The Flashpoint Artists Initiative Board of Directors would like to sincerely thank our volunteers, leadership team, artists, and theme camps for their dedication and hard work in making Alchemy 2025 such a wonderful event. Our community truly came together despite facing many challenges and obstacles throughout the entire event process. The past four months serving as Board Members have been an incredible opportunity for growth and learning, and we're grateful for everyone who's supported and guided us along the way.
After careful thought, the BoD has decided that Alchemy will not take place in 2026. We understand this decision will bring up many emotions, it is completely understandable for this news to cause disappointment, sadness, frustration and anger. Alchemy means a lot to all of us. This pause is a mindful step to ensure the future of Alchemy is sustainable, safe, and built on a strong foundation.
The difficulties experienced and harms caused over the course of the last year have highlighted long standing and systemic problems with how we produce this event. We as a community owe it to each other to acknowledge what has transpired, learn from our mistakes, and work towards the long-term success of this organization.
Right now, we are actively hard at work going through a triage process focusing on a practical, logistical, and most importantly, a compassionate approach to addressing emotional and interpersonal well-being. There’s a lot of growth and change needed, and healing will take time and care. We recognize that there is no magic cure or simple solution but with thoughtful effort, we aim to create meaningful and lasting change.. After much discussion, we agree that this important work cannot be fully accomplished in the few months before the next event cycle for Alchemy 2026.
While the October event Alchemy won't be happening in 2026, our commitment to this community remains strong. Department 6 and TIDE will continue their work this year, focusing on community gatherings and fostering engagement and connection beyond the large October event. Meanwhile, we will put systems in place to ensure that all our future community events are created from a foundation of safety, sustainability, and collective care.
We’re committed to look critically at every aspect of our governance, operations, and structure. There is much to assess and learn, and we can’t make knee-jerk changes without fully informing ourselves about the long-term implications of each decision. Working with current and former members of leadership, we hope to clearly and transparently develop an organizational structure that meets our legal obligations as a Georgia nonprofit, protects each person who takes on the responsibilities of leadership and provides checks and balances on how decisions are made at each level of the organization. We aim to have robust documentation and guidelines for every role so that anyone stepping into a leadership position is presented with every resource they could possibly need to succeed. We will also create clear operational documentation, consistent standards for conduct, conflict resolution, and harm reduction, and a leadership structure that is supported, protected, and built for continuity.
There will be many opportunities for members of our community to help shape the future of our organization during this year of rebuilding. This might include helping with documentation efforts, developing volunteer welfare policies, capturing historical knowledge, or participating in workshops to improve how we organize. Additional support may include inventory and organization of physical assets, connecting with other regional burn communities to learn best practices, and host knowledge-sharing events to strengthen our community’s collective learning.
We are committed to sharing regular updates on progress, timelines, and opportunities for input as this work unfolds. Alchemy has always been made possible by its community, and this pause is a careful and responsible step to ensure a strong, positive future for everyone involved.
If you're interested in returning to leadership, we encourage you to submit the forms available under “Open Forms” on our website:
Flashpoint Artists Initiative Board of Directors
