![A lecture in the amphitheater, a little girl and her grandma playing with bubbles and a view of the Amphitheater during an evening performance](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/EducationWednesdays_Banner-scaled.jpg)
Education Wednesdays
Every Wednesday of the season, Chautauqua County students, faculty, administration and staff get free admission! Bring your school issued ID, report card, or homeschooling approval paperwork to the Main Gate Ticketing Center to get your gate pass and enjoy the day!
Activities on-grounds are great for all ages! Join us for weekly Wednesday events:
- Play CHQ activities from 12–2 p.m. and 4–6 p.m.
- CLSC Young Reader Book Discussions and activity at Alumni Hall at 12:15 p.m.
Come explore the Chautauqua Visual Arts Galleries, enjoy lectures, evening entertainment and more!
Featured Events
![Aaron Dworkin](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Dworkin_Aaron_CLS_073124.jpg)
![Aaron Dworkin](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Dworkin_Aaron_CLS_073124.jpg)
Aaron Dworkin
The founder of the Sphinx Organization and the Institute for Poetjournalism, Aaron Dworkin is a social entrepreneur, celebrated author and artist. In a presentation titled “Lessons in Gratitude: Excellence, Representation, and the Transformative Power of the Arts,” Dworkin returns to the Amphitheater stage as part of the Chautauqua Lecture Series’ Week Six to discuss the impact of diversity and representation in classical music and the enduring power of empowered artists as leaders in our society.
Dworkin is former dean and current Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. A 2005 MacArthur Fellow and President Barack Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts, Dworkin is a member of President Joe Biden’s Arts Policy Committee and originated the term “poetjournalism” which is defined as “the research, creation, and distribution of writing that evokes an emotional connection to news related subjects or other relevant ideas utilizing elements of sound, meter, rhythm and/or creative illustration.” He is the author of The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives, along with two poetry collections, two memoirs, a children’s book, and a science fiction novel.
Dworkin is a member of the Recording Academy, the Academy of American Poets and the American Academy of Arts; among his honors are the National Governors Association Distinguished Service to State Government Award, BET’s History Makers in the Making Award and Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, with a Bachelors and Masters of Music in Violin Performance.
This program is made possible by Week Six Presenting Sponsors AHN Westfield and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and by The National Endowment for the Humanities Fund.
![Gibney Company](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Gibney-1.jpg)
![Gibney Company](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Gibney-1.jpg)
Gibney Company
Gina Gibney, a nationally recognized leader and entrepreneur in the field of arts and social justice, is the Founder, Director, and CEO of Gibney, a New York City-based arts organization dedicated to dance and social action. Gina Gibney is known for pioneering innovative new programs which connect the arts with the broader community. Her work has impacted the lives of thousands of domestic violence survivors through programs like Move to Move Beyond, an evidence-based program that offers the transformative power of movement to survivors of gender-based violence and their families. Her Moving Toward Justice incubator uses art as a tool for activism and social impact with a focus on entrepreneurship, social engagement, and mobilization alongside artistry. Other innovative programs include the Dance in Process (DiP) Residency. One of the first programs of its kind, DiP provides extensive, holistic support for mid-career New York-based dance artists who are in the middle stages of work on a new project.
Program:
Bach Duet
The Fugue
Vukani
This performance is made possible by The Moore Fund for Dance.
![Sandra M. Clark](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Clark_Sandra_CLS_080724.jpg)
![Sandra M. Clark](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Clark_Sandra_CLS_080724.jpg)
Sandra M. Clark
Sandra M. Clark is a leading voice in journalism and beyond, challenging norms and practices that create barriers to building trust and meaningful, sustainable connections with communities. Clark took the helm at StoryCorps as CEO in 2022, advancing the award-winning organization’s mission: to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. It is this work and this mission that brings Clark to the Amphitheater stage for a week dedicated to “Wonder and Awe — A Week Celebrating Chautauqua’s Sesquicentennial,” as she contemplates on the power of storytelling to inspire wonder and awe in listeners, readers and viewers.
Prior to joining StoryCorps in early 2022, Clark was vice president for news and civic dialogue at WHYY in Philadelphia. There, she led the station’s news operation across all platforms and was at the forefront of expanding and diversifying its audiences and outreach to communities. Her innovative approaches to collaborating with grassroots information providers garnered national recognition. In addition, Clark worked with teams to grow revenue and build membership while amplifying the station’s branding and positioning. As managing editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer prior to joining WHYY, Clark was a member of both the executive and newsroom leadership team and led the paper to a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
A contributing trainer and mentor for the Maynard Institute, Clark has served on the board of the News Leaders Association and the advisory board for the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication.
This program is made possible by The Arnold and Jill Bellowe Lectureship.
![Rabbi Josh Feigelson](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Feigelson_Josh_interfaith_photo_8-7-24.jpg)
![Rabbi Josh Feigelson](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Feigelson_Josh_interfaith_photo_8-7-24.jpg)
Rabbi Josh Feigelson
Rabbi Josh Feigelson, PhD has served as President & CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality since February 2020. He received ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in 2005 and served for six years as the Hillel Rabbi at Northwestern University, where he also earned a doctorate in Religious Studies. In 2011, Josh helped found and served as Executive Director of Ask Big Questions, an initiative of Hillel International, which won the inaugural Lippman-Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. Most recently he served as Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Josh is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and was the founding co-chair of the Wener Fellowship Alumni Committee. He is the author of Eternal Questions: Reflections, Conversations, and Jewish Mindfulness Practices for the Weekly Torah Portion (Ben Yehuda Press, 2022) and the host of “Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day,” a podcast co-produced by Unpacked and IJS. Josh lives with his wife Natalie and their three sons in Skokie, IL.
This program is made possible by The Jack and Elizabeth Gellman and Zaretsky Family Fund.
August 14 @ 10:45 am Week Eight (August 10–17)
Agustina “Tati” Besada & Rachael Zoe Miller
Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly
![Agustina “Tati” Besada & Rachael Zoe Miller](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Besada_Miller_CLS_081424.jpg)
![Agustina “Tati” Besada & Rachael Zoe Miller](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Besada_Miller_CLS_081424.jpg)
Agustina “Tati” Besada & Rachael Zoe Miller
Advocates of plastic pollution prevention and National Geographic Explorers Agustina “Tati” Besada and Rachael Zoe Miller join the Chautauqua Lecture Series and its week in partnership with National Geographic, “Water: Crisis, Beauty and Necessity” to share stories of their work in entrepreneurship, science and conservation.
Agustina “Tati” Besada is a sustainability entrepreneur and advocate of plastic pollution prevention. Besada crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a 36-foot sailboat — twice — to research ocean plastics and study international scalable solutions. She transformed this adventure into action co-founding Unplastify, a social enterprise on a mission to change the human relationship with plastic, accelerating systemic change to minimize the use of single-use-plastic. Based in Latin America, Unplastify works on educational programs with youth, transformative projects with companies, and advocacy for new public policies with governments.
Besada also works with NGOs, governments, and regional platforms to promote responsible production systems, resource efficiency, and circular economy. She previously served as the executive director of Sure We Can, a sustainability hub and recycling center in New York City that employs a community of 500 urban collectors and diverts tons of valuable materials from landfills.
Besada was trained as an industrial designer, received a Master in Science in sustainability management from Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and completed an executive program on entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School. She became a National Geographic Explorer in 2018 and has been an Ashoka Fellow since 2021.
Rachael Zoe Miller is a National Geographic Explorer, inventor and Explorers Club Fellow working to protect the ocean through expedition-based science, conservation and storytelling. She is the founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean, a nonprofit addressing marine debris through cleanup, education, innovation and solutions-based research. She is also a co-inventor of the Cora Ball, the world’s first microfiber-catching laundry ball, and sea life artist for Coraclip, a renewable alternative to wasteful virgin-to-landfill plastic bag clips.
Miller leads teams on expeditions whose results are published in peer-reviewed journals and experiences translated into education programs; recent expeditions include sampling the entire Hudson River for microplastics in the air, water and soil; microplastic sampling from onboard the E/V Nautilus in the Hawaiian Archipelago; and research in the Arctic and Antarctic with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic as a Visiting Explorer/Scientist.
She and her team have received multiple awards and recognition, including Best VideoRay PR Story for using ROVs to find and remove marine debris, being named an Ocean Exemplar by World Ocean Observatory, and winner of the Most Innovative Idea in Microplastics from Think Beyond Plastic.
This program is made possible by The Boyle Family Lectureship Fund.
![Elyse Goldstein](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Goldstein_Dr.-Elyse_interfaith_8.14.24.jpg)
![Elyse Goldstein](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Goldstein_Dr.-Elyse_interfaith_8.14.24.jpg)
Elyse Goldstein
Rabbi Dr. Elyse Goldstein is the founding Rabbi of City Shul, a Reform congregation in downtown Toronto she started in 2011. She broke the “stained glass ceiling” right after her ordination upon her arrival to Toronto in 1983, as the only female Rabbi in all of Canada. After her first position as Assistant Rabbi at Canada’s largest synagogue of 5,000 families (Holy Blossom Temple) she founded Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning, for which she was awarded the internationally recognized Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators in 2005.
She was the first woman to be elected as president of the interdenominational Toronto Board of Rabbis and was one of seven women featured in the Canadian National Film Board documentary, “Half the Kingdom.” Her first book, ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens, won the Canadian National Jewish Book Awards in the field of Bible. Her second and third books, The Women’s Torah Commentary, and The Women’s Haftarah Commentary were the first Bible commentaries in history written by female Rabbis. Her fourth book, New Jewish Feminism: Probing the Past, Forging the Future won finalist in The National Jewish Book Awards. She is a blogger for The Times of Israel and HuffPost.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University in 1978, earning her Master’s Degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1981, and receiving their Doctor of Divinity, honoris causis in 2008. In 2013 she was named one of America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis by The Forward and in May 2017 she was awarded Doctor of Laws honoris causis from Ryerson University in recognition of her path-breaking work in Canada.
This program is made possible by The Eleanor B. Daugherty Fund.
![Rissi Palmer](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Rissi-Palmer_081424.jpg)
![Rissi Palmer](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Rissi-Palmer_081424.jpg)
Rissi Palmer
Rissi Palmer seamlessly blends the rich traditions of country and R&B music, showcasing her versatile talent in her acclaimed albums like “Revival” and “The Back Porch Sessions.” From sharing stages with icons like Taylor Swift and The Eagles to hosting her own radio show, Color Me Country, she continues to champion diversity in the country music scene. As a Special Correspondent for CMT’s Hot 20 Countdown, she brings her insightful perspective and passion for music to audiences worldwide, celebrating the voices of artists of color and those marginalized in mainstream country.
![Jeffrey Rosen](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Rosen_Jeffrey_CLS_082124.jpg)
![Jeffrey Rosen](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Rosen_Jeffrey_CLS_082124.jpg)
Jeffrey Rosen
Jeffrey Rosen is president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. He last joined the Chautauqua Lecture Series with a virtual program on CHQ Assembly in 2020, and returns to the Amphitheater stage in-person for the first time since 2017 for a week of interdisciplinary programming focused on the arts and the American experiment. For “Rising Together: Our Century of Creativity and Collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra,” Rosen will discuss his latest book: The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
By reading the classical moral philosophers, in The Pursuit of Happiness, Rosen illustrates how the Founders understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good and the pursuit of lifelong virtue — offering fresh insights into the foundation of our democracy.
In addition to his roles of president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, which he has held since 2013, Rosen is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker. At the National Constitution Center, he is the host of “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.
Rosen is the author of seven other books, including the New York Times bestseller Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School.
This program is made possible by The Higie Family Lectureship.
![Rabbi Mira Rivera](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Rivera_Mira_interfaith_photo_8-21-24.jpg)
![Rabbi Mira Rivera](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Rivera_Mira_interfaith_photo_8-21-24.jpg)
Rabbi Mira Rivera
Rabbi Mira Rivera, the first Filipina-American woman, ordained at The Jewish Theological Seminary, holds an M.A. in Jewish Studies and certification as a chaplain with Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains. She serves as Rabbi-in-Residence nationally with The LUNAR Collective and locally at the Jewish Community Center in Harlem. Rabbi Mira has been recognized for her community upliftment efforts, receiving awards such as The Rabbinical Excellence Award from Harlem’s District 9 and the Rabbinic Human Rights Hero Award from T’ruah. She was also named one of “36 to Watch” by the New York Jewish Week in 2023. She is the 21st female spiritual leader invited to deliver the Pat Reif Memorial Lectureship at Claremont Graduate University. In her spiritual formative years, she studied in Varanasi, India, then taught meditation to women around the world. With professional dance experience under Artistic Director Yuriko of the Martha Graham Dance Company and Ensemble, and a B.F.A. in Film and Television from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, she brings a unique perspective to the rabbinate.
This program is made possible by The Jack and Elizabeth Gellman and Zaretsky Family Fund.
August 21 @ 8:15 pm Week Nine (August 17–25)
Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with the Music School Festival Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, Timothy Muffitt, conductor
Amphitheater
![Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with the Music School Festival Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, Timothy Muffitt, conductor](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/JLCO-Section-of-the-Band_credit-Luigi-Beverelli.jpg)
![Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with the Music School Festival Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, Timothy Muffitt, conductor](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/JLCO-Section-of-the-Band_credit-Luigi-Beverelli.jpg)
Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with the Music School Festival Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, Timothy Muffitt, conductor
“The 20th was the century of communication. The 21st will be the century of integration. Our rapidly developing global community is the most exciting modern reality.” So opens Wynton Marsalis’ notes to “All Rise,” considered the composer’s Symphony No. 1 — a work not just of music, but of life, history, and the joyous power people hold to create art and progress when they work collectively and collaboratively. Two extraordinary performances of “All Rise” are the cornerstone of the closing week of the Chautauqua season, as Chautauqua’s very own Music School Festival Orchestra under the baton of Timothy Muffitt joins forces with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and the legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on the Amphitheater stage.
This performance is made possible in part by The Hultquist Foundation, Inc. and The H. David Faust Leadership Fund.
![People enjoying drinks around a fire at 3 Taps](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/072221_ThreeTaps_Sunset_DM_01-1.jpg)
Dining
Explore all Chautauqua Institution has to offer visitors in the way of year-round restaurants and shops.
![Books and other Chautauqua merchandise from the Bookstore](https://www.chq.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/MicrosoftTeams-image-78.jpg)
Shopping
Take a look at the unique stores and businesses that complement Chautauqua Institution’s offerings.