Week Eight: August 15–22, 2026

Every summer Chautauqua Institution welcomes over 100,000 visitors, to celebrate community and prioritize personal growth. Many travel here to relax, renew and recharge on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. Join us and see for yourself why Chautauqua was, and continues to be, a cherished destination. Keep scrolling to explore Week Eight’s Theme: The Future of Food: Climate, Technology and the Next Agricultural Revolution.

Featured Entertainment and Events

Chautauqua Lecture Series

The Future of Food: Climate, Technology and the Next Agricultural Revolution 

Food is universal — it sustains us, connects us, defines us. But how we grow it, share it, and celebrate it is changing fast. As climate pressures mount, technologies advance and cultural traditions evolve, we find ourselves at the edge of a new agricultural revolution. This week at Chautauqua explores the future of food systems through the lenses of sustainability, technology, culture, justice and joy. From vertical farms and climate-smart crops to food sovereignty movements and the science of flavor, we’ll meet chefs, farmers, scientists and changemakers working to reimagine what and how we eat — and what it means for our planet, our communities and our sense of connection around the table. 

Confirmed Lectures

Nierenberg_Danielle_CLS_081726

August 17 @ 10:45 am Week Eight (August 15–22)

Danielle Nierenberg

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$40 View Details
Danielle Nierenberg
Danielle Nierenberg
Monday, August 17th 2026 @ 10:45 am
Amphitheater & 
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Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
Single Tickets
Price: $40
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Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker and advocate, on all issues relating to our food system and agriculture. She is president of Food Tank, the think tank for food, and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture.

Nierenberg founded Food Tank with Bernard Pollack in 2013. It is a global convener, thought leadership organization and unbiased creator of original research impacting the food system. Matching innovative ideas to today’s most pressing challenges, Food Tank bridges domestic and global partners to build sustainable agriculture and food systems. Hope, success and innovative ideas in our food system are highlighted through original daily publications, research articles, a chart-topping podcast, interviews and events, and summits in major cities around the world. Food Tank has more than 250 major institutional partners including The Rockefeller Foundation, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Christensen Fund, Oxfam America, Slow Food USA, U.N. FAO, the Crop Trust, the Sustainable Food Trust, and academic institutions in all 50 states.

Prior to starting Food Tank, Nierenberg spent two years traveling to more than 35 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, meeting with farmers, scientists, researchers, policymakers, government leaders, students, academics and journalists, documenting what is working to help alleviate hunger and poverty, while protecting the environment. She is the recipient of the 2020 Julia Child Award. She has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food and Environment from Tufts University and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

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Arrington_Nyesha_CLS_081826

August 18 @ 10:45 am Week Eight (August 15–22)

Nyesha Arrington

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$40 View Details
Nyesha Arrington
Nyesha Arrington
Tuesday, August 18th 2026 @ 10:45 am
Amphitheater & 
How To Access This Event Gate Pass Holder
Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
Single Tickets
Price: $40
Purchase Single Tickets Online
View this event on Chautauqua Institution’s YouTube paid membership channel.
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Nyesha Arrington

Nyesha Arrington is the dynamic co-star of FOX’s hit culinary competition series “Next Level Chef,” where she brings her signature blend of mentorship, humor and fierce expertise to millions of viewers each season. She also hosts and produces the acclaimed digital series “Plateworthy” for Eater, celebrating the craft, culture and creative spirit of cooking. Drawing inspiration from the seasons, global travel and contemporary art, Arrington’s cooking is a soulful fusion of heritage, curiosity and California expression, a style uniquely her own. Beyond the kitchen, she is deeply passionate about functional fitness, wellness and building community through intention and storytelling. These passions will inspire Arrington’s Chautauqua Lecture Series remarks, which serve as the centerpiece of her multiday Chautauqua residency during Week Eight, “The Future of Food: Climate, Technology and the Next Agricultural Revolution.” Beyond the Amphitheater stage, she will bring her cutting-edge cooking skills, experience and expertise to other food-centered engagements as part of the 2026 Chautauqua Food Festival.

A fan favorite since her breakout season on “Top Chef,” Arrington has become one of the industry’s most recognizable and respected voices. Her television credits span “MasterChef,” “Tournament of Champions,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “Next Level Chef U.K.,” showcasing her versatility, creativity and leadership across multiple platforms.

Arrington began her culinary journey in Michelin-starred kitchens, including Mélisse in Santa Monica, California, as well as L’Atelier and The Mansion in Las Vegas. She went on to make her mark on the Los Angeles dining landscape with her restaurants Leona and Native by Arrington, earning national recognition for her commitment to farm-fresh, local and ethically sourced ingredients. Her work has landed her on Zagat’s 30 Under 30, Eater’s LA Chef of the Year and countless lists celebrating chefs shaping the future of food.

A true multi-hyphenate creative, Arrington is expanding her voice across media, lifestyle, philanthropy and product design, championing representation and empowerment in every space she inhabits.

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Frank_Brian_CLS_081926

August 19 @ 10:45 am Week Eight (August 15–22)

Brian Frank

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$40 View Details
Brian Frank
Brian Frank
Wednesday, August 19th 2026 @ 10:45 am
Amphitheater & 
How To Access This Event Gate Pass Holder
Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
Single Tickets
Price: $40
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Brian Frank

Brian Frank is the founder and general partner of FTW Ventures, bringing decades of experience in building transformative technology that impacts the way people work, play and live. In 2015, Frank turned his attention to how technology can improve the lives of every person on the planet by building a better food system. He raised two early-stage funds for investments into food and agriculture technology businesses with FTW, partnering with the leading executives and corporations in the field.

Now at FTW, Frank continues to build a more sustainable, resilient, productive and profitable food system through leveraging advanced science and technology in the $10 trillion food and agriculture sectors. He cultivates urgent, essential technology that reshapes the global food and agriculture industries. To support the company’s three core values — preserving and amplifying nature’s offerings, modernizing science, and nurturing humankind — Frank and his team support the innovators who think beyond the box and have a unique perspective on improving the food system.

Prior to founding FTW, Frank led the creation of industry-defining products in mobile communication, social media and AI at numerous startups and Fortune 500 Companies over his 25-year career. As an entrepreneur, he directed three venture-backed businesses to successful exits, returning more than $100 million in capital to investors. Frank is a graduate of Cornell University with dual degrees in computer science as well as science and technology studies with a concentration in human-computer interaction (HCI).

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Interfaith Lecture Series

Feeding the Soul

Food is more than sustenance — it is ritual, memory, identity and community. This week explores the spiritual dimensions of food in a time of ecological strain and technological innovation. How do religious traditions shape our understanding of nourishment, hospitality and justice? What wisdom can faith communities offer as we rethink agriculture, food systems and our relationship to the world around us? And how might growing gardens and sharing meals become paths to healing, belonging and connection?

Confirmed Lectures

Krone_Adrienne_ILS_081726

August 17 @ 2:00 pm Week Eight (August 15–22)

Adrienne Krone

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$20.00 View Details
Adrienne Krone
Adrienne Krone
Monday, August 17th 2026 @ 2:00 pm
Hall of Philosophy & 
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Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
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Price: $20.00
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Adrienne Krone

Adrienne Krone is associate professor of environmental science and sustainability and religious studies at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on religious food justice movements in North America.

She is the author of Free-Range Religion: Alternative Food Movements and Religious Life in the United States. The book offers a critical ethnographic exploration of religious engagement in food justice work through four case studies, which provide insight into religious food justice organizations as they complicate our understanding of American religion. Her current research project is an ethnographic and historical study of the Jewish community farming movement.

She holds a Ph.D. in American religion from Duke University.

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Weston_Derrick_ILS_081826

August 18 @ 2:00 pm Week Eight (August 15–22)

Derrick Weston

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$20.00 View Details
Derrick Weston
Derrick Weston
Tuesday, August 18th 2026 @ 2:00 pm
Hall of Philosophy & 
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Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
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Price: $20.00
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Derrick Weston

Derrick Weston is the Director of Theological Education and Formation, Creation Justice Ministries. Derrick is a writer, filmmaker, podcaster, speaker and educator whose most recent work has focused on the intersection of food and faith. He is the co-host of the “Food and Faith” podcast and producer of “Spoon, Spade, and Soul,” a podcast highlighting food and land-based ministries in the Episcopal church. Additionally, he is the producer of the short film series “A Wilderness Like Eden” highlighting the work of churches engaged in food justice work.

Derrick is co-author of the book The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration.

After two decades of being a pastor and community organizer, Weston is a strong believer in the potential of local congregations to enact change in their communities. Weston received his B.A. in film studies from the University of Pittsburgh and his Master of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He also has a certification in health ministry from Wesleyan Theological Seminary and was a part of the Re:Generate fellowship on food, faith, and ecology though Wake Forest Divinity School.

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Florini_Karen_ILS

August 19 @ 2:00 pm Week Eight (August 15–22)

Karen Florini

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$20.00 View Details
Karen Florini
Karen Florini
Wednesday, August 19th 2026 @ 2:00 pm
Hall of Philosophy & 
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Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
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Karen Florini

Karen Florini is a strategic advisor with C-Change Conversations, which educate audiences throughout the country about how climate change will impact them personally, why there is urgency to address it and how to forge consensus for action. She also serves as a senior fellow with the Climate Democracy Initiative.

Previously, she held multiple leadership roles at Climate Central, a non-profit climate science research and communication organization that creates highly localized information on climate impacts and solutions. In 2024 with the Council on Foreign Relations, Florini completed a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center for her project on Disenfranchised by Climate Change, which examines impacts of extreme weather on electoral processes around the globe.

Prior to joining Climate Central in 2017, Florini served as deputy special envoy for climate change at the State Department for the final two years of the Obama Administration. She led the Department’s engagement with businesses, state and local governments, and civil society in the climate negotiations context. She also headed the State Department’s portfolio on short-lived climate pollutants such as methane and black carbon. Previously, she spent more than two decades at the Environmental Defense Fund, working both on environmental health and climate change.

She earned a J.D. at Harvard, where she was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

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Wirzba_Norman_ILS_082026

August 20 @ 2:00 pm Week Eight (August 15–22)

Norman Wirzba

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$20.00 View Details
Norman Wirzba
Norman Wirzba
Thursday, August 20th 2026 @ 2:00 pm
Hall of Philosophy & 
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Access to this event is included with the Gate Pass.
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Norman Wirzba

Norman Wirzba is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology & Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University. His research and teaching interests are at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He is the author of Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis and Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating. Raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, Norman went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He’s the father of four children and is married to Gretchen Ziegenhals. He likes to bake, cook and make things with wood. He also enjoys playing the guitar. He used to be a good athlete! He enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his family and friends. He tries to grow some food.

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Weekly Chaplain

The Rev. Natalie Hanson

The Rev. Natalie Hanson

The Rev. Natalie Hanson has been a longtime presence at Chautauqua; with her husband, the Rev. James Paul Womack, pastor of Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist Church, she has co-hosted the United Methodist Missionary Vacation Home at Chautauqua for several years. Hanson has also served Chautauqua as interim senior pastor in 2022, crafting, planning and evaluating worship services alongside members of the Department of Religion.

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Artists performing in different art forms at Chautauqua

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.

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An aerial view of the Athenaeum Hotel at golden hour

Food Festival Experience Package at the Athenaeum Hotel

A curated way to experience the festival’s most sought-after events.

Weekly rates starting at $3,931 per couple

Nightly rates starting at $461 per couple

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A crowded Amphitheater during a lecture

Chautauqua on a Budget

(Weeks Eight and Nine Only) 

A simple, affordable way to experience a full week at Chautauqua at the newly renovated Greene Family Commons.  

Starting at $1,295 per person 

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