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...
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 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) recently issued the new Wetlands Regulations. New Informational Wetlands delineation maps were also created showing areas in blue that will require a “Jurisdictional Determination” from the NYSDEC if a project is proposed within the blue areas or within 100 feet of those areas. These maps do not currently reflect potential in-lake wetland delineations. NYSDEC is working on those delineations and will update the map as they finalize them. The new maps indicate some newly designated wetland areas within Chautauqua Institution areas including around the marsh between the Woodlands and Turner Community...
The Forum Dialogues proved to be a constructive endeavor and provided the leadership of the Institution with feedback and ideas on several operational issues. This report summarizes the recommendations received and their status in terms of our current thinking. In the report below, we have organized our work to reflect four distinct categories: As mentioned in previous reports, we received a large amount of feedback, and it became clearer to us via the dialogues that different community members have different focus areas for their Chautauqua experience. That is one of the things that makes Chautauqua unique and meaningful for our...
A reminder to those who are spending the holidays at Chautauqua, there are some special events happening on the grounds for you to consider.
Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC), the resident theater company of Chautauqua Institution, announces plans for the world premiere of Tell Me You’re Dying, a CTC-commissioned work by Brooklyn-based playwright C.A. Johnson. This year marks CTC’s third consecutive year producing a world premiere, underscoring the company’s commitment to supporting fresh voices in American theater. C.A. Johnson, an emerging powerhouse known for her poignant, complex explorations of human relationships, offers audiences an unconventional tale of love and survival against an apocalyptic backdrop. The world premiere of Tell Me You’re Dying is an opportunity to experience a daring and genre-blending production — a post-apocalyptic...
Chautauqua Opera Company and Conservatory, the resident opera company and conservatory of Chautauqua Institution, announced today its 2025 season. Chautauqua Opera Company For its 2025 season, Chautauqua Opera continues its 95-year history of producing opera at Chautauqua Institution while also strengthening its commitment to developing new opera. Alongside a production of Puccini’s La bohème in Chautauqua’s Amphitheater, the company will conduct workshops of three new operas. Ranging from chamber operas to large-scale pieces, these workshops will feature Chautauqua Opera Company’s 16 Young Artists collaborating with celebrated composers and librettists. Chautauqua audiences will have the exclusive opportunity to experience these new...
Happy Sustainable Holidays! Growing up in the 70s in a large Irish Catholic family that was just one generation removed from the deprivations of the Great Depression, Christmas was a time to make up for the lean times and boy did we go big! One day wasn’t enough to open all the presents, and so we started with stockings the night before. Christmas morning was a frenzied blur of wrapping paper flying in all directions as my siblings, cousins and I tore through present after present, barely pausing to appreciate any individual gift. Americans spend over half a billion dollars...
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 —...
Chautauqua Theater Company has announced their commission and development of a musical adaptation of The Crossover, the critically acclaimed novel by New York Times best-selling author and Chautauqua Institution’s Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and writer-in-residence Kwame Alexander. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Jade King Carroll, CTC is cementing its reputation as a national home for exciting new works. Carroll’s tenure has brought a renewed focus on commissioning, developing and producing works from new and established American Playwrights. This commitment to fostering innovative storytelling is exemplified with recent commissions such as Kate Hamill‘s The Light and The Dark, C.A....
