Latest Posts

April 17, 2025 |

In Memory of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux

April 9, 1943 – April 13, 2025 Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux: dancer, choreographer, teacher, visionary — has passed away at the age of 82. For those who were lucky enough to witness his grace on stage or study under his passionate eye, his passing marks the end of an era. However, here at Chautauqua Institution, where he spent nearly four decades as director of the School of Dance, his spirit will always remain. Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France in 1943, Jean-Pierre’s journey in ballet began early when he joined the Paris Opera Ballet at age 14. His artistic path eventually took him to...

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April 10, 2025 |

Young Playwrights Project Phase 2

In this year’s Young Playwrights Project (YPP), third and fourth grade students from eight schools across Chautauqua County sent in over 520 plays that shared their original stories. In early April, over 40 Institution staff and Chautauqua community volunteers formed Play Reading groups and rehearsed. They then traveled to the schools to stage play readings in their classrooms, bringing the students’ words and ideas to life. Joined by Chautauqua Arts Education’s team of talented teaching artists — led by Alex Nader and including Andrew Barbato, Emily Olcott, Gaby Hornig, Marissa Miller and Marty Miller — every student got to hear their...

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April 9, 2025 |

Eleven Emerging Writers Named Finalists For 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize

Chautauqua Literary Arts and the Department of Education at Chautauqua Institution are pleased to announce 11 finalists for the 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize. To be awarded this summer for the eighth time, the Janus Prize has enjoyed a steady increase of interest among emerging writers and this year saw another record-breaking number of submissions.   This year, 210 writers entered work to be considered for the prize that looks to celebrate an emerging writer’s single work of short fiction or nonfiction for daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imagination.   The 11 finalists for the 2025 Janus Prize and their...

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April 3, 2025 |

Remembering Rev. Joan Brown Campbell 

Dear Chautauquans, We learned this week of the passing of the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, our former Director of the Department of Religion and a force in the world. Joan served Chautauqua faithfully for more than a decade, assembling some of the most important preachers and prophetic voices in the world on our stages, in our pulpits and on our grounds. Joan believed, as we long have, that Chautauqua had a larger role to play in the world, and that bringing thought leaders from around the globe was only a part of the magic sauce of Chautauqua. It was when...

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April 1, 2025 | ,

Chautauqua Board Elects Laurie A. Branch As Chair

The Chautauqua Institution Board of Trustees today announced that Laurie A. Branch, who currently serves as chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, has been elected to succeed Candace L. Maxwell as board chair. This appointment is effective Oct. 1, 2025, when Maxwell will have completed three consecutive two-year terms as chair, which is the maximum allowed under the board’s bylaws.  Branch is a fourth-generation Chautauquan and a lifelong summer resident of the Institution grounds. A resident of Longboat Key, Florida, and originally from Olean, New York, Branch is CEO and President of Ironpeak, one of the oldest and largest...

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March 20, 2025 |

Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative: March 2025

Wonder Winterland? Chautauqua explores the impact of climate change on winter recreation economies As someone who prefers Boots over Birkenstocks, there’s nothing I love more than snow — and lots of it! Chautauqua in winter is a wonderland, revealing a whole new world of skiing, skating, ice fishing and snowmobiling that might seem alien to those who visit Chautauqua primarily in the temperate months. One of my fondest memories of Chautauqua is skiing the length of frozen Chautauqua Lake on a clear crisp quiet winter morning in 2022 with then-Chautauqua Lake Program Manager Toby Shepherd.  But just two winters later,...

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March 18, 2025 | ,

Announcing the 2025 Kwame Alexander Writers’ Lab & Conference

Chautauqua Institution and acclaimed author Kwame Alexander redefined the literary landscape in 2024 with the launch of the inaugural Kwame Alexander Writers’ Lab & Conference. Building on that success, we are thrilled to announce the 2025 Writers’ Lab will take place Oct. 23–25, 2025, at American University and the Institution’s offices in Washington D.C. in partnership with American University’s School of Communication and Mahogany Books.   The Writers’ Lab boasts a tradition of intensive writing workshops with award-winning contemporary authors, like Kwame Alexander, a #1 New York Times best-selling author and Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts. Hosting the...

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March 17, 2025 |

Chautauqua Arts Education Professional Development for Teachers Program Serves Over 200 Local Teachers 

Since 2016, Chautauqua Institution has partnered with the Jamestown Public Schools and Chautauqua Lake Central Schools to bring nationally renowned workshop leaders to provide teachers with professional development workshops to hundreds of teachers in Chautauqua County. During the 2024–2025 school year alone, over 200 teachers and hundreds of students have benefited from this program.   The arts are increasingly seen by the New York State Education Department as a valuable means to encourage and enrich learning for students. Through an arts integrated approach, students have not only learned core subject area skills alongside arts skills, but they’ve demonstrated their learning through...

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March 17, 2025 | ,

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra 2025 Season Announced 

Chautauqua Institution today announced the 2025 season repertoire of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (CSO) under the leadership of Music Director and Principal Conductor Rossen Milanov. The 2025 season, marking the CSO’s 96th season, will offer more than 20 performances between June 26 and Aug. 19, with concerts in Weeks One through Week Nine of Chautauqua’s Summer Assembly. Repertoire will range from classics to pops concerts with Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz on the podium. The CSO welcomes guests including Laufey, Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues project, Time For Three, Denyce Graves, Christine Goerke, Aaron Diehl, Michael Cavanaugh, Alexander Gavrylyuk, and conductors...

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March 11, 2025 | ,

Chautauqua President Announces Departure

CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (March 11, 2025) — In a joint announcement to the Chautauqua community today, Institution Board of Trustees Chair Candace L. Maxwell and Institution President Michael E. Hill, Ed.D., announced President Hill will leave his role as Chautauqua’s 18th president May 31, 2025. ”My eight-plus years in service to Chautauqua have been among the most rewarding and challenging of my career,” Hill said. “…it has been the honor of a lifetime to work alongside the talented Chautauqua team to advance our mission.” Hill said he is leaving his post as Institution president to accept the position of president at...

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