Robert Redford’s Passion, Priorities, and Third Place

Image of the Sundance Resort by Spencer Plouzek via Unsplash.

Earlier this week, Robert Redford passed away. Well-deserved tributes have been pouring in honoring his artistic contributions, his advocacy, and his generous spirit. Yet I believe that one overlooked aspect of his legacy is more important now than ever. From the earliest origins of his career, Redford instinctively understood the value of a third place.

In 1961, Robert Redford began to plant roots in a canyon amidst the mountains of Utah. The parcels of land he amassed would eventually come to anchor the Sundance Institute, the Sundance Resort, and the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival. His purchases thwarted hungry developers who had other plans for the area. In time, Redford’s own vision for the land coalesced: it would be a sacred space to champion the arts and the environment. It would be a space to build community. It would be a space endowed with the resources necessary to nurture creativity.

Sundance would ultimately become a model of the endangered spaces we risk losing in this era of digital connection, siloed belief systems, and increasingly isolated lives. It would become a third place.

When we think of artists engaging creatively, we often ask them about their routine and their plans and their vision. We ask them less about their community. And we rarely ask them that most practical, logistical inquiry: but where do you go to meet connect with like-minded people?

Redford, for all of his myriad legacies, understood that passion requires a place.

”I’ve always had a visceral sense of place, Redford told Architectural Digest. “I know instinctively where I feel at home and where I don’t, but I can’t say why.” For the whole of his life, Redford was enthralled by Utah’s cinematic, ever-changing landscape. He valued it not only for its beauty but also for the values of the Native Americans who inhabited the terrain first. After that first blush moment with the landscape that would become his forever home, Redford did the most remarkable, rare thing: he invited people into it.

Still of Robert Redford for the television airing of “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here.” NBC Television. 1971. Wikimedia Commons.

Third places are those communal spaces we go to by choice, rather than by necessity. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first coined the term “third place” in his book, The Great Good Place. While our first place is home and our second might be work or school, a third place is a spot that encourages social interaction. Our public libraries, our museums, and our parks are excellent examples of third places. But third places can be privately owned, too - I think of the gathering area by my local coffee truck as a favorite third place. Ditto for the sweetest bookstore imaginable near my home.

Above all, third places are welcoming spaces where we are encouraged to stay. They are not ours - but with enough of an investment of time, they will come to feel like a cherished home away from home. Third places, like the YMCA, have been scientifically proven to increase students' performance in school and to support their mental health. For adults, third places play a similarly key role in increasing a sense of connection to others and in offering a reprieve from responsibilities. We are all healthier for our third places.

Significantly, Redford designed his third place with a value system in mind. His efforts to promote creativity and to cultivate art with an environmental impact quickly drew others who shared his vision. He wasn’t focused on the outcome so much as the process. Because his sincere intentions resonated so widely, his Sundance initiatives soon bore fruit.

“I wanted to have a sense of place, I wanted to have a sense of home, I wanted to have a sense of community,” Redford said. “I wanted to be able to do projects that were different from the run of the mill. That’s how this thing started.”

Redford’s vision, in which he created a more integrated, artistic community by offering artists a third place to connect, should be a lesson for creatives everywhere. May we all realize the kind of success that nudges us toward inclusion. May we all make space (maybe even a third place) for that sort of legacy.