Larry Harvey was an American artist, philanthropist, and co-founder of the @Burning Man festival. Born in 1948, he is best known for initiating the first gathering on Baker Beach in @San Francisco, CA in 1986, where a wooden effigy was set ablaze in an event that evolved into Burning Man. Under his leadership, the gathering relocated to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1990, where it grew into an internationally recognized cultural phenomenon. Harvey played a central role in defining Burning Man’s “@Ten Principles,” which emphasize values such as radical inclusion, self-reliance, communal effort, and leaving no trace. He served as executive director and later as “Chief Philosophical Officer” of the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit created in 2014 to steward the event and expand its global influence. Harvey’s contributions extended beyond organizing; he was a writer and speaker who framed Burning Man not merely as a festival but as a social movement exploring art, community, and civic responsibility. He passed away in 2018, leaving a lasting cultural legacy.

Contexts

• #burning-man (See: @Burning Man)
• #burning-man-lexicon (See: @Burning Man Glossary)