Prem Kumta, 47: $8,000
San Francisco-based Prem Kumta discovered Burning Man in the early 2000s through friends who were producing a giant sound camp – a town within the city of Burning Man – with a mile-long sonic art installation across the playa.
With an inaugural Burning Man experience in 2003, creative agency CEO Kumta and his wife Penny attended the festival half a dozen times until they had children, returning when their three kids got older. Their most recent trip was 2022.
Unlike many other festivalgoers, Kumta is part of a big camp with a particularly “massive set-up”, so the costs can run a little more – he is one of the founders of the Agave Lounge, a camp with more than 150 people and a carpeted and covered geodesic dome, built to protect people from the elements. Inside the dome is an agave-themed bar that gives away 20,000 to 30,000 drinks over the course of the week, a jumpy castle, a gigantic sound system for world-class DJ performances and medical supplies for those in need during extreme weather.
“We have camp dues and run fundraisers to raise enough money for our camp. The dome, sound system, carpeting and decor, generator to power the dome and RVs, showers, shade structures, trucks to bring everything to and from the playa and storage space to keep everything – it is a ton of money, close to six-figures.”
For him and his wife, Kumta budgets about $8,000 (£6,400) for the week-plus on the playa. The rough breakdown comes out to $1,500 for two tickets and one parking pass, and $500 in camp dues per person. RVs cost between $4,000 and $9,000, depending on how big they are as well as food, water and supplies for the couple which can run $1,500. Unique outfits, which are encouraged for radical self-expression, can easily also cost $1,500 for two people.
“If you’re going to stay at a really nice resort for that long, go shopping, and eat out, it’s pretty comparable,” he says.
With two decades of experience creating, building and executing site-specific events for globally recognized brands, Kumta believes “there’s just nothing in the world even close to Burning Man”. He continues, “What I get out of Burning Man is a release from the ever-present pressure to succeed and produce in our modern world … What you spend on the experience you make up in multiples … I’ve never attended and thought I wasted my money.”