Chautauqua was founded in 1874 by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist Bishop John Heyl Vincent as a teaching camp for Sunday-school teachers. The teachers would arrive by steamboat on Chautauqua Lake, disembark at Palestine Park and begin a course of Bible study that used the Park to teach the geography of the Holy Land.[4]
The institution has operated each summer since then, gradually expanding its season length and program offerings in the arts, education, religion, and music. It offers educational activities to the public during the season, with public events including popular entertainment, theater, symphony, ballet, opera, and visual arts exhibitions.[5] The institution also offers a variety of recreational activities, plus a community education program called Special Studies along with residential programs of intensive study provided for students aiming for professional careers who audition for admittance into Chautauqua's Schools of Performing and Visual Arts.
The physical setting of the institution defined its development as an assembly. The grounds are on the west shoreline of upper Chautauqua Lake.[6] The early tent-camp assembly gave way to cottages and rooming houses, and then hotels, inns and eventually condominiums.
Founder Lewis Miller's daughter, Mina Miller Edison (wife of inventor Thomas Edison) offered literary classes in Fort Myers, Florida, through the Valinda Society. After completing courses, students were given Chautauqua diplomas.[7]
Every summer during its nine-week season, Chautauqua Institution provides an array of programs including fine and performing arts, lectures, worship services, and religious programs, as well as recreational activities. Nearly 100,000 visitors come to Chautauqua to participate in these programs and events annually. Summer admission to Chautauqua is by "gate ticket," which allows entrance into the grounds, use of Smith Memorial Library, 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 use of the tennis courts and golf courses. Cottages and rooms are available for long or short term rental.[9]
Programs offered during the week at Chautauqua include devotional services and a lecture on a social, political, or academic issue in the morning, a religious or political topic in the afternoon, and a night of entertainment as the 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 show by an individual guest artist. During most weeks, there is at least one opportunity to catch an opera and a play 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 on the Massey Memorial Organ, student recitals, masterclasses, forums, and seminars for the sophisticated.
A broad range of special courses in music, art, dance, drama, and general topics are available. The Chautauqua Schools of Music offers extremely competitive programs with scholarships. George Gershwin visited Chautauqua as a summer refuge to compose parts of his Concerto in F in a small, wooden piano studio.[10]
Sundays at Chautauqua feature 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.
There is an annual program held on the first Tuesday of each August called "Old First Night." The event is the "birthday party" for the institution, marking the anniversary of the opening of the first season in 1874.[11] Several of the Chautauqua facilities will host fundraisers, including the Old First Night Run, a fun run around the grounds, hosted by the Chautauqua Sports Club,[12] a lip-sync contest called Air Band hosted by the Chautauqua Boys' and Girls' Club, and a bake sale hosted by the Chautauqua Children's Club. All money raised goes to the Chautauqua Fund.
Another Chautauqua favorite is the Fourth of July show at the Amphitheater specializing in patriotic-themed music followed by area fireworks viewed from the Chautauqua Lake. Occasional town barbecues at the town square (called Bestor Plaza) and weekly sailboat races are part of the overall unique Chautauqua experience.
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 consists of social, recreational, and educational activities that often incorporate other Chautauqua programs in the areas of music, drama, art, and recreation.
The Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club is one of the oldest day camps in the United States, founded in 1893.[13] While parents are engaging in various activities around the grounds, their children meet in a special area by the lake and participate in sports, art, and recreational games, such as volleyball, sailing, swimming, field games, and pottery.[14]
The institution's grounds, located between New York State Route 394 and Chautauqua Lake, include public buildings, administrative offices, a library, movie theater, bookstore, hotel, condominiums, inns, rooming houses, and many private cottages available for rent during the season. There are about 400 year-round residents, but the population can increase up to 7,500 guests per day during the summer season.[15] The Institution is mostly a pedestrian community with bikes and scooters widely used along with a 12-mph speed limit for cars when authorized to be on the grounds. There are several parking lots located on the periphery that visitors utilize and then walk or bike into the institution:
The 4,000-seat Amphitheater was demolished in September 2016 to make way for a new theater-style structure, paying homage to the old structure. The new 4,500-seat Amphitheater, completed during the 2016–17 off-season, in time for the institution's 2017 season, features modern amenities and facilities and improved accessibility. This project caused some controversy due to historic nature of the old facility.[16]
Athenaeum Hotel The Athenaeum Hotel located on the grounds is the only hotel 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. It has a two-story porch supported by narrow columns, with a central, mansard-covered tower.[17] Although the number of hotel rooms has steadily declined on the grounds in the past thirty years, there has been a corresponding growth in condominiums.
Palestine Park is a walk-around, landscaped, geographically scaled map of Palestine showing the general contour of the area, including mountains, valleys, bodies of water and the cities in their correct geographical locations, that existed in the first century CE. Throughout the week, there are multiple tours to discuss the historical and religious significance of this world-famous area.
The Miller Bell Tower, drawing of which is the logo of the Chautauqua Institution
The Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall is 8,000 square foot recital and rehearsal hall, dedicated in 1993. This facility was the first significant program facility to be built at the Chautauqua Institution in 65 years. The building serves as the rehearsal facility for the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Music School Festival Orchestra and as a recital hall for chamber music, voice and piano.[18]
The Chautauqua Prize is an annual American literary award established by the Chautauqua Institution in 2012.[21] The winner receives US$7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua.[21] It is a "national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts."[22]
In the late 19th century, following the model of the Chautauqua Institution, the Chautauqua movement spread throughout the United States and was highly popular until the start of World War II. By the mid-1920s, when circuit Chautauquas were at their peak, they appeared in over 10,000 communities to audiences of more than 45 million. The movement combined several concepts prevalent in the post-civil war US, including:
The Lyceum movement which attempted to raise the level of public education with lectures, readings, and entertainment with goals of lifelong learning and self-improvement.
Camp meetings and revivals which used outdoor gatherings
The ideals of the Chautauqua Institution spread throughout the United States through many Independent Chautauqua assemblies. Popping up were a series of traveling Chautauqua meetings, which incorporated many of the program's components, including lectures, music, nondenominational religious studies, and a focus on current issues. Several Independent Chautauquas have survived into the 21st century.
The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), founded in 1878 by Vincent, is one of America's oldest continuously operating book clubs.[27] It was founded to promote self-learning and study, particularly among those unable to attend institutions of higher 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.
United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson was a lifelong attendee and lecturer at Chautauqua.[31] John Q. Barrett wrote, "For almost fifty years, Chautauqua was a major part of Jackson’s expanding horizons, intellectual development, study and leisure—it was one of the places he loved best, and it deserves much credit for making him what he became (as he does for advancing it)."[32] Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, and Sandra Day O'Connor lectured at Chautauqua during their tenure on the bench.[33][34][35] Future Supreme Court Justice Stanley Forman Reed spoke at Chautauqua in July 1937 while serving as the United States Solicitor General.[36] Future Justice Thurgood Marshall lectured at Chautauqua in August 1957 while serving as a director and chief counsel of the NAACP.[37][38]
Questions were raised about Chautauqua Institution after the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, although a state trooper and a sheriff's officer were present at the event.[43] Michael Hill, president of the Chautauqua Institution, stated that the Institution had ensured that law enforcement officers were present for the event.[44] He described the assault on Rushdie as "unlike anything in [the institution's] nearly 150-year history".[44] However, one eyewitness claimed that there was no security onstage.[45][46] One attendee noted that while food and drinks was prevented from being brought into the event, there was no screening for weapons.[47]
It was alleged that the leadership of the Chautauqua Institution disregarded recommendations for security precautions because they felt it would alienate the audience from the speakers.[48][49] Following the attack, the Chautauqua Institution announced it would require guests to furnish photo IDs to get a Sunday gate pass, which previously could be secured anonymously on Sundays, when there is no fee for entry. Carried bags larger than a wristlet will also be banned in the amphitheater.[50]
^Pines, Deb (2013). In The Shadow of Death: A Chautauqua Murder Mystery. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 31, 2013). ISBN978-1490357614.
^Smoot, Tom (2004). The Edisons of Fort Myers. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press. p. 242. ISBN9781561643127.
^"Chautauqua Declaration"(PDF). American Society of International Law. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Anderson, Elizabeth (June 4, 2007). "Introductory Note". International Legal Materials. 46: 974. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
