We need your support! We are raising funds for the 3rd annual Octavia’s Solstice — a fan celebration of the life, work, and wisdom of speculative fiction author Octavia Estelle Butler ✨ We want this year to be better than ever! Your donations will help us with venue fees, paying local performers/practitioners, our annual altar, and supporting the event organizers!

There are so many ways to support. Share this campaign! RVSP (free) for the event and/or make a donation or buy some limited edition merch (link in bio). Send our campaign to: fans of Butler, afrofuturism, and sci-fi who want to support the next generation of LA artists.

This year's theme is “Parable of the Trickster”, the third unpublished novel in Butler's “Parables” series. Our line-up engages the wisdom and research embedded in her notes on the unpublished novel. How will you help re-write the future? We can’t do it without you.

Presented by Urban Ecology Conservatory, curated by Schessa Garbutt of Firebrand, and co-sponsored by Level Ground. Special thanks to our venue host, Philosophical Research Society.

2026 Tickets & Support Tiers

Let's make this year unforgettable! While your ticket to attend is free, this fundraising campaign will support our work, our venue and the local performers/practitioners who are making this day festival unique and mind-expanding.

About the gifts with donation
The small-batch OS' 26 Trickster bandanas and shirts are designed by Firebrand + printed locally. They are only available for order through this campaign and on the day of the event at PRS. Don't miss out!

Season of the Sower by Level Ground is an anthology and workbook in dialogue with Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. The anthology features visual artists, writers and cultural practitioners – like American Artist, Abolish Time, Black Quantum Futurism, and Nykelle DeVivo – who are interested in returning to the earth and creating pathways forward in our ever changing world.

About Octavia E. Butler
Award-winning speculative fiction author and MacArthur genius Octavia Estelle Butler was born June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, CA. Of herself, she writes: “Octavia Butler is a hermit, living in the middle of Los Angeles, a pessimist (if she isn’t careful), a feminist, a quiet egotist, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty and drive. She has written Patternmasters, Mind of My Mind, Survivor, Kindred, and Wild Seed. Kindred, among other things, is a rather shocking novel of slavery in early America, which probably should be read by every white American.”

About Schessa Garbutt (event curator)
Schessa Garbutt (they/them) is a Belizean-American designer, near-futurist writer, and founder at Firebrand. Since 2020, they have facilitated public and private arts/culture programming for organizations such as CA State Parks, IDEO, Arlington Garden, Crenshaw Dairy Mart, and more. They also design brands, websites, and events with social impact and non-profit collaborators.

About Urban Ecology Conservatory
UEC is a 501c3 advancing community-centered climate resilience, responsible environmental stewardship, and the revitalization of urban and green spaces. We support this mission with educational opportunities and publications led by artists & designers. Learn more about UEC.

About Level Ground
Level Ground is a collective tended to by members of multiple and intersecting identities. We believe artistic experimentation and collaboration, coupled with diligent organizing and action, build pathways that support ongoing efforts towards collective liberation. Our community strives to be rooted in right relationship with one another, our ancestors, our planet, and our means and economies of survival. We hope to inspire new, regenerative ways of imagining and organizing our creative and communal lives that resist extractive practices within the arts and beyond. Learn more about Level Ground.

Parking & Accessibility

There is street parking available in the neighborhood around PRS. There are limited spots available in the PRS lot for folks with access needs. The event facilities are ADA accessible.

Public Transit

Take the 180 Bus and get off at the Los Feliz/Griffith Park stop. This bus connects to the Metro B Line.

Octavia's Solstice 2026

3rd annual fan celebration of Octavia E. Butler's birthday. Presented by UEC, Curated by Firebrand

Team Members