Week Seven: August 5–12, 2023
Every summer, over the course of nine weeks, more than 100,000 people visit Chautauqua Institution in search of respite, community and personal growth. And every summer, they find it. See for yourself what makes Chautauqua Institution a destination like no other. Keep scrolling to explore Week Seven.
Featured Entertainment and Events
The Washington Ballet
August 9
Chautauqua Chamber Music: The Westerlies
August 7
Chautauqua Lecture Series
The National Parks: How America’s ‘Best Idea’ is Meeting 21st-Century Challenges
In 1872, two years before the founding of Chautauqua, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into a law a bill creating America’s first-ever national park. Now, 150 years after the creation of Yellowstone National Park, more than 400 sites around the country that honor not just the land, but the stories of America’s myriad peoples, have been added to that illustrious roster. How has what novelist and environmentalist Wallace Stegner once described as America’s “best idea” adapted and grown? What can the parks offer in our present moment, and how did COVID-19 drive America back to the land? From addressing conservation issues to stewarding our cultural and natural histories, how are national parks — and, in turn, we as citizens — modeling how to meet the challenges of our times? Most importantly, how can the national parks rise to the call to make public lands truly accessible to all Americans?
Over the course of more than a year, writer Kevin Fedarko and photographer Pete McBride hiked the entire length of Grand Canyon National Park — not rim to rim, but end to end — over 750 miles; they’ll share their learnings from this journey in their program on Tuesday, Aug. 8, titled “Into the Canyon: Exploring a National Treasure.” On Wednesday, Aug. 9, founder of Outdoor Afro Rue Mapp joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series with a discussion about the imperative of elevating a new narrative of Black people in the outdoors; how Outdoor Afro facilitates this vision through community connections in nature; why such experiences remain critical today; and how public lands can be more successful in meeting the needs of all citizens.
Confirmed Lectures
Interfaith Lecture Series
Nature as Sacred Space
Many experience our wild spaces, including the national parks, as sacred spaces, cathedrals of creation, and sources of divine inspiration. How and why we preserve, approach, and appreciate our natural spaces says everything about what we value. In this week we will broaden our vision to look at the ways that the myriad traditions of religious faith have built identities in and around holy spaces in nature – come with us as we explore together the significance of holy land and sacred space across traditions.
Confirmed Lectures
August 8 @ 2:00 pm Week Seven (August 5–12)
The Rev. Bruce Barkhauer
Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly
Explore Performing and Visual Arts
The arts can sometimes bridge differences and illuminate perspectives as no other method can. Artistic expressions at Chautauqua — including professional and pre-professional offerings in classical and contemporary music, theater, opera, dance, visual arts and literary arts — aim to inspire, educate, entertain and engage a diverse and growing audience.
Places to Stay
Make the night complete by staying on our historic grounds. From the Athenaeum Hotel to countless private rental properties, Chautauqua offers accommodations for all needs and tastes.
Dining & Shopping
Make your Chautauqua experience memorable! Share a delicious meal at one of our many restaurants. Or take piece of Chautauqua home with you from our unique shops.