We were lucky to catch up with Justin Katz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is The Edwardian Ball, now approaching our 25th year in San Francisco. In the summer of 1999 a small group of ambitious musicians and theatrical performers hatched the idea of creating a party in honor of the art and stories of Edward Gorey. A collaboration with the owner of a legendary SF goth dive bar gave home to the first edition of The Edwardian Ball (in homage to Gorey, not the King as many assume) that December, with around 200 people showing up in amazing costume and character. That hasn’t changed, only the scope, size, scale, and creative collaboration that now welcomes nearly 4,000 people per year across a winter weekend, from all over the country and all corners of the world. We now welcome art and performance of all stripes, including fine art, paintings, sculpture, interactive installations, dance both traditional and dancefloor, circus performance, live bands, couture vending, locally distilled absinthe, theatrical performances, ballet, and costumes galore.

What makes this so meaningful is that it is an almost entirely co-created event, focused as much on the imagination, artistry, and wonder of the participants attending, as much as what we curate on the stages and walls. The line between “us & them” is nearly dissolved, and people truly feel an ownership and presence, front and center. Generations have attended together, children have now grown up in attendance, friends bring friends, and the invitation to be part of The Edwardian Ball continues to grow. Sometimes when I think of the many many thousands of people that have attended 35 editions of The Edwardian Ball (24 in SF, 10 in Los Angeles, 1 in New Orleans) I am moved to tears by what we have all created together.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I began my meandering creative path by (permanently) borrowing (rescuing) my older cousin’s bass guitar from the back of a closet during my high school days, and embarking on a course of music, bands, and performance collaboration that spans decades, to this very day. Along the way I have been a touring and recording musician, gallery manager, non-profit organizer, community event producer, hip hop theater company manager, art car builder, venue owner, and concert and festival producer. Whilst also raising two fine sons that are now both in University, figuring out their own amazing and creative paths.

While drifting through the first dot-come era, I discovered Burning Man in 1998 which threw things for quite a curve, and opened my eyes and experience to the thriving underground arts scene of San Francisco in the late 90’s and early to mid 2000s. From Burning Man 1999 an event called The Edwardian Ball was born, which I have continued to produce annually to this day. I also began volunteering for Burning Man, running stages and production for public events in the SF Bay Area, and making connections in the culture that formed the basis of my larger network today. I then spent nine years in the music industry producing stages, concerts, and festivals for the promoter Goldenvoice, including opening and building their then-new San Francisco division from 2009-2016, plus running arena shows and some special projects Coachella and Panorama NYC festivals.

Following that stint I was keen to return to a more culturally aligned realm of work. I was hired in late 2016 by Burning Man Project, the arts and cultural non-profit that produces the Burning Man desert event, and began my next chapter as a community events organizer. And The Edwardian Ball has always continued throughout – we will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary in January 2026, celebrating a quarter century of Edward Gorey in a collaborative, co-created world of art, music, sub-culture, and joyful inclusion.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

One of the most important things we can do as a society validate the pursuit of creativity. We should not relegate art, culture, and creativity to being a mere interest, hobby, or side-hustle. We constantly message to our emerging creative youth that it is all well and good to have your artful interest but that you best be preparing for something “real” to provide for yourself and others down the road. Who knows how much wonderful art has been lost to this chipping away at confidence and mutual learning? Starving artists are tragically glamorized. Successful artists are lauded for financial success, while treated as fortunate unicorns. We need everything in between and a pathway to sustainable living, a strong spectrum of creatives that span the economy and mediums, as necessary to a healthy society as doctors, builders, teachers, and certainly those evolving the landscape of technology.

We should also reinforce the idea that cooperation > competition, and that uplifting each other in a co-creative process ultimately yields better results than scarcity. Art and creation are hardly ever zero-sum – we do better together.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My work in co-created events, and particularly working with volunteer-based event ecosystems, has helped me unlearn the primary driving values of economy and efficiency. When I was working in commercial concert production the focus was always on getting things done as quickly and cheaply as possible, delivering a product of live music experience to as many ticket buyers as possible, regardless of how we got it done. This is not to say that we didn’t deliver some outstanding moments, many of which will provide memories of a lifetime, but the method of delivery was always in the backseat to this.

Thus, “inefficiency at work” is a tongue in cheek but actually quite realistic lens to see what happens when we focus on people and process, not only on results. The -way- we work together can actually be seen as the primary value proposition. The joy and inclusion of a truly collaborative process, a process that can take extra time to see, hear, and include more people, is almost always sure to yield more lasting and meaningful results. This includes teaching, learning, and experimenting with each other as we meander through the adventures and opportunities that life affords, if only we take the time for it all!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edwardianball.com
• Instagram: @paradox.of.art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justin.a.katz
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/paradoxico
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kingqube