Alexa Carr '26: Saying Yes to the Arts

Alexa Carr is a senior majoring in Sociology with a concentration in Work and Organizations, along with a certificate in Decision Sciences and a minor in Cinematic Arts. As president of the Duke Film Club, she leads the annual Duke Independent Film Festival. She has spent semesters studying with Duke in L.A. and in Prague. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Delta and her senior honors thesis, “Lights, Camera, Interaction: Exploring the Impact of Audience Experience on Film Perception,” brings together her interests in sociology and film. After graduation, Carr will return to New York City to work as a Creative and Executive Assistant at Safe Space Pictures. 

With commencement on the horizon, Carr reflects on her time at Duke, the experiences that shaped her, and the lessons she hopes to carry forward. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Is there a moment, experience, class or person at Duke that changed you?  

At the start of my freshman year, I joined the production team for the on-campus musical, which was something completely new to me. Through Hoof ’N’ Horn and the Duke Theater Department, I was able to put my love for the arts into practice in a way I hadn’t before. 

Chauntee’ Schuler Irving, who directed Duke’s production of Rent in Spring 2023, became a mentor and source of inspiration. Watching her lead with creativity and conviction while balancing life as a working actress and mother showed me that a career in the creative industry was not only possible, but meaningful. That experience gave me the confidence to pursue film production after graduation. 

Is there a part of yourself that you discovered or reclaimed during your time at Duke? 

Getting involved in theater and joining Duke Film Club helped me reclaim my passion for the arts. Those experiences led me to spend my sophomore spring in Los Angeles with the Duke in L.A. program, where I met an incredible group of likeminded students, connected with DEMAN alumni and secured my first internship in the industry. 

My path at Duke ultimately diverged from what I outlined in my “Why Duke” essay, but that shift allowed me to embrace both my creative interests and my academic ones. My senior thesis — on how audience experience shapes film perception — became a way to bring those worlds together. 

What advice or message would you give to your first-year self or to an incoming first-year at Duke? 

Give yourself permission to not have everything figured out. Everyone is adjusting, even if it doesn’t always look that way. 

Be open to trying things you never expected. Saying ‘yes’ early on can help you discover what truly excites you. At the same time, learn when to say no. Once you’ve explored, focus your time and energy on the experiences that genuinely matter to you. 

As you prepare to graduate, what are you most grateful for from your time at Duke? 

I’m most grateful for the friendships I’ve built here. It took time, but I feel lucky to have found people who have grown alongside me during such a formative period of our lives. 

As one of my friends once said: “We are living in a memory.” I know I’ll look back on this time with deep fondness for the people who made Duke feel like home — and I’m excited to carry those relationships with me into what comes next.