Dear Chautauquans,

Next week is Thanksgiving, and I owe you all a big thank you. Not only do you gather every weekday morning each summer as the most engaged and thoughtful audience around, you are uncommonly generous in sharing your ideas, suggestions and connections with us as we move through our yearly planning cycles. Planning and executing a 45-lecture series is truly a community effort, and it is an honor and a privilege to steward that process and shape our storied Chautauqua Lecture Series platform. We of course are right in the thick of that work for 2026, with much still to be confirmed and announced, and we always welcome fresh ideas for themes, topics and speakers to animate our stages — select the “Provide Program Ideas” button at 2026.chq.org. In just a few short weeks, a cross-departmental leadership team here will gather to begin dreaming about 2027 — the work never ceases! And what exciting and meaningful work it is.

Also in the coming weeks we’re preparing some major announcements for the 2026 Chautauqua Lecture Series as we gear up for ticket and gate pass sales. Hopefully you have noted that we will be joined across the summer by such luminaries as Chuck Todd, Jason Riley, Ken Burns, Jeffrey Rosen and Priya Parker. I’m excited for you to hear who we will add to that list. Additionally we will soon have prominent names to share within weeks we’re programming in collaboration with institutional partners, including a second edition of 2025’s wildly popular joint week with AEI and Brookings, and our season-closing week with Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

So, in addition to my gratitude for your ideas, suggestions and connections, I want to extend one final offer of thanks. Nothing we do on Chautauqua’s stages matters if you don’t show up, engage, and take what you hear and learn back to your home communities, to improve your own lives and your neighbors’. When speakers unfamiliar with Chautauqua ask me to describe all of you, I tell them, “It’s an audience of folks who are vacation — and enthusiastically attending 50-minute lectures.” It’s a bit of a laugh line, but it’s certainly true! I promise them that they will encounter at Chautauqua the most engaged audience they’ve ever experienced. Thank you for delivering on that promise every morning, every summer.

In August I heard from a first-time 2025 Chautauqua lecturer who had just returned home, reflecting on her experience: “I’ve been a part of a number of live event spaces — from Aspen to Asheville, from Bloomberg to Axios — I can say honestly I’ve never been a part of anything like Chautauqua.” That’s a testament to my colleagues’ diligence in planning and execution, and especially to you all, for creating such a welcoming community environment.

A very warm and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Best regards,

Jordan Steves
Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education