CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Institution is proud to announce the program lineup for Week Seven of its 2021 season. The week, which begins Aug. 7 and concludes Aug. 14, features events, lectures, and classes both in-person on the grounds and livestreamed through CHQ Assembly. Week Seven includes renowned guests such as Grammy and Emmy award winner Harry Connick, Jr.; New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat; co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women Joan Chittister; “Marketplace” senior reporter Nancy Marshall-Genzer; and president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Raphael W. Bostic.

Chautauqua Institution’s nine-week season features weekday lectures focusing on weekly cultural themes. Week Seven examines “The State of the Economy: Where Do We Go From Here?” in which speakers in the 10:30 a.m. Chautauqua Lecture Series program discuss the rebuilding of the American and world economy during a lingering pandemic, what this crisis has revealed about necessary investments and structural reforms, and how we can use what we have learned to create a more just economy. The 1 p.m. Interfaith Lecture Series examines the theme “Creating an Economy that Works for All,” which considers how religion and ethical humanism make demands upon economic policy and whether they can help create a more just, equal society that supports health care, work opportunity and wage justice. 

Lisa Sharon Harper will serve as the guest chaplain for the week. Harper leads trainings around the world that increase clergy and community leaders’ capacity to organize people of faith toward a just world. She is the founder and president of FreedomRoad.us, a consulting group dedicated to shrinking the narrative gap in our nation.

AMPHITHEATER LECTURES

MONDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Nancy Marshall-Genzer is senior reporter for American Public Media’s “Marketplace” and will examine what she’s seen on the ground during her reporting throughout the pandemic, and the economic moment we find ourselves in during the summer of 2021.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Joan Chittister is a Benedictine Sister of Erie, Pennsylvania, and an international lecturer, award-winning author of 60 books, and founding member of The Global Peace Initiative of Women. A courageous and passionate speaker, commentator, counselor and clear voice across all religions, she is one of Chautauqua’s most beloved speakers.

TUESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Robert Doar is the 12th president of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected public policy think tanks. He will discuss how struggling low-income Americans are faring in the current economy amid the COVID-19 crisis as well as the implications of policy enacted over the past year and going forward.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Benjamin M. Friedman is the William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy, and formerly chair of the Department of Economics, at Harvard University. His writing focuses on economic policy and the role of the financial markets in shaping how monetary and fiscal policies affect overall economic activity. 

WEDNESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Raphael W. Bostic is the 15th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He also serves on the Federal Reserve’s chief monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee. At Chautauqua, he will discuss how monetary policy can benefit marginalized communities, and the moral imperative of creating a more inclusive economy. This presentation is in collaboration with the African American Heritage House. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Ross Douthat is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and the former senior editor at The Atlantic. He has authored several books, including The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery, a vulnerable, insightful memoir about illness. 

THURSDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Rebecca M. Henderson holds the John and Natty McArthur University Professorship on the faculty of Harvard Business School. At Chautauqua, she will discuss her most recent book, Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, and how rectifying distorted markets and distorted costs would both be to the benefit of businesses and the planet.

ARTS PROGRAMMING 

Aside from the daily lectures, Week Seven features a variety of afternoon and evening arts and entertainment programs live at the Amphitheater or the Performance Pavilion on Pratt, with some offerings available via livestream and on-demand through the CHQ Assembly platform.

8:15 p.m. Saturday, August 7, Amphitheater: Chautauqua Opera’s 2021 Apprentice Artists will take center stage alongside the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for their final performance of the summer, featuring premieres from Chautauqua Opera’s inaugural Composer Fellows, Jasmine Barnes and Sage Bond.

2:30 p.m. Sunday, August 8, Amphitheater: The 140 singers of the Grammy award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus will present a program featuring Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and Antonio Vivaldi’s exuberant Gloria.

8:15 p.m. Monday, August 9, Amphitheater: Under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, the Chautauqua School of Dance will present an outstanding mixed repertoire evening of new and established works featuring with the most exceptional young talent in the country.

8:15 p.m. Tuesday, August 10, Amphitheater: Conducted by Rossen Milanov, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra presents an evening of works by Mozart and Strauss.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday, August 11, Amphitheater: An internationally acclaimed brass ensemble, The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass comprises some of America’s top brass musicians and is bringing the joyous experience of great music to Chautauqua.

8:15 p.m. Thursday, August 12, Amphitheater: Conducted by Rossen Milanov, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra presents Carlos Simon’s Elegy: A cry from the grave and Bizet and Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite for Strings and Percussion.

4 p.m. Friday, August 13, Performance Pavilion on Pratt: A one-man show about the first African-American to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Chautauqua Theater Company’s Thurgood guides audiences through Thurgood Marshall’s childhood in Baltimore to his role in the civil rights movement, to his historic victory in Brown v. Board of Education, and ultimately to his Supreme Court appointment.

8:15 p.m. Friday, August 13, Amphitheater: Grammy and Emmy award-winning performer Harry Connick, Jr. and his seven-piece band will visit Chautauqua to celebrate a return to live performances with their “Time To Play!” summer tour. 

ADDITIONAL LECTURES/CONVERSATIONS ON CHQ ASSEMBLY 
Chautauqua proudly continues some cherished programming online in lieu of additional in-person programming during the 2021 Summer Assembly. 

3:30 p.m. Sunday, August 8: The Chautauqua Writers’ Center presents a free Sunday reading with writer-in-residence T. Geronimo Johnson and poet-in-residence January O’Neil.

3:30 p.m. Thursday, August 12: The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle presents Jim Tankersley’s The Riches of this Land, which fuses the story of forgotten Americans with important new economic and political research, providing fresh understanding how to create a more widespread prosperity.

10 a.m. Friday, August 13: Chautauqua Cinema presents “Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops,” a series of five short films featuring 12 world-renowned climate scientists for the third Meet the Filmmaker event of 2021. Filmmaker Bestor Cram will be on hand for discussion.

1 p.m. Friday, August 13: Andre Perry, senior fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, presents as part of the 2021 African American Heritage House Lecture Series. 

MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT

Current Chautauqua Visual Arts Gallery Exhibitions include “Materials Redefined,” “Tenacity,” “Improvising: New Photographs by Julie Blackmon,” “Pour Spill Drip Stain,” the CVA School of Art Participants Exhibition and “Resilience,” the Open CVA Members Exhibition.

Chautauqua’s Mystic Heart Meditation Program offers community members daily meditation sessions at 7:30 a.m. throughout the week.

A new initiative in 2021, Chautauqua Cinema Under the Stars presents “The Goonies” on the Athenaeum Lawn at 9:45 p.m. on August 7.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are available for purchase at tickets.chq.org and at the Main Gate Welcome Center Ticket Office on the day of your visit. Morning Program Tickets are $30; Afternoon Program Tickets are $15. The fee for Evening Program tickets varies based on the evening entertainment. For tickets and information, visit tickets.chq.org or call 716-357-6250. Program Tickets permit access to the Chautauqua Institution grounds four hours prior to the scheduled start time of an event. Patrons are invited to arrive early and explore the grounds and other amenities, including free access to world-class art galleries, plus shops and restaurants. Admission to Chautauqua is always free on Sundays.  

ABOUT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage, and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution’s mission.

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