By Michael E. HillPresident, Chautauqua Institution Summer is a time of rituals for me. As President of the 146-year-old Chautauqua Institution located on 750 acres about an hour and 20 minutes south of Buffalo, my summer is usually a highly scripted affair. Over nine weeks, Chautauqua explores the best in human values through some 3,000 individual events. Ours is a storied institution replete with traditions and a sing song routine for those of us called to be stewards of this special place. On a normal June 15, which is when I am writing this, we would be preparing to receive more than 100,000...
Virtual Young Artist Program and nine weeks of digital operatic content to be released on Chautauqua Institution’s new online platform The Chautauqua Opera Company, following the suspension of all face-to-face programming at Chautauqua Institution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been working diligently to rebuild a socially distanced 2020 company this summer. Honoring the company’s commitment to support the artists and artisans who were to make up the physical 2020 company, Chautauqua Opera has engaged more than 40 company members who will come together virtually to create nine weeks of digital operatic content. In addition to creating digital content,...
Like everyone else, I have been watching the events of the past week with a mix of horror and pride: horror that we still live in a society that perpetuates systemic racism, hatred and cruelty, and pride that people who refuse to accept this are standing up and making their voices heard. At Chautauqua, we have been sharing the words of speakers who have given their lives to dismantling systemic racism as a way to shine a light on what we think we can all do to make a better society. This is the mission of Chautauqua: to put a...
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to share that a panel of experts and USA Today 10Best editors have chosen Chautauqua as a nominee for their 2020 Readers’ Choice award for the “Best Small Town Cultural Scene” category. The public is invited to vote daily from June 1 to June 28 for Chautauqua, one of 20 nominees. All votes can be submitted by individuals who are at least 18 years old by going to 10best.com/awards. USA Today’s 10Best.com provides users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the...
Dear Chautauquans, My heart aches for the hurt in our nation. The recent headlines remind me how much work we all need to do to heal divisions. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are hurting during this scary time as old systemic wounds of racism are again laid bare, a reminder that they are unresolved and unattended to, all while we grapple with a virus that has leveled the world. It is at moments like these that I search for words to make sense of what is simply senseless. Words fail me right now, but they do...
Author Will Give Reading as Part of Chautauqua’s 2020 Online Assembly Chautauqua Institution is proud to announce Petina Gappah’s Out of Darkness, Shining Light (Scribner) as the 2020 winner of The Chautauqua Prize. As author of the winning book, Gappah receives $7,500, and will be presented with the Prize — and give a public reading — during a celebratory event at a date to be determined as part of Chautauqua Institution’s online assembly season this summer. A powerful novel of exploration and adventure in 19th-century Africa, Out of Darkness, Shining Light is a captivating story of those who carried explorer and...
Author Will Give Lecture, Reading as Part of Chautauqua’s 2020 Online Assembly Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce “Reality Marble” by Joseph Earl Thomas as the 2020 winner of the Chautauqua Janus Prize. As the author selected from 16 finalists by judge Hilary Plum, Thomas receives $5,000 and will present a public lecture and reading at a celebratory event at a date to be determined as part of Chautauqua Institution’s online assembly season this summer. His writing will also appear in a future issue of the literary journal Chautauqua. Hailing from Philadelphia, Thomas is a doctoral student in English at...
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce seven exceptional books as the 2020 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize, now in its ninth year: Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey, by Mikhal Dekel (W.W. Norton) What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance, by Carolyn Forché (Penguin Press) Out of Darkness, Shining Light, by Petina Gappah (Scribner) Feast Your Eyes, by Myla Goldberg (Scribner) The Parisian, by Isabella Hammad (Grove Press) Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, by Imani Perry (Beacon Press) Bangkok Wakes to Rain, by Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Riverhead Books) The winning book will be selected from...
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Borba and Managing Director Sarah Clare Corporandy, confirmed today that it will cancel its on-grounds programming for the summer 2020 season. “The coronavirus has affected every one of our lives in big and small ways. A year ago when we programmed our 2020 Season we had no idea how the world would change,” Corporandy said. “While we lament not being with our Chautauqua Institution community on grounds, or hiring back our entire staff, we are looking forward to the challenges and successes of presenting theater in...
To Our Chautauqua Opera Community— The Board of Trustees of the Chautauqua Institution met yesterday for its quarterly meeting with the primary agenda being to determine the Institution’s course of action for the 2020 Summer Assembly. Michael Hill, president of the Chautauqua Institution, has released a communication addressing the Board’s decision which includes the suspension of all in-person programming at the Institution this summer. Thus, it is with a heavy heart that I write to announce that the Chautauqua Opera Company’s 2020 season will be canceled. For 90 consecutive summers, Chautauquans have gathered in Norton Hall to celebrate opera’s rich...