Hey, friends and family -

First, a ginormous "Thank you!" from all of us here in the Phoenix
Projekt for coming out and enjoying our first Lantern Festival! The show
was the most fun we've ever produced, the art was fantastic, the
hookah was smokin', and the DJs badass. We had a truly wonderful time
working together to bring you a night worthy of **you**, and from the
bottoms of our hearts and the depths of our souls we were so happy you
chose to enjoy that night with us! We'd also like to thank you for
supporting the hardworking folks at Burners Without Borders, and the
enormous humanitarian tasks they so selflessly set themselves to.

Unfortunately, a snag...

Due to noise complaints, the local police stopped by at 1:00 to kindly
inform us that we had to turn the music down. We obliged, only to
have the same cops return and not-so-kindly order the music off or
we'd face severe penalties. Rather than face court time, fines, and the impounding of the sound equipment, we obliged.

There have been a couple of queries regarding reimbursement for tickets. I'd like to
address those here.

To give context, this was a fully permitted event. What are the reasons why we chose to bring this out from the underground and into fully legal status?

Ironically, we didn't want to have the event we'd worked so hard on busted and
shut down and so we set ourselves to producing something that everyone
could enjoy without fear of badges walking in, forcing everyone out
onto the streets and slapping the organizers with heavy fines. That's
one.

But the greater impetus was to break ground for other fire events and
fire troupes to do the same.

There were so many learning experiences regarding event insurance,
liquor liability, the inner and arcane workings of city hall and the
LAPD, which we were hoping to share with other troupes in order to
spread the knowledge and be able to produce bigger and better events
together in our community. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Then, sometimes, an errant wave comes along and capsizes one.

So where does that leave things now?

The fire performers of the Phoenix Projekt were the sole producers of
this event. Most of the money we spent went to permitting. Due to
permitting costs, we were laboring under the ethic of hoping just to
break even on this event, given how much we had to front for permits,
fees, hidden costs, insurance, etc. Due to being shut down early,
we were unable to generate the income needed to break even, and are
now in a deep money hole.

Regretfully, we are not even close to having funds to reimburse for
those who came in late and were only able to enjoy a half-hour or so.
For the next few months, we will be working to pay off debts within the troupe incurred from bankrolling this gala from the funds we generate from
our monthly Silk Road Cabaret at the Desert Rose Hookah Lounge. And
it will still not be enough to cover costs.

We took a risk, and now have to eat it. The same risk is taken by
every event producer in our community - that events will unfold in
suddenly unfortunate ways and things will go not as planned. We'd
worked to neutralize the risks which being underground comes with,
only to have those same risks come back to bite us - only now, with
our reserves depleted on permitting, they bit twice as hard.

We apologize for any inconvenience this caused, and are working to
coordinate our efforts for future shows to address this and similar
problems which may occur. The event was a success in terms of how
much fun it was, and the spirit of community that permeated it. We
fully intend to produce bigger and better events - including making
the Lantern Festival an annual art gala - and to bring the lessons we
learn to the rest of the tribes in order to keep the tide - and the
boats upon it - rising.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, feel free to private message me to discuss in more detail.

We look forward to serving our community for years to come.

Sincerely,

Anna Maltese
the Phoenix Projekt