Burning Man hires top lobbying firm

Burning Man, the annual community and art festival in the Nevada desert, will have some help from D.C. lobbyists on permitting approval.

The Burning Man Project, the non-profit organization behind the festival, hired the law and lobbying firm Holland & Knight on May 9, according to disclosures.

Rich Gold, the leader of the firm’s public policy and regulation group, will be on the account as well as Scott Mason, who worked on Trump’s campaign and in his administration transition. 

Paul Bock, former counsel for Senate Judiciary Committee, Kathryn Lehman, former chief of staff of the House Republican Conference, and Dimitri Karakitsos, former senior counsel on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will also be on the account.

Burning Man has to get approval with the Bureau of Land Management to hold the festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, which is outside of Reno. This year, the festival will be held from August 25 to Sept. 2.

It was first held in San Francisco in 1986 and has since gained traction as a festival focused on inclusion, self-reliance and self-expression. Participants traditionally burn a large wooden structure during the festival.