Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), the professional theater company of Chautauqua Institution, is proud to announce its full 2026 season featuring fully produced productions, new play readings and the expansion of its FutureNow program to includes two staged new play workshops. Anchored by two mainstage productions — a CTC commissioned world premiere and the remount of a classic solo piece — the season expands its legacy of developing new work and training the next generation of theater artists. This summer, CTC will present six new works at varying stages of development, offering audiences a unique opportunity to engage with new plays...
Emerging Writer to Give Lecture, Reading of Winning Work on Aug.12 In another record-breaking year for submissions, Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce “Name, Place, Animal, Thing” by Hassaan Mirza as the winner of the 2026 Chautauqua Janus Prize. “Name, Place, Animal, Thing” was selected from 10 finalists as the winner by this year’s guest judge Deborah Miranda, who described the short story as “an elegiac, exquisitely crafted piece of fiction that encompasses both personal and global grief, as well as the way such grief taxes sanity and a sense of identity.” As the 2026 prize recipient, Mirza will receive $5,000, plus travel and lodging...
Chautauqua Institution announced that its 17th annual Buffalo Day will take place on Tuesday, August 25, welcoming residents of the Buffalo region for a full day of engagement, celebration and community centered experiences. The day will feature special programming by IMAGINE Greater Buffalo. Buffalo Day is a longstanding tradition that celebrates the deep and enduring relationship between Buffalo and Chautauqua. Now in its 17th year, the event invites Buffalo‑area residents to experience a wide range of cultural, educational and artistic offerings while enjoying a day designed to encourage exploration, connection and participation across the grounds. In addition to regularly scheduled events, Buffalo Day will feature special programming curated to reflect...
Chautauqua Literary Arts and the Department of Education at Chautauqua Institution are pleased to announce 10 finalists for the 2026 Chautauqua Janus Prize. To be awarded this summer for the ninth time, the Janus Prize has enjoyed a steady increase in interest among emerging writers, and for 2026 saw another record-breaking number of submissions. This year, 281 writers entered work to be considered for the Janus Prize, an annual award that seeks to celebrate an emerging writer’s single work of short fiction or nonfiction for daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations. The 10 finalists for the 2026 Janus Prize and their works are: Marguerite Alley, “Dogsbody” Andres Cordoba, “Animals in...
YWCA Jamestown and Chautauqua Institution are pleased to announce the fifth annual Chautauqua County Book Read, a countywide initiative inviting all Chautauqua County residents to participate in a shared reading experience. This year’s book selection is Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle’s (CLSC) “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority” by Marie Arana. The Chautauqua County Book Read engages county residents, businesses, nonprofits, and organizations in meaningful dialogue. It is designed to help heal our divides and propel participants to become engaged citizens working toward a more inclusive and just society. Participants are invited to take part in online and in‑person book discussion groups hosted across Chautauqua County during the following dates: ...
Institution, CSO Reach New Contract Agreement Chautauqua Institution today announced the 2026 season of its resident Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (CSO), alongside a new three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the orchestra’s musicians and a shared commitment to raising endowment funds for the orchestra. The agreement, covering 2026 through 2028, maintains musician compensation while supporting the Institution’s focus on long-term financial sustainability and audience development. It was negotiated following the Institution’s fall 2025 announcement of $5.7 million in operating budget expense reductions affecting all departments and activities. Under the new agreement, guaranteed CSO services are reduced from 52 to 46, resulting...
Chautauqua Institution today proudly announced a cohort of distinguished guest judges for the 2026 Chautauqua Prize: Oliver de la Paz, Glory Edim, Jillian Hanesworth, and Kao Kalia Yang. The foursome will serve as an independent jury that determines this year’s Chautauqua Prize-winning book and finalist selections. Awarded annually since 2012, the Prize celebrates a book of fiction, literary/narrative nonfiction, or poetry that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. Books published in 2025 were accepted as submissions for the 2026 Prize from September to December 2025. The 2026 Prize finalists and award-winning book will be selected by the independent jury from a longlist of 373 entries read and reviewed by 141 volunteer Chautauquans who are writers, publishers, educators, editors, librarians, and avid readers. A familiar...
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...
Chautauqua Institution’s YouTube channel is introducing a new membership structure designed to strengthen the sustainability of our digital programming and make it easier for viewers to choose their level of access. You know the value of Chautauqua’s programming — and we heard you, time and time again in recent months, when you said that the ability to experience that programming online is important to you. Now, we’re asking for your help in securing the future of this work and the experience of Chautauqua at your fingertips. The easiest way to do that is to join at the sustaining membership level,...
Chautauqua Institution has named Stephine Hunt Interim Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts, starting on Jan. 1, 2026. This comes following her impactful tenure as manager, and then managing director, of literary arts, where she has played a key role in shaping the Institution’s literary programming alongside the outgoing artistic director, Kwame Alexander. As interim director, Hunt will oversee programming of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the platform that honors at least nine outstanding books of fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry with community discussions and author presentations every summer — and which celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2028; the...
