Artist Statement/Process Statement: Inspired by the quote form Octavia Butler’s Parable Sower “Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool” This video includes an animated Claudia Alick performing over footage of nature and the January 6th Insurrection.

Video by Claudia Alick commissioned by California Shakespeare Theater Presented in partnership with Youth Speaks Life is Living Festival presenting Sowers & Seeds: A Right Now Conversation with Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower Featuring Toshi Reagon. June 22 and 25, 5:30 pm PST

Inspired by Octavia E. Butler’s seminal novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Sowers & Seeds is a two-evening event of music, readings, and reflections asking how we collectively build more resilient communities, how we connect with the flow and functionality of life, and how we travel in the direction of healthy growth together.