Tag: films

creativity

Remembering Robert Redford, an expert storyteller and nature ally

Christa Avampato
Robert Redford. From https://www.livingwithwolves.org/about/robert-redford/

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Robert Redford this morning. When I was an undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania, he came to campus to explore a film and storytelling partnership between the university, the West Philadelphia community, and his Sundance Institute. I remember seeing him from a distance and immediately noticing that there was a light about him, a kind of magical aura that emanated from his smile and ease of being. 

In addition to championing filmmaking and storytelling, he was also incredibly passionate about the environment. He was a lifelong advocate for nature, beginning his activism in the 1970s by using his celebrity to promote causes like protecting air and water, and later founding the Redford Center to use storytelling to expand environmentalism. He spoke at the United Nations about climate change, was recognized by TIME magazine as a “Hero of the Environment” in 2007, and served for decades on the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC’s Southern California headquarters in Santa Monica is named The Robert Redford Building to honor his long-standing support for the organization as a board member and environmental activist.

While we remember his outstanding career as an actor, director, writer, and producer, I’ll continue to hold him up as an example of someone who knew early on that storytelling was the key to protecting our planet and used his talents to further that mission. May we all carry forward his remarkable and beautiful legacy. 

creativity

Why we create art—inspired by the words of Scottish actor, Robbie Coltrane

Christa Avampato
Photo by Allison Batley on Unsplash

“50 years on, my children’s children will sit down to watch these [Harry Potter] films. Sadly, I won’t be here. But Hagrid will.” -Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor

This is the most true thing I’ve ever read about art and the motivation of artists. It’s our chance to be immortal, to get down stories and put them out into the world. They will be here long after we’re gone. Someone will see them or read them or hear them and a part of us will be there. Our energy, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our disappointments, our joy.

It will mean something to someone across space and time who we never had the honor to meet on this plane. And maybe they will feel less alone.

They will find in our art someone like them, someone who validates everything they’re feeling, someone who makes them feel seen and heard, who helps them see that they matter. Art is the gift that never stops giving. It becomes our home, in the truest sense of the word, the place where we will always belong.

This week we lost Robbie Coltrane, the actor who immortalized Hagrid, a character who is dear to so many of us. His memory lives on in his work and his art.