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“Now I think we’re in another culture war. I think we’re in, as we see the realm of cancel culture in social media and this very polarising war between the liberal left and the conservative right. I think that we’re in another culture and a lot of it is centering around gender and race. If you look at what’s happened to black women athletes in the last couples of months, the censuring of their bodies either because of hormones in the case of Caster Semenya or Naomi Osaka, there’s a lot of ways that our society has found to police black bodies for being too exceptional in a lot of ways. For performing in exceptional ways, and the white patriarchy doesn’t like to see that because it starts to diminish their power.”Professor Micol Hebron is a video and performance artist who works out of Los Angeles. Professor Hebron has studied at UCSD, Academia di Belle Arti at Università di Venezia, and UCLA. She founded Gallery B12, a cooperative artists-run exhibition and lecture space in Hollywood. Hebron co-produced the Full Nelson Festival a showcase of international performance art and, in 2004, founded the LA Art Girls. Hebron has held teaching positions in new genres and contemporary art history and theory at Chapman University, Art Center College of Design, UCLA Extension and Chaffey College.· micolhebron.com· www.creativeprocess.info

Professor Micol Hebron is a video and performance artist who works out of Los Angeles. Professor Hebron has studied at UCSD, Academia di Belle Arti at Università di Venezia, and UCLA. She founded Gallery B12, a cooperative artists-run exhibition and lecture space in Hollywood. Hebron co-produced the Full Nelson Festival a showcase of international performance art and, in 2004, founded the LA Art Girls. Hebron has held teaching positions in new genres and contemporary art history and theory at Chapman University, Art Center College of Design, UCLA Extension and Chaffey College.· micolhebron.com · www.creativeprocess.info

“People who take care of sick people and AIDS and teachers and garbage collectors and people who work in daycare…all the things that have to happen in society we pay shit for. We pay an enormous amount of money to people who can throw a ball through a hoop. We pay an enormous amount of hedge fund people. All the people who take over corporations go in and destroy get immensely rich while the people who do what we actually need doing, what we must have to survive, the people who grow food, the independent farmers that used to exist…”Marge Piercy’s 17 novels include NYTimes Bestseller Gone To Soldiers; National Bestsellers Braided Lives and The Longings of Women; the classics Woman on the Edge of Time and He, She and It, and her critically acclaimed memoir Sleeping with Cats. She’s written 20 volumes of poetry. The most recent is On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light. Born in Detroit, educated at the University of Michigan and Northwestern, she is active in antiwar, feminist and environmental causes.· margepiercy.com · www.creativeprocess.info

Marge Piercy’s 17 novels include NYTimes Bestseller Gone To Soldiers; National Bestsellers Braided Lives and The Longings of Women; the classics Woman on the Edge of Time and He, She and It, and her critically acclaimed memoir Sleeping with Cats. She’s written 20 volumes of poetry. The most recent is On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light. Born in Detroit, educated at the University of Michigan and Northwestern, she is active in antiwar, feminist and environmental causes.· margepiercy.com · www.creativeprocess.info

“Think of yourself as a tree. You’ve got neighbours that you live beside for hundreds if not thousands of years, and none of you can move around, so you just have to communicate in other ways. And so trees have evolved to have these ways of communicating with each other, and they’re sophisticated, they’re nuanced. They include things like transmitting information through these root networks that link them together. They transmit information to each other through the air, so they perceive each other, they communicate and then they respond to each other. And that language is complex.”Dr. Suzanne Simard is a professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, she gave a TED talk about her groundbreaking discovery of how trees communicate with each other. Most recently, Dr. Simard has published a book called Finding the Mother Tree. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.· suzannesimard.com· mothertreeproject.org · www.oneplanetpodcast.org· www.creativeprocess.info

Dr. Suzanne Simard is a professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, she gave a TED talk about her groundbreaking discovery of how trees communicate with each other. Most recently, Dr. Simard has published a book called Finding the Mother Tree. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.· suzannesimard.com· mothertreeproject.org · www.oneplanetpodcast.org· www.creativeprocess.infoPhoto by Brendan Ko

“There’s this children’s book called Miss Rumphius, and I’ve carried it around with me my entire life. It’s about a woman who grandfather tells her three things, and the last one in the most difficult thing of all and that’s to fill the world with beauty. And I give this book to every one of my friends who are having babies, I have a copy with me almost at all times, and I’m reminded of that feeling that Jonathan Larson had in Tick, Tick…Boom! Of how much time do we have to do something great.”Alice Brooks is a cinematographer who has worked on award-winning features, television and commercials. She is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where her creative partnership with director Jon Chu first began. Since, they have worked on several projects together, most recently on the film In The Heights based on the musical by Lin Manuel Miranda. Brooks is known for her use of dramatic lighting and compassionate camerawork. Her latest film is Tick, Tick…Boom! which is set to release on Netflix this fall.· www.alicebrooks.com · www.creativeprocess.info

Alice Brooks is a cinematographer who has worked on award-winning features, television and commercials. She is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where her creative partnership with director Jon Chu first began. Since, they have worked on several projects together, most recently on the film In The Heights based on the musical by Lin Manuel Miranda. Brooks is known for her use of dramatic lighting and compassionate camerawork. Her latest film is Tick, Tick…Boom! which is set to release on Netflix this fall.· www.alicebrooks.com · www.creativeprocess.info

“I started Women in Media in 2010 as a sort of community group. We talked about women above and below the line because there weren’t any organizations or conversations really happening about women in the below the line positions, meaning women in the crew who are in the camera, art, grip and electronics departments. There were only conversations happening about more women directors and, being a scenic artist and production designer, I knew that there are so many women in the crew and there’s only one director. So if we only aimed for one, we would never get to parity and there would never be room like myself who wanted to advance from these crew positions.”Tema Staig is the Executive Director of Women in Media, a non-profit organization that promotes gender equality in the film and TV industry. Tema is also a production designer, an art director known for her work on feature films such as Kissing Jessica Stein and American Splendor. Allison Vanore is the secretary and treasurer of Women in Media. Allison is also the Emmy Award-winning producer of the digital series After Forever starring Kevin Spirtas.· www.womennmedia.com· www.temastaig.com· www.imdb.com/name/nm1704951 · www.creativeprocess.info

Tema Staig is the Executive Director of Women in Media, a non-profit organization that promotes gender equality in the film and TV industry. Tema is also a production designer, an art director known for her work on feature films such as Kissing Jessica Stein and American Splendor. Allison Vanore is the secretary and treasurer of Women in Media. Allison is also the Emmy Award-winning producer of the digital series After Forever starring Kevin Spirtas.· www.womennmedia.com· www.temastaig.com· www.imdb.com/name/nm1704951 · www.creativeprocess.info