rented to a diverse array of arts and nonprofits organization.

In 2018, the district sold the property to Heights Libraries. The library system operates the adjacent Coventry Village library branch.