Burning Bright

Fighting Ageism at Burning Man

By Cutright Elizabeth on Sep 7, 2016 in News

Burning Man may be associated with millennials and aging hippies, but thanks to Juniper Communities, the latest contingent of desert marauders could include your grandmother.

Every year, tens of thousands of souls descend upon Nevada’s Black Rock desert with one shared purpose: to build (and dismantle) the ultimate egalitarian community designed for a new age. While all are welcome on “the Playa,” over the years, a stereotype has emerged and attendees are expected to be young, creative and open to anything.

This year was a little different. In addition to the fire-eaters and Silicon Valley professionals, a group of senior citizens joined the crowd, ready to make friends and present a different perspective on aging in the modern world.

Joining Generations

Juniper Communities provides assisted living, Alzheimer’s Memory Care and Skilled nursing at several facilities throughout Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As part of the company’s commitment to combating ageism and remove the negative associations with elder care, Juniper Communities’ Founder and CEO Lynne Katzmann came up with the Burning Man plan.

“Juniper decided that we wanted to find a good venue to talk about ageism,” Katzmann explained to Senior Housing News last year. “What better place to do that than in an intentional community made up of mostly young people who are open to new ideas and equality?”

“We need to help people understand that aging and dying are two separate things,” she says. “We need people to understand that older people are fully participating in life—and have a lot to add.”

“By taking an intergenerational group, we raised awareness not just that older people can handle Burning Man, but also that it’s a place where seniors thrive,” Katzmann explained. “People don’t really associate Burning Man and senior housing, but we can now talk about senior housing in a new way.”

Intentional Communities

“Burning Man is an intentional community, and seniors housing is a different kind of intentional community,” Lynne Katzmann summed up to Senior Housing News in a post-event wrap up. “But they’re both about people coming together, being themselves, where who they are is respected and celebrated. That’s the connection. We are doing what Burning Man does. Most people wouldn’t put the two together that way, but we need to do that.”

Aging Insurrection, the name of Juniper’s Burning Man encampment, included campers ranging from 20 to 80 and paired young attendees with seniors to help them navigate the event. The camp itself hosted to events as well: an intergenerational coloring party and a salon “dedicated to conversations and wisdom around aging.”

Overall, the effort proved successful, with plans to increase participation next year already in the works.

“People who aren’t used to seeing older people out there at Burning Man—interacting with them and talking to them—hopefully realized that older people still can be involved and contribute,” says Katzmann.

“That’s really what I hope the impact was, and I think that’s why I was there.”

“For Juniper, we’ve always believed a good life was about connecting socially and being in relationships with people,” said Katzmann. “What Burning Man did for me is prove the power of social connectedness…and why senior living is so important for people getting older.”