This June, something magical happened at Chautauqua Institution.  More than 800 students from across Chautauqua County arrived on grounds — not just for a field trip, but for a full-sensory, full-hearted adventure. Through the Explore Chautauqua Field Trips, students from Dunkirk, Fredonia, Jamestown, Bemus Point and Chautauqua Lake stepped into a world where learning comes alive, creativity is celebrated, and every child is invited to see the world — and themselves — a little differently.  Chautauqua in a Day  These experiences included color, texture and imagination at Chautauqua’s Visual Arts Galleries. Under the guidance of Susan and John Turben Director...

This May, hallways in Chautauqua County echoed with something unexpected: the soaring sounds of Mozart, the laughter of children, and yes — even a few theatrical howls.  In a spirited collaboration between Chautauqua Arts Education and the Chautauqua Opera Company, the Opera in the Schools program returned for its fifth year, bringing live opera to more than 3,000 elementary school students across the region. Eleven schools participated in this year’s tour, which featured Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf — a clever adaptation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni by librettist Joshua Borths.  In this version, Mozart’s music becomes the backdrop...

In this year’s Young Playwrights Project (YPP), third and fourth grade students from eight schools across Chautauqua County sent in over 520 plays that shared their original stories. In early April, over 40 Institution staff and Chautauqua community volunteers formed Play Reading groups and rehearsed. They then traveled to the schools to stage play readings in their classrooms, bringing the students’ words and ideas to life. Joined by Chautauqua Arts Education’s team of talented teaching artists — led by Alex Nader and including Andrew Barbato, Emily Olcott, Gaby Hornig, Marissa Miller and Marty Miller — every student got to hear their...

Since 2016, Chautauqua Institution has partnered with the Jamestown Public Schools and Chautauqua Lake Central Schools to bring nationally renowned workshop leaders to provide teachers with professional development workshops to hundreds of teachers in Chautauqua County. During the 2024–2025 school year alone, over 200 teachers and hundreds of students have benefited from this program.   The arts are increasingly seen by the New York State Education Department as a valuable means to encourage and enrich learning for students. Through an arts integrated approach, students have not only learned core subject area skills alongside arts skills, but they’ve demonstrated their learning through...

“The mind of an adult begins in the mind of a child.”   Award-winning poet, educator, publisher, producer, and Chautauqua Institution’s Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts Kwame Alexander said this during his conversation with Aaron Dworkin in the closing plenary at SphinxConnect this past January. It was at Chautauqua last summer (2024) where Alexander met Aaron Dworkin, founder of the Sphinx Organization, who was at Chautauqua to give the morning lecture in the Amphitheater.  SphinxConnect is the largest and longest-standing global convening dedicated to excellence and inclusion in the arts. The conversation between Alexander and Dworkin centered around Alexander’s deep...

Chautauqua Institution announced today that Chautauqua Arts Education has been awarded a $60,000 grant from The Children’s Guild Foundation (CGF) to support its arts education programming for students with disabilities. This generous award will support programming over three years, providing sustained support for program offerings and adaptations that foster greater accessibility and engagement for students of all abilities.   The CGF is a longstanding supporter of organizations serving children with disabilities throughout Western New York, including an interest in supporting educational initiatives. For more information about the CGF and its work, visit www.cg.foundation. This latest grant award reflects a continued partnership...

As winter settles over Chautauqua County this January, the Young Playwrights Project (YPP) is once again breathing life into classrooms across the region, marking its eleventh year of empowering young minds through the art of storytelling. For 2025, the program has expanded its reach, now serving eight schools and bringing the magic of playwriting to 33 third and fourth grade classrooms. The participating schools include Bush, Fletcher, Lincoln, Love, and Ring Elementary Schools in Jamestown; Chautauqua Lake Elementary School in Mayville; Clymer Central School in Clymer; and Hewes BOCES Educational Center in Ashville.  At its core,YPP is all about inspiring...

The 2024–25 school year has brought exciting growth in the Chautauqua Arts Education School Residency program, Feelin’ the Beat. This program was created for students with disabilities to support social emotional learning goals and to develop musical expression through drumming. Over time, the program has expanded to support students who have different kinds of learning challenges, many of whom were impacted by the effect of the pandemic on their learning experience.  This program has been offered since 2014 when it started by serving two schools. Fast forward 10 years and the program will be in 15 schools this year —...

In July 2024, Chautauqua Institution’s Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright presented at the Kennedy Center’s ED@LEAD Conference. This event is an outgrowth of the Kennedy Center’s LEAD (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability)Conference. Fassett-Wright lead a session titled “Feelin’ the Beat: Where Drumming and Social Emotional Learning Meet,” sharing out about the Chautauqua Arts Education School Residencies drumming program. This program was developed originally to serve students with disabilities, integrating music and social emotional skill learning. However, it became clear with so many students struggling with social emotional skills due to the pandemic, many schools have been hosting this...

Chautauqua Arts Education is gearing up for another exciting school year. It promises to be a year of growth, engaging in more schools, strengthening partnerships and impacting students more broadly and deeply than ever before.  Resident Teaching Artist Stephanie Dawson has been hard at work, scheduling the Feelin’ the Beat school residency, a drumming program. Over the course of the school year, we will be welcoming four new schools to the program, expanding to two new Little Seeds Preschool locations in Sinclairville and Fredonia, and two new schools in Dunkirk, bringing the total number of schools served to 14 this...