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...
Dear Chautauquans, We learned this week of the passing of the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, our former Director of the Department of Religion and a force in the world. Joan served Chautauqua faithfully for more than a decade, assembling some of the most important preachers and prophetic voices in the world on our stages, in our pulpits and on our grounds. Joan believed, as we long have, that Chautauqua had a larger role to play in the world, and that bringing thought leaders from around the globe was only a part of the magic sauce of Chautauqua. It was when...
The Chautauqua Institution Board of Trustees today announced that Laurie A. Branch, who currently serves as chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, has been elected to succeed Candace L. Maxwell as board chair. This appointment is effective Oct. 1, 2025, when Maxwell will have completed three consecutive two-year terms as chair, which is the maximum allowed under the board’s bylaws. Branch is a fourth-generation Chautauquan and a lifelong summer resident of the Institution grounds. A resident of Longboat Key, Florida, and originally from Olean, New York, Branch is CEO and President of Ironpeak, one of the oldest and largest...
Wonder Winterland? Chautauqua explores the impact of climate change on winter recreation economies As someone who prefers Boots over Birkenstocks, there’s nothing I love more than snow — and lots of it! Chautauqua in winter is a wonderland, revealing a whole new world of skiing, skating, ice fishing and snowmobiling that might seem alien to those who visit Chautauqua primarily in the temperate months. One of my fondest memories of Chautauqua is skiing the length of frozen Chautauqua Lake on a clear crisp quiet winter morning in 2022 with then-Chautauqua Lake Program Manager Toby Shepherd. But just two winters later,...
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...
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (March 11, 2025) — In a joint announcement to the Chautauqua community today, Institution Board of Trustees Chair Candace L. Maxwell and Institution President Michael E. Hill, Ed.D., announced President Hill will leave his role as Chautauqua’s 18th president May 31, 2025. ”My eight-plus years in service to Chautauqua have been among the most rewarding and challenging of my career,” Hill said. “…it has been the honor of a lifetime to work alongside the talented Chautauqua team to advance our mission.” Hill said he is leaving his post as Institution president to accept the position of president at...
“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...
Landscapes of Hope Ten summers ago, in the aptly named Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone National Park, I witnessed a remarkable sight. A North American Pronghorn walked across an open field and down to the Yellowstone River. What’s so remarkable about that? Well, let me tell you. Pronghorn are one of North America’s most impressive mammals. They have the longest land migration in the continental U.S. and are the fastest land animal in North America, attaining speeds close to 60 miles per hour. It is believed this impressive speed resulted from the pronghorn evolving alongside its principal predator, the North...
Chautauqua Institution 2024 Annual Report Introduction The 150th anniversary of our storied institution, celebrated in 2024, had long been a milestone we eagerly anticipated. It offered the opportunity to honor the Institution’s significant influence and impact, not only in the history of the United States but well beyond its borders. We anchored our anniversary year with the theme The Seasons and Stories of Chautauqua, which came to life through multiple recognitions of Chautauqua’s seasons. These included the publication of “Chautauqwhat? A Short History of a Place and an Idea” by Archivist and Historian Jon Schmitz (now in its second edition), a reenactment of...
