What do we do about Freiland's price increase?
Chiara
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This advice process is about Freiland’s decision to add a 20 € camping fee per person in 2023 and 2024. The main decisions we need to take are (I). Whether we still want Kiezburn to happen in 2023, and (II). If so, where do we get the additional money from.
Proposer
@Chiara
Proposer’s role:
I am writing this Advice Process on behalf of all the participants of the Kickoff Weekend 2023. This group of people includes most of the realizers for Kiezburn 2023, a lot of realizers from previous years, and some Boardies.
Information gathered before posting
This proposal was discussed at the Kickoff Weekend, on 28.01.2023.
People/roles most affected by this proposal
@Everyone
@Boardies
@Finance
@Tickets
People/roles with the most knowledge and experience relevant to this proposal:
Participants of the Kickoff Weekend
Last year’s Finance lead @Kathleen
The proposal
Background
Freiland wants to add a 20 € camping fee per person in 2023 and 2024. This is because they want to expand the site by buying new land, and because they want to add fixed infrastructure for water (2023) and power (2024). Note that the water pipes we currently have are owned and not rented by KB, so this addition would not save us any money in 2023. For reference, in the past years Freiland’s price has been 10% of the ticket revenue, so about 8.000-10.000 €. This is a 20.000 € increase. This means that in 2023 and 2024 Freiland’s price would be 30.000, three times as much as it was in the past.
The proposal
At the Kickoff Weekend, there unanimously agreed that we still want Kiezburn to happen in Freiland 2023, and we will start scouting for new locations to host Kiezburn 2024. The alternative would be that Kiezburn does not happen at all this year.
If we go ahead with Kiezburn 2023, we need to decide where we can get this extra money from. The three options are:
We increase ticket price by 20 euros (from 95 to 115)
We take the money from the Kiezburn budget (e.g. dreams, infrastructure, KB-related events).
A mix of both
How would the proposal be implemented
If we decide to take the budget from Tickets, then the Ticketing team should decide on the details and implement them at the next ticket sale. For example, does the low-income ticket price stay the same or does it also increase?
If we decide to take the money from the Kiezburn budget, then the Finance team should decide on where it makes more sense to reduce the budget.
Who would implement this proposal
Tickets
Finance
When would this proposal be implemented
Before the Ticket sales for Kiezburn 2023.
What would be the cost (time, money, effort, etc.) of this proposal
Money: 20.000 €
Time/effort: deciding which areas of the budget we can take money from
What are the advantages of this proposal (relative to the current situation and/or counter-proposals)
We have an event in 2023.
What are the disadvantages of this proposal (relative to the current situation and/or counter-proposals)
The financial burden falls either on the participants, or on Kiezburn budget (thus restricting the amount of money that we can put into creativity, infrastructure and KB-related events).
Decision
A decision on whether we want to have an event at all with these conditions should happen in the next two weeks, so we can go ahead with booking a date with Freiland.
A decision on where we get the money from should be taken before the ticket sale.
Chiara Thu 2 Feb 2023 2:18PM
says 95 here https://tickets.kiezburn.org/2022/page/faq/
Kaliope Thu 2 Feb 2023 2:14PM
I) Yes to Kiez Burn 2023 🔥 II) Art is essential and makes a burn what it is 🎨 Taking away money from the dreams budget is a redistribution that comes at the expense of a few artists instead of the whole community. Besides, I don't see how we could reduce other infrastructure costs... So why not combine these two options?
raise the regular ticket price, have an even more expensive "supporter" ticket with baseless and pointless (but consensual) VIP all area access, enable additional donations, keep the low income price the same
partially fund the additional costs with the revenue of our burn nights in 2023
Kris Thu 2 Feb 2023 2:52PM
Are we coming from a position where it's possible to negotiate? i.e. do we have viable alternatives that are cheaper or better?
Purzel Thu 2 Feb 2023 3:15PM
Sadly not at all, the increase is non negotiable and we told them that we will move, they are sad about but still...
We are starting to look for other places but it's highly unlikely that we find one this year.
Kris Thu 2 Feb 2023 7:17PM
Then it doesn’t sound like we have much choice..
It’s difficult to threaten to leave when we have nowhere to go.
B r i Thu 2 Feb 2023 7:39PM
Changing locations might also cost some money, I feeling that this should be part of the convo as well.
Jaina Hirai Fri 3 Feb 2023 2:28PM
Thanks Chiara for this clear Advice Process! I ABSOLUTELY think that we should have Kiez Burn 2023, and Freiland is the only location that makes sense for this year. I am happy with the solution of raising the tickets by 20 Euros, and agree with @Kaliope that it spreads the fee increase amongst the community, rather than reducing the art funding. If possible, would be great to keep the low income ticket prices the same, but I defer to the Ticket Team as I don't know what's preferable: more low income tickets at a higher price or fewer at the same price.
Alex Kaos Sat 4 Feb 2023 3:44PM
Agreed, this is an unfortunate position to be put in, but the choices are limited.
My advice would be:
Maintain the low-income ratio of 50% regular ticket cost. It's the easiest way to stay as "fair" as possible, without having to rediscuss the specific price every year.
Raise the regular ticket price by 20€
Create multiple 'VIP' donation -ticket options (120€, 140€, 200€) for additional arts funding.
Add a similar option to the burn-night tickets as additional funding.
Dedicated any leftover dreams/art/KB funds towards the move costs of next year, as a plan to address receiving a big 'fuck you' 200% non-negotiable cost hike from our partners of 4 years...... That does not match inflation.....
So the same as what most people here are saying. X x
Kris Sat 4 Feb 2023 8:04PM
I think we can get a fairly good conception of how willing people are to get VIP tickets, so we'll match the low income ones to that. Totally agree that the low income rebate should be substantial, but that limits how many we can have.
Jessie · Thu 2 Feb 2023 2:05PM
I'm totally fine increasing the price of the ticket. But wasn't it 80€ last year so it would be 100€?