There is a difference between subscribing and membership. When you subscribe, you can follow Chautauqua’s updates and watch all free videos that are available — these videos do not require a membership. Chautauqua Institution’s new CHQ Assembly membership requires a monthly fee to access members-only content and perks.   

You can join directly by visiting www.youtube.com/ChautauquaInstitution/join 

To join CHQ Assembly’s channel membership on the main YouTube site or app, use the following steps. 

1. Go to youtube.com or open the YouTube app. 

2. Visit the Chautauqua Institution channel: www.youtube.com/chautauquainstitution  

3. Select Join at the top of the page. 

4. To enter your payment information, follow the prompts below. 

5. Select Buy. A welcome announcement displays after your transaction is complete. 

Note: The Join button currently does not appear on most enabled channels on iOS inside the YouTube app. Try joining from another non-iOS device or open the channel page in a web browser. 

Chautauqua currently offers two membership levels: CHQ Assembly and CHQ Assembly + Live:  

1. CHQ Assembly Perks: Access to on-demand, members-only videos and community posts and custom loyalty badges.  
2. CHQ Assembly + Live Perks: Everything from the CHQ Assembly level plus members-only live streams and live chats.

CHQ Assembly is $2.99 per month and CHQ Assembly + Live is $4.99 per month.

Channel memberships are billed monthly. You can opt out of your membership at any time.

Visit the Chautauqua Institution channel homepage where you joined, then select See perks or select your memberships tab. 

You can change your membership level yourself, using your computer: 

To upgrade your membership level, use the following steps. 

1. Go to the channel homepage of the membership you want to change and select See perks. 

2. Select the level you want to join > Change level. 

3. Select Upgrade.  

4. You’ll immediately get access to the upgraded level upon purchase. 
   • Pricing note: You’ll only be charged the difference in price in levels, at an adjusted price for the days remaining in your then-current billing cycle. 
   • Example: If you’re paying $4.99 and you upgrade to the $9.99 level with half a month left until your next payment, you’ll be charged ($9.99-$4.99) X (0.5)= $2.50 for the remainder of the month. 

Your monthly billing date will not change due to a level upgrade. 

To downgrade your membership, use the following steps. 

1. Go to the channel homepage of the membership you want to change and select  See perks. 

2. Select the level you want to join > Change level. 

Billing and access details for downgrades 

• Your monthly billing date will not change due to a level downgrade. 
• You’ll get access to your original level until your next billing date. 
• You’ll be charged the new lower price at your next billing date. 
• You’ll retain any accumulated loyalty reflected in your badge if offered by the creator. 

Note: You’ll retain any accumulated loyalty reflected in your badge if offered by the creator.

Watch how gift memberships work.

Gift memberships let viewers buy the opportunity for other viewers to access the perks of a channel membership for up to one month. To buy gift memberships, you must be watching a livestream or Premiere on a channel with Gifting turned on. 

Gift memberships are available on livestreams and Premiere’s on eligible channels. If gift memberships are available for the channel, you can buy a gift membership during a live stream or Premiere: 

1. Use a computer to sign in to YouTube. 

2. Go to the eligible channel on which you want to buy gift memberships. 

3. Join the channel’s live stream or Premiere. 

4. I the Live chat, select  the dollar sign. 

5. Select Membership gifting . 

6. Select the number of viewers you want to gift memberships. 

7. Complete the transaction. 

Gift memberships are offered at the closest highest price level available up to and including $5. 

After you buy gift memberships, a countdown ticker will highlight your purchase in Live chat for a limited amount of time. The amount of time depends on your purchase amount. The creator may end the Live chat or live stream before your gift is announced, but YouTube will still continue distributing gifts for a period of time after.

Note: The number of gifted memberships, your channel name, and your profile picture are visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services. Your gift membership purchase is considered fulfilled once YouTube distributes the first gift to a viewer. 

Watch how to buy and get gift memberships.

Viewers must opt-in to be eligible for gift memberships. After you have opted-in, you are now eligible to receive gift memberships on any channel with gifting enabled that you have interacted with recently (for example, by watching a video on that channel). When you receive a gift, it is automatically applied to your account, giving you access to special perks like badges and custom emojis. 

If you previously opted-in for a specific channel only, you are still eligible to receive gifts on that channel. You will still need to opt-in globally to be eligible to receive gifts on other channels. 

To opt in for gift memberships, you must be signed in with a YouTube channel that isn’t a Brand Account. Check if you’re on a Brand Account. Right now, channel members aren’t eligible to get gift memberships. 

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Opt in for gift memberships 

There are many ways to opt in for gifts, including, but not limited to: 

• In Live chat 
• On a video’s watch page 
• On the channel page 
• Using Chautauqua’s unique opt-in URL www.youtube.com/chautauquainstitution/allow_gifts  

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Opt in through live chat 

1. Go to one of Chautauqua’s live stream or Premiere. 

2. Within the Live chat: 

1. Select ALLOW GIFTS, or 

2. Select the pinned Membership gifting . 

3. Confirm you’d like to opt in by turning on the “Allow gifts” switch.

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To Opt in through a channel or watch page, use these steps: 

1. Go to Chautauqua’s page or the watch page of a video. 

2. Select JOIN  >  More   > ”Gift Settings.” 

3. Confirm you want to opt in by turning on the Allow gifts switch. 

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Note: If you’re selected for a gift membership, your channel name is visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services. 

To opt out of allowing gifts, open “Gift Settings” by selecting JOIN on any channel or watch page with memberships enabled and toggle Allow gifts off. You will no longer be eligible to receive gifts on any channel. 

When a channel member or Creator buys gift memberships, it’s announced in the live chat. If you’ve been selected to get a 1-month membership, a notification will surface in the live chat and we’ll send you an email notification. 

Gift memberships are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash value. All gift memberships give up to 1 month of access to channel membership perks and expire thereafter. 

To view your membership benefits and access perks: 

• Select the ‘Memberships’ tab on the channel you have become a member of, OR 
• Select SEE PERKS on any video page of that channel. 

Gift memberships are non-recurring and you will not be charged after it ends. If you want to end your gift membership early, contact support. You will lose access to the gift membership benefits. 

Make Live chat messages jump out with Super Chat or Super Stickers. When you buy and send a Super Chat, you can highlight your message within a Live chat feed. With Super Stickers, you’ll see a digital or an animated message that pops up during a live chat feed. Learn more about availability and system requirements. 

To buy a Super Chat or Super Sticker on your computer, use the following steps: 

1. Select the dollar sign within a live chat. The live chat must be visible. 

2. Select one of the following:  
   • Super Sticker and then find a sticker pack you like and then choose an individual sticker to purchase. 
     -OR- 
   • Super Chat and then to select an amount, either drag the slider or type your desired value and then add an optional message. 
     • The color and amount of time pinned at the top of a chat feed changes depending on how much you spend.  

3. Select Buy and send. 

4. To finish your purchase, follow the instructions. 

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After you’ve bought a Super Chat or Super Sticker: 

• Depending on the purchase value, we may pin your Super Chat or Super Sticker at the top of the live chat feed. A countdown ticker will show how much longer your Super Chat or Super Sticker will be pinned. The creator may end the live chat or live stream before your time in the ticker has completed. Super Stickers and Super Chats don’t transfer between videos. 
• As part of your Super Chat or Super Sticker purchase, we may publicly announce a purchase milestone, such as the first time you buy a Super Chat, so that others can celebrate your milestone. Before you buy, you’ll get a preview of the milestone celebration announcement. Your milestones are based on your purchase history, which is located in My Activity. 
• A creator or other viewers may interact with your Super Chat or Super Sticker in the live chat feed, like Hearting it. 

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Notes:  

• Your Super Chat or Super Sticker, channel name, profile picture, and purchase amount are visible to the public. 
• Like everything on YouTube, the Super Chats and Super Stickers you send must comply with our Community Guidelines. 
• YouTube will note the number of purchases that you make, so that you can be publicly recognized for purchase milestones. If you do not want to participate in purchase milestones, go to My Activity to remove your historical purchase data. 

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Purchase limits 

Purchases less than $5 USD (or your local equivalent) will not show in the ticker. 

Depending on your country or region, the daily and weekly purchase limit will vary. In general, you can spend up to $500 USD per day, or $2,000 USD per week (or the equivalent in your local currency) on: 

• Super Chats 
• Super Stickers 
• Super Thanks 
• All 3 combined 

As a channel member, you can find members-only content in the Community tab, Membership tab, or the channel’s Content tabs. You may also notice members-only videos surface in your Home and Subscriptions feed. We’ll also use notifications or email to tell you when a channel: 

• Creates a new members-only post  
• Uploads a new members-only video  
• Starts a members-only live stream 
• Schedules a members-only live stream that will begin in 30 minutes 

You can also opt out of getting notifications and emails for members-only content. 

Turn off notifications 

If you don’t want to know about new members-only content, you can: 

• Opt out of notifications and emails for individual channels that you’re a member of. 
  • To opt out of notifications for members-only content: Go to Settings > Notifications > Turn off the switch next to Members only. 
  • To opt out of emails for members-only content: Use the Unsubscribe link in any members-only email you get. If you’d like to resubscribe to email notifications, go to Settings > Notifications > Under “Email notifications” select “Unsubscribed emails” and choose which emails you’d like to get. 
• Opt out of all notifications for an individual channel: 
  • Go to a channel that you’re subscribed to > Notifications  > None. This will turn off all notifications for this channel, not just members-only content. 
• Turn off all notifications on your account. 

Open the membership management screen by selecting See perks on a channel homepage >  select  the gear icon > select End membership and perks. 

You can also cancel your membership at any time by following the steps below on a computer: 

1. Sign in to YouTube. 

2. Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships. 

3. Find the channel membership that you’d like to cancel and select Manage membership. 

4. Select DEACTIVATE. 

5. You’ll see a cancellation confirmation screen. 

6. Select END MEMBERSHIP. 

Note: If you’re having trouble cancelling your membership, learn more here. 

You can purchase apps and digital content on Google Play using payment methods from your Google account. If it’s your first time making a purchase, your payment method will be added to your Google account. 

*You cannot currently use a Google Play gift card for your YouTube membership. 

To update payment settings and fix issues 

• Add or change your payment method. 
• Fix payment issues on your account. 

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Payment Methods You Can Use 

You can add the following credit/debit cards to your account: 

• American Express 
• Discover 
• JCB 
• Mastercard 
• Visa 
• Visa Electron 

Note: The types of cards accepted through Google Play may vary. If your card doesn’t work when you think it should, contact your bank or card issuer for help. You may notice temporary authorizations on your account when using a credit or debit card. 

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Unsupported Payment Types

Google Play can’t be used with: 

• Wire transfers 
• Bank transfers 
• Western Union 
• Money Gram 
• Virtual Credit Cards (VCC) 
• Health Savings Account (HSA) 
• Transit cards 
• Any escrow type of payment 

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Google Play Balance 

In the United States, you can use your Google Pay balance to pay for your purchase. Simply make sure there’s enough money in your Google Pay balance to cover the total amount of the purchase. 

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Mobile Phone Billing 

With some mobile devices and service plans, you can charge purchases to your carrier bill. 

Participating carriers in the USA: 

• Sprint 
• T-Mobile 
• US Cellular 

When you buy something, you’ll see the charge on your carrier account after 15 minutes. 

Note: You may see an SMS (text message) starting with “DCB” or “DCB_Association” on your phone when you sign up for mobile phone billing. The message is automatically generated and sent to complete enrollment in mobile phone billing for your Google Play account. 

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Google Play Balance and Google Play Gift Cards 

You can use your Google Play Balance to: 

• Buy apps and digital content on Google Play. 
• Pay for subscriptions on Google Play.  

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Ways to get Google Play Balance 

• Google Play gift cards and some promotional codes. 
• A convenience store and pay cash to add money to your Google Play Balance. Learn how to add cash to your Google Play Balance. 

Learn more about uses & restrictions for Google Play balance.