Great Lakes Experimental Arts Inc. is super-stoked to humbly suggest that you save the last weekend in June, because Lakes of Fire is coming back June 24th-27th, 2010. 2010’s theme is “A Spaced Oddysey . . . . .” of course. So come prepared to make contact!

Tickets to Lakes of Fire will be available in early March, and will be comparable to last year’s ticket prices. Stay tuned!

To volunteer to help make Lakes of Fire 2010 a reality, follow this link! “http://www.lakesoffire.org/volunteer-ipate/”

Hosted at the Willow Ranch in beautiful Southwest Michigan, USA, this collaborative celebration of art, fire, music, and friendship will be for you, and by you. Lakes of Fire will have outdoor camping, theme camps, music, a glorious effigy, open camping, large and small scale art both fiery and otherwise, and all of the energy and wild spirit that you and hundreds of your closest friends and family-members from around the Great Lakes, and around the world, can bring! This is the Great Lakes Region’s version of Black Rock City. Lakes of Fire will be smaller than Burning Man, more accessible, and with rolling hills, forests, and fields instead of open playa. Instead of dealing with dust storms and temperature swings, you’ll deal with mosquitoes, rain, and toxicodendrons-radicans (poison ivy.)

More details and the official announcement are coming soon, but the date and location are set. Be there!

More data, including 2009’s Survival Guide and other important details are available from “http://www.lakesoffire.org”

Can’t wait to see you lofers again soon!

love,

Need ANOTHER indication that Lakes of Fire is just around the corner, albeit a somewhat lengthy one? We need YOUR help! Before event tickets can go on sale they’ll need to be printed…Before THAT can happen, they need to be DESIGNED- And THAT’S where YOU come in! We’re looking for the Ultimate Kickass Design for the Lakes OF Fire 2010 tickets and we’re going to award TWO tickets to the event to the person who submits the winning design!

TICKET DESIGN COMPETITION – DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

****The NAME of the event, “Lakes OF Fire 2010″.

****The DATES: June 24-27, 2010.

*****Room on the backside for the disclaimer and standard boilerplate. You REALLY don’t have to design ANYTHING for the back except for “extra credit”, but if you do, bear in mind that we have a paragraph of information that needs to be legible back there.

****Keep It Simple- Busy, colorful tickets like those for The Big Event make beautiful keepsakes, BUT they are expensive to produce. Each color requires its own color separation, and very fine lines are harder to reproduce at small scale. Ideally your design will have a little bit of wiggle room at the borders to allow for possible changes in the printing process. We’ll work with you and the printer to make sure it looks Capital-A Awesome, and assist with the technical aspects where necessary.

****Scalable to an approximate print size of 2 inches by 10 inches.
*****If you REALLY want to incorporate this year’s effigy into your ticket design, email for details….We’re trying to keep it a surprise!

****Present your design in a common electronic format if at all possible!

DEADLINE:
****We need your design on or before Midnight eastern standard time January 4, 2010.

SELECTION PROCESS:
****A volunteer team made up of members of the Board of Directors of Great Lakes Experimental Arts (the sponsoring org behind Lakes of Fire), and 3 volunteer Team Leads that help bring Lakes of Fire to life will be the Selectors of the Best Most Awesomest Winning Ticket Design. They will review all submissions between January 4 – 11, 2010. We plan to come to consensus on the winner no later than January 12, 2010.

BUT WAIT…..THERE’S MORE!!!!

Great Lakes Experimental Arts Inc. is ALSO looking for a Lakes Of Fire logo to be used on….well, EVERYTHING! It needs to be SIMPLE, BOLD, and BEAUTIFUL as well as being ADAPTABLE so that it can be used on letterheads, T-Shirts, flags, tattoos or shaved into your pet’s fur. Something ICONIC, that can be adapted to reflect the individuality of the different entities that will be making their own versions of it- Think about how Black Rock City’s DPW have adapted The Man to more adequately represent their unique contribution. The Keep It Simple part from the above offer holds true for
this as well- A black-and-white graphic that looks good at all different scales is a challenge to produce but it’s what would be ideal. The chosen design will be used year-round, in every aspect of our organization. Wow.

Requirements & suggestions
****Logo is to be done in 2 PMS (Pantone Matching System) spot colors of your choosing.
****If possible please provide a Vector File of the logo.
****f not available please provide a large, high resolution Photoshop layered file that can be separated to the different colors. Remember this will be blown up for t-shirts & banners, etc.
****If you are working in Photoshop or similar program, please do not work in Duotone color mode. Work in CMYK and assign the colors to the different pieces of the logo. Provide the pantone numbers for those
colors and we can separate them later.
****We want to stay away from screens (textured or patterned areas) if possible as this will be reproduced on t-shirts, which print with a low line screen. Solid colors are preferred.

DEADLINE:
****On or before Midnight eastern standard time February 4, 2010

WHAT YOU’LL GET:
****Hold onto your hat…….. FOUR tickets to Lakes OF Fire 2010, AND a slice of (relative) immortality!

WHAT DO I DO NOW?
****Get To Work! If you need technical assistance with your design, contact me at sscurl@aol.com. When you have your entry completed you can send it to me as an attachment or if necessary mail it to me at:

Attn: Steve Curl
Planet Steve Art
3627 West B Avenue
Plainwell MI 49080

Be sure to include your name and contact information with your submission. You may submit more than one design.

Now go get designy with it!

Lakes of Fire 2.0’s target date for ticket sales is February 1st, 2010. Please stay tuned.

Minors 12 years old and under will be welcome to participate in Lakes of Fire free of charge. Participants 13+ must pay the full ticket price.

There will be absolutely no ticket sales at the gate. Do not show up to Lakes of Fire expecting to pay cash. Tickets must be purchased on-line, via our website, in advance.

You must have a valid ID to enter Lakes of Fire. Participants under 18 years old must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

You must be 21+ to drink alcohol at Lakes Of Fire. Every participant at Lakes of Fire will receive a wristband identifying them as either over or under 21. Your wristband proves that you’re a participant of Lakes of Fire, so please keep your wristband on throughout the weekend. Failure to wear your wristband may result in your removal from Lakes of Fire, and thus, way less of a good time.

We understand the need for some participants to leave Lakes of Fire for provisions, hotel access, and emergencies. We ask that everyone limit or eliminate the need to exit and re-enter by planning ahead. Carpooling is encouraged. Upon exiting, you must notify the gate staff and sign out. You must also keep your wristband on, and be sure to present it to the gate staff upon re-entry. Without strict adherence to this policy, we cannot guarantee your re-entry to Lakes of Fire. Please be nice to the gate staff. They work very hard to accommodate your needs.

Lakes of Fire’s site is private property owned and operated by our friend and trusted partner. We insist that you comply with all state and local laws, and any reasonable request that our organizers, our host or his associates make of you.