Why I want to bring art to the skies of every city and town in the world
Today I’m announcing Nova Sky Stories, a new company with over 9,000 light drones to bring art to the skies around the world.
[[ Click to Tweet: Today @Kimbal announced @NovaSkyStories a new company bringing art to the skies of the world. https://medium.com/p/b24426f00710 ✨ ]]
Almost a year ago, in August 2021, I stood in Black Rock Desert with my wife and some of my closest friends and experienced something so profound that it changed me. Since 1998, every week of Labor Day weekend I’ve gone to Burning Man in the Nevada Desert. For me, it’s a sacred place and time to reflect, relax, and rejoice. It’s where I disconnect from the world and reconnect with myself and loved ones. Due to COVID, the official Burning Man festival was canceled. I joined up with my fellow long-time burners to gather in the Nevada desert to the best of our abilities in the safest way possible. This became known as the 2021 Free Burn.
There was no Man to burn. We were in despair.
“The Man” is a large wooden effigy that is burned as a culminating ceremony to symbolically represent the burning of the past, burning your ego, burning all attachments.
Without this ritual, Burning Man is a party in the desert. With the ritual, Burning Man changes your life.
Ralph Nauta from Studio Drift had come to the Free Burn to be with his community. And he had brought his light drones with him. Ralph had created an amazing light drone art piece in 2019 called ‘Franchise Freedom’. He was not sure what he’d do for the Free Burn, but like all of us, he needed to be with his community.
When we talked with Ralph, we asked if he could do The Man with his drones. He asked us if there was anyone we needed to check with. In a Covid world, there was literally no one to check with. He said he would do it.
Ralph talked with many of the incredible creators, artists, producers, and dreamers at the Free Burn and asked for their help. He’d need music loud enough for tens of thousands of people to hear. He’d need space in the center of the camp community. He’d need everyone to come to that center at the same time. We had no cell coverage, no wifi. It all had to happen by word of mouth.
We all did our part. We helped in whatever way we could. We spread the word. But we had no idea if Burners would show up.
And they did. They showed up in the tens of thousands. They came together and kept a space open in a circle big enough for the drones to fly. No instructions, no text messaging. They just came together hoping that something special would happen.
When Ralph and his team flew the drones, silence descended on the crowd. This was not a light show. This was the ritual we all had traveled thousands of miles to experience. His art took form in the sky. The Man appeared, 800 feet high. He burnt the Man. We all cried tears of joy, sadness, and everything in between.
Ralph brought us our spiritual ritual at a time when the world was flooded with rules against pretty much everything. But there were no rules against flying art in the sky. We desperately needed to connect to this moment and Ralph’s Sky Story made it possible, with more joy and amazement than we could ever think was possible.
Take a few minutes to watch this Sky Story from the Free Burn 2021:
It was then I knew I had to help bring this art to the skies of every city and town in the world.
As many of you know I’ve built my life around food. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love that food brings people together around the table for conversation and has the power to build community. It’s a lesson I learned while volunteer cooking for the firefighters during 9/11 and one that I brought with me when I opened The Kitchen, my first restaurant with my friend Hugo Matheson. Moments at The Kitchen hosting gatherings gave me joy. When I watched the Free Burn drone show, I had the same tingling feeling of togetherness, community, and joy.
That is why, today, I am proud to announce the formation of Nova Sky Stories, a company that is dedicated to bringing art to the skies of every town and city in the world. In partnership with Ralph Nauta, the amazing Lucas Van Oostrum of Drone Stories and light drones pioneer Daniel Gurdan, we have acquired 9,000 of the best light drones ever built. They are equipped with the best hardware and software ever created and are the same drones that inspired millions of people during the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl halftime shows.
I am proud of the team that has come around us to make Nova Sky Stories a reality. Daniel Gurdan will lead the hardware team with a group of brilliant engineers and fantastic pilots. Tobias Gurdan will lead the software team that will allow artists from all over the world to create Sky Stories. Together they will keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible today. Ralph Nauta will help build and train our Artist Collective. Lucas Van Oostrum will build and train our Producer Collective.
If YOU are an aspiring artist or producer and would like to join the Nova Sky Stories Artist & Producer Collectives, please visit novaskystories.com to tell us more about yourself. We will respond to applications in the coming months as we build out this innovative community of creators. I can’t wait to start this magical journey with you all.
[[ Click to Tweet: Today @Kimbal announced @NovaSkyStories a new company bringing art to the skies of the world. https://medium.com/p/b24426f00710 ✨ ]]
Please enjoy this special show designed by Ralph Nauta at Studio Drift, produced by Drone Stories, photographed by Keenan Hock, music composed and performed by David Block and The Human Experience with beautiful poetry written and performed by my wife
.