Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Jamestown in the extreme western part of New York State. It was founded in 1874 by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist Bishop John Heyl Vincent as a camp for Sunday school teachers. The Institution has operated each summer since then, gradually expanding its season length and program offerings organized around the four pillars: arts, education, religion and recreation. An average of 7,500 people are in residence on any particular day during the season, and another 145,000 attend public events, including popular entertainment, theater, symphony, ballet and opera.
The Institution also includes school of Special Studies and a residential music program of intensive study is offered to students on the verge of professional careers who audition for admittance into Chautauqua's schools of fine and performing arts.
The physical setting of the Institution defined its development as an assembly. The grounds are situated at a prominent point on the west shoreline of upper Chautauqua Lake, and especially in the early decades of the assembly those who attended met among groves of trees and greenery. The early tent camp assembly gave way to cottages and rooming houses, and then hotels and eventually condominiums. But much of the pastoral summer retreat on the lake survives. Even today the speed limit on the brick-lined streets is 15 mph and on many streets vehicles are banned.
Institution Programs
Summer admission to Chautauqua is by "gate ticket" which allows the purchaser to enjoy the grounds and its village atmosphere, including many 19th-century houses, churches, theaters, pavilions, attractive gardens, and the town square, Bestor Plaza, named after Arthur Bestor, president of the institution from 1915 to 1944.
The gate pass also allows use of Smith Memorial Library, including open wireless internet, use of public beaches and parks, and attendance at lectures and concerts. There is an additional charge for some courses, for films shown at the Chautauqua Cinema, for opera and theater tickets, and for use of the golf course and tennis courts.
The official Chautauqua season runs for nine weeks each summer, from late June to late August, though many of the residents arrive as early as May and stay well past Labor Day. Though many of the people living on the grounds have been coming for many years and for multiple generations in their family, the Institution also eagerly seeks to attract those who have never before visited Chautauqua. Newcomers often begin with a stay of a day or two, move on to a week and then come for longer in subsequent years. Chautauqua waives the gate fee for visitors aged 90 and over (It has been facetiously described as "the place where little old ladies go -- and bring their grandmothers.")
Weekly Program
A typical weekday at Chatuauqua includes a devotional service and a lecture on a social, political or academic issue in the morning, an afternoon lecture on a religious topic, and an evening program. This evening Amphitheater event may be a symphony concert by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, a dance program by the Chautauqua Ballet Company, or a program by a special guest artist. Performers this past season included Neil Sedaka, Three Dog Night, and Michael W. Smith. During most weeks, there is at least one opportunity to catch an opera and a play, both put on by Chautauqua's resident summer companies. Operas are performed in English at Norton Hall, a 1930s era art deco structure. There are also regularly scheduled organ recitals, student recitals, master classes, forums, and seminars for the sophisticate.
A range of special studies courses in music, art, dance, drama and general topics are also offered. The Chautauqua Schools of Music offer extremely competitive programs on the basis of scholarship. George Gershwin visited Chautauqua as a summer refuge to compose parts of his Concerto in F in a small wooden piano studio and give its first public performance.
The 10:45 morning lecture program is one of the most distinctive features of the program at the Institution. The program for each week is built around a unifying theme, such as Chautauqua has been visited by United States Presidents from Ulysses S. Grant to Bill Clinton, and by other prominent Americans including Booker T. Washington, Karl Menninger, Tom Ridge and, in 2006, Al Gore. Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic "I hate war" speech was delivered from the podium in the Chautauqua Amphitheater.
Sundays at Chautauqua are rich and full, with many worship services, both denominational and ecumenical. There is an afternoon Amphitheater program, such as a military band or student dance program. On Sundays, entrance to the Institution grounds is free. Worship services are coordinated by the permanent Department of Religion staff and are conducted by prominent protestant ministers.
Special Events
There is a special program on the first Tuesday in August called "Old First Night". This is the "birthday party" for the Institution, marking the opening of the first season back in 1874 and serving as an opportunity to whip up spirit for the fund-raising that makes Chautauqua programming possible.
Department of Religion
Chautauqua's Department of Religion provides a wide variety of services of worship and programs that express the Institution's Christian heritage and its interfaith commitment. It provides lectures and educational programs that probe contemporary religious and theological ideas, in the confidence that people seeking truth and understanding will benefit from such exploration.
The Department of Religion strives to create a climate in which people who cherish various points of view and beliefs can exchange ideas, discuss their differences, and ponder the significance of their diverse experiences and insights.
Chautauqua is already a religiously plural community and through its Abrahamic Program is working to deepen that reality with the presence and participation of Muslims on the grounds and beyond. We intend to enable the coming together of Jews, Christians and Muslims to think in the light of their faith about issues that affect the human family. This agenda is made all the more urgent by the highly explosive situation in our world today.
Children's Programs
One of the oldest day camps in the United States is the Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club. The Children's School established in 1921, is a developmental preschool for youth ages 3-5, and was a pioneering program in the field of nursery school education. The program includes a social, recreational and educational activities which often incorporate other Chautauqua programs in the areas of music, drama and art.
Institution Facilities
The Institution's grounds, located between New York State Route 394 and Chautauqua Lake, include public buildings (such as the 6,000-seat Amphitheater), administrative offices, a library, a movie theater, a bookstore, hotels, inns, rooming houses, and many private cottages. There are about 400 year-round residents, but in the summer the population swells as many as 10,000 at any one time. The Institution is largely a pedestrian community, with bikes and scooters seen everywhere and a 12 mph speed limit for cars. There are several parking lots located on the periphery of the grounds.
The Athenaeum Hotel on the grounds is the only hotel actually owned and operated by the Institution. The 156-room hotel, said to be the largest wooden building in the eastern United States, was built in the Second Empire style in 1881. The hotel usually offers complete packages of room, meals at the hotel's dining room, and the Chautauqua gate pass.
Palestine Park is a relief map of Palestine, showing the general contour of the area, including mountains, valleys, water-courses and cities.
Chautauqua's Impact on Adult Education
The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), founded in 1878 by Bishop Vincent, is America's oldest continuously operating book club. It was originally founded to promote self-learning and study, particularly among those unable to attend higher institutions of learning. Six to nine books are added to the reading list each year, with authors generally coming to Chautauqua to discuss their writing and to talk with readers. Members may graduate from a CLSC class on a special Recognition Day during the summer season after they have paid dues for four years and read any 12 books from the complete CLSC list.
The ideals of the Chautauqua Institution were spread throughout the United States through a number of Independent Chautauqua assemblies, and a series of traveling Circuit Chautauqua assemblies, incorporating many of the program components of the Institution, including lectures, music, nondenominational preaching, and a focus on current issues. Several Independent Chautauquas continue into the 21st century.