Caroline “Cina” Alexander Forgason ’73 Helen Cudahy Niblack ’42 Art Series Lecturer April. Her visit gave us an opportunity to catch up with the San Antonio resident. Rara Avis: John James Audubon and the Birds of America came to Foxcroft as part of the Helen Cudahy Niblack ’42 Arts Lecture Series, which had as its theme for the 201516 school year, ”Inspired by Nature.” Cina and the writer/director of the film, Academy Award-nominated Al Reinert, spent the day talking about their careers — conservation for Cina and journalism and film-making for Al — and answering questions from the girls. In the evening, Foxcroft hosted a screening of their film that was open to the public. More than 400 people came — the largest screening of the film so far — to learn more about the life of Audubon, his remarkable art, his trailblazing conservationism, and his exploration of largely uncharted land.
By Terry Meyer, Assistant Director for Stewardship Perhaps it’s because her family is responsible for the stewardship of more than 800,000 acres in south Texas (known as King Ranch). Perhaps it’s simply a passion she was born with, but Caroline ”Cina” Alexander Forgason ’73 has been interested in preserving the environment and the wildlife in it for her entire life. As a child, she wanted to start her own local Audubon Society chapter; as an adult, she has served on the boards of various conservation organizations and worked on several conservation efforts. Most recently, Cina produced a beautiful and important film on the life of John James Audubon, which she brought to Foxcroft’s campus in
Making the film was a personal mission for Cina. Two artist friends who had been inspired by Audubon and who had studied everything about him — his life, the way he painted, his travels — ”really brought him to life” for her, says Cina. When her friends both passed away, Cina says, ”I thought, ‘Who’s going to tell this tale?’” As it turns out, Cina was. For several reasons, she was the perfect person to bring Audubon to life for others the way her friends had done for her. She had years of experience working on bird conservation efforts, including The Peregrine Fund, an organization dedicated to conserving birds of prey. The peregrine is Cina’s favorite bird — ”It’s the fastest creature on earth, has the widest geographic range of any creature on earth and has had a remarkable comeback
since the ‘60s and ‘70s,” she explains — and it owes its continued existence to the efforts of The Peregrine Fund, which started in 1970. Cina’s abiding interest in art also was valuable as it provided the inspiration for the beautiful and artistic cinematography so important to conveying Audubon’s innovative approach to his art. Her business management abilities came into play as well, because acquiring the necessary funding for the film required that she establish a nonprofit to receive donations. ”When you’re doing something like this, you need people to do more than one thing and be able to dig in and pitch in to do whatever needs to be done,” says Cina, whose film credit as producer only touches on the many hats she wore during the long process of bringing Rara Avis to fruition. ”That’s what is at the heart of any project you’re passionate about. You have to have that kind of energy behind you. ” The passion and energy radiated in the finished product, and the audience at the April screening at Foxcroft’s Athletic/ Student Center was enthralled. Mission accomplished.
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To learn more about Rara Avis, check out audubonthefilm.com. The show, Audubon, will air on WETA in the spring of 2017. Check your local PBS station.
Spring /Summer 2016 29
Alumna Profile
Conservationist for Life