1. How will your art work interact with its the environment?

Egeria stands 12' tall and encompasses a 20' diameter courtyard
area.  Her presence gathers people like a central community water
fountain.  The water itself is on fire, and the water protects you
so the audience can hold fire in their bare hands.

2. How will people interact with your art?

For 6 years, the firefall has been the most interactive fire 
artwork in the fire arts scene.  Unlike any other fire art
project, the firefall allows *anyone* to directly hold fire
in their bare hands.  We have had tens of thousands of people,
most of whom have never participated in fire art, untrained,
able to approach and interact directly with fire safely.

Egeria, first created for Burning Man, has made a number of 
very important fire arts shows more spectacular and grand, 
including the Crucible's Fire Opera, and Destry The Universe
Part 3, and a number of shows at her home at the artist space
called The Shipyard.

Unfortunately, due to the difficulty in setting her up, we
have had to turn down many important fire shows, including 
the Firt Arts Festival at the Crucible, and the Circ Du Soliel 
opening show in Las Vegas.  We are continually asked to bring
Egeria to shows, but have to turn them down because of the 
time it takes to set her up.  Set up time is the single most
limiting factor in our ability to bring Egeria to the public.

In this proposal, we would like to ask for help in improving
certain aspects of the design to speed setup times.  In the
three years since Egeria's construction, we have learned much 
about how to improve her design, and which things take the most
time in setup.  In addition, we would also like a small amount
for assorted refurbishments -- large scale art ages with time.

This proposal is in four parts.  The first is to add quick-
connect parts to speed up assembly; the second is to replace
the basins which are no longer usable; the third is for parts
to allow Egeria to run as two tiers instead of three which will
also open up show opportunities; and the fourth is for assorted 
improvements that need to be made for safety.

All four are best done at once -- mostly due to the fact that
converting to two tiers and replacing the basins will mean drastic
changes to the design.  It is better not to invest in some things
that will have to be replaced again later.  All of these changes
will widen our ability to bring Egeria to many new show 
opportunities, including a possible East Coast and Europe tour.

3. Who will help you create the artwork?

These changes can all be made by Kiki alone with occasional help 
from her community.

4. How will your art process engage a community?

The quicker Egeria is to set up, the more shows we can bring her
to for the community to see and interact with her.

5. How will your artwork reflect and support the life of a community in which it is placed?

Like a city's central fountain, Egeria is a place for community
to gatether, meet, and reflect.  The added interactive feature
of being able to hold the fire in your hand brings people together
to help eachother and play.

6. Who is your community and how will you reach others?

We hope that being able to attend more shows will allow Egeria to
reach a far wider community beyond the Burning Man and Fire Arts
community that was her birthplace.

7. What are your accomplishments?

I built Egeria in 2002 and brought her back to Burning Man in 2003 --
I wrote the proposal, lead a crew of fabricators, and did much of
the fabrication myself as well.
I have worked on two record-breaking animation feature films,
[A Bug's Life and Toy Story Two], I have helped found the Shipyard 
artist space in Berkeley, I created and founded a neon sculpture 
club, and I currently teach computer graphics at the Academy of Art
University.

8. Please list any URLs that display/are relevant to your work:

http://burningideas.com/firefall
http://burningideas.com/firefall/egeria

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Supplemental Materials and Where to Send Them

1. A detailed description including dimensions, materials and content.

2. An itemized budget which includes material costs, equipment rental, and expendables (fuel, water) et cetera.

3. A timeline which reflects your budget e.g., when materials will be purchased, when stages of construction will be completed, et cetera. Grants are distributed in installments which will relate to your timeline.

4. Detailed drawings, sketches, and plans, hand-drawn or computer generated. You may also send maquettes or photographs of them with your proposal.

Please send your supplemental materials to our physical address. We only accept supplemental material via snail mail:

Black Rock Arts Foundation Art Proposal 
1900 3rd Street, 2nd Floor 
San Francisco, CA 94158

We will contact you with any questions. Grants will be distributed in May of 2005. If you have any questions please email grants@blackrockarts.org. Please do not send attachments. 
 
