CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Institution proudly announces the program lineup for Week Two of its 2022 Summer Assembly. The week, which begins July 3 and concludes July 9, features events, lectures and classes both in person on the grounds and livestreamed through the CHQ Assembly online platform. Week Two includes acclaimed guests such as former U.S. secretary of the interior Sally Jewell, “Humans of New York” creator Brandon Stanton, author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams and Broadway performer Renée Elise Goldsberry.

Chautauqua Institution has returned to a more typical level of activity on its lakeside grounds in 2022, including full schedules for all major programs, back in their usual venues at full capacity. Visit VacationSafely.chq.org for current health and safety precautions, which may vary by program.

Chautauqua’s nine-week season features weekday lectures focusing on weekly cultural themes. Week Two examines “The Wild: Reconnecting with Our Natural World,” in which speakers in the 10:45 a.m. lecture series explore the disconnect between nature and our modern world, the circumstances that might have brought this about, and how we might reconnect with nature. The 2 p.m. Interfaith Lecture Series tackles a similar theme through a spiritual lens, with leaders to guide a conversation about connecting with the divine though the natural world.

The Institution has also proudly designated Tuesday, July 5, as both Buffalo Day and Haudenosaunee Confederacy Day at Chautauqua, combining two separate annual celebrations of Buffalo residents and Haudenosaunee peoples. Members of both constituencies are invited to spend the day at Chautauqua with a complimentary gate pass to enjoy the Institution’s signature programs alongside special events themed around the day’s celebrations. Details are available at buffalo.chq.org and hc.chq.org. 

The Rev. Randall K. Bush will serve as guest chaplain for the week. Bush served as senior pastor at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh for 16 years before becoming the interim pastor and head of staff at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland. He is the author of The Possibility of Contemporary Prophetic Acts, and is the winner of the 2017 Hosanna Preaching Prize and the 2011 international “Food for Life” preaching award.

AMPHITHEATER & HALL OF PHILOSOPHY LECTURES:

MONDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Bob Inglis is the founder and executive director of republicEn.org, founded and launched in 2012, a nationwide community of conservatives that promotes free-enterprise action against climate change. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Victoria Loorz is a “wild church pastor,” an “eco-spiritual director,” and the co-founder of several transformation focused organizations centering on the integration of nature and spirituality, including Seminary of the Wild, Church of the Wild, and Wild Church Network.

TUESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Sally Jewell served as U.S. secretary of the interior from 2013 to 2017. During her lecture, titled “America’s Public Lands: Fuel our Soul, Unlock our Curiosity, and Connect us to Nature,” she will discuss her commitment to connecting people, especially youth, to nature using opportunities to play, work and learn on public lands.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Oren Lyons is faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation, and serves on the Grand Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy — the Haudenosaunee. He is a tireless advocate for American Indian causes and Indigenous rights.

WEDNESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Kelsey Leonard is a water scientist, legal scholar, policy expert, writer, and enrolled citizen of the Shinnecock Nation, who works as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, where her research focuses on Indigenous water justice and its climatic, territorial, and governance underpinnings. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Fred Bahnson is an award-winning writer and the author of Soil & Sacrament: A Spiritual Memoir of Food and Faith. His essay “On the Road with Thomas Merton” won a 2020 Wilbur Award for Best Magazine Article from the Religion Communicators Council and was selected for the anthology Best American Travel Writing 2020.

THURSDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Terry Tempest Williams has been called “a citizen writer,” a naturalist and writer who speaks and speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. Williams is the author of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, The Open Space of Democracy, and Finding Beauty in a Broken World, among others. 

Interfaith Lecture Series: Sophfronia Scott is a novelist, essayist and leading contemplative thinker whose work has appeared in numerous publications. Her reflections on Merton’s wisdom and personal journals, as related in her book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, will inform her lecture.

FRIDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Brandon Stanton, is an author, photographer and founder of the street portrait blog “Humans of New York” (HONY), which emerged as a worldwide internet phenomenon. HONY, a collection of thousands of street portraits and conversations with the subjects as intimate as the photos themselves, now has 20 million followers on social media.

Interfaith lecture Series: John Philip Newell is a Celtic teacher and author on spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of the Earth and every human being. He has authored more than 15 books, including A New Ancient Harmony, Sounds of the Eternal, The Rebirthing of God, and his latest major publication Sacred Earth Sacred Soul.

ADDITIONAL LECTURES

2 p.m., Saturday, July 2, Hall of Philosophy: The Chautauqua Women’s Club’s weekly Contemporary Issues Forum features the author and expert in nonprofit leadership Joan Garry.

3:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 5, Hall of Philosophy: In coordination with Olmsted 200 and part of the day’s Buffalo Day festivities, the Heritage Lecture Series convenes a panel discussion to focus on the relevance of Olmsted ideals to the modern movement to create landscapes that contribute to climate sustainability goals. Speakers include Adam Rome and Robert Shibley of the University at Buffalo and Stephanie Crockatt of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. The discussion will be moderated by Mark Wenzler, director of the Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative.

3:30 p.m, Wednesday, July 6, Hall of Philosophy: Real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster Majora Carter presents for the African American Heritage House’s Summer Speakers Series.

AMPHITHEATER ENTERTAINMENT

Aside from the daily lectures, Week One features a variety of arts and entertainment programs live at the Amphitheater each evening.

8:15 p.m. Saturday, July 2, Amphitheater: CelebratedviolinistRay Chen joins the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Rossen Milanov in a program including Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor.

2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 3, Amphitheater: The Buffalo Silver Band, the 105-year-old British-style brass band of Western New York, joins the JGB Shibuki Japanese Taiko ensemble for a program of East Meets West. A rising star of the Japanese Group Buffalo, the Shibuki Taiko Ensemble has been performing together on traditional Japanese percussion instruments since 2016.

8 p.m., Monday, July 4, Amphitheater: Led by Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz, July Fourth with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra is one of the most popular events in the Amphitheater every season. This year’s celebration features soprano Dee Donasco, who spent the summer of 2012 as a Chautauqua Opera Apprentice Artist and was a featured soloist with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

8:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Amphitheater: The students of the 2022 Music School Festival Orchestra make their season debut under the baton of Music Director Timothy Muffitt.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday, July 6th, Amphitheater: Curated by Sasha Janes, interim director of the Chautauqua School of Dance, the annual Alumni All-Star Ballet Gala serves as a celebration of the exceptional talent consistently produced by the Chautauqua School of Dance.

8:15 p.m. Thursday, July 7, Amphitheater: Chautauqua-favorite pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk joins the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Milanov on Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto.

8:15 p.m. Friday, July 8, Amphitheater: Broadway star Renée Elise Goldsberry closes the week with a program of Broadway hits, American pop standards, soul classics and more. The Tony Award-winning actress and singer originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway production of Hamilton, which has become a cultural touchstone for the ages. 

MORE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT OFFERINGS

Patrons are advised to bring a mask with them, as some performances and venues will require masks of all audience members.

Current Chautauqua Visual Arts Exhibitions include “Undercurrents,” “All that Glitters,” “Natural Rhythms” and “The Shape of Things to Come.”

5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Smith Wilkes Hall: In a one-woman acrobatic performance, Li Liu performs hand balancing, plate spinning, artistic cycling, ribbon dancing, Chinese yo-yos, and foot juggling.

7 p.m. Monday, July 4, Chautauqua Cinema: The beloved Chautauqua Cinema continues its weekly Family Film Series, available to anyone with a Chautauqua Gate Pass, with the classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

4 p.m. Monday, July 4, Elisabeth S. Lenna Hall: Hailed by the Cleveland press as “the most important contribution to the region’s classical music scene,” ChamberFest Cleveland provides a fresh concert experience as part of the Chautauqua Chamber Music Guest Artist Series.

4 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Norton Hall: The Chautauqua Opera Company stages its 2022 production of Thumbprint, a chamber opera inspired by the experiences of Mukhtār Mā’ī, a contemporary real-life warrior for women’s rights and education in Pakistan.

5  p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Chautauqua Cinema: Chautauqua Cinema continues its weekly CHQ Documentary Series, available to anyone with a Chautauqua Gate Pass, with a screening of “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America,” part of Tuesday’s Buffalo Day festivities.

3:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7th, Hall of Philosophy: Botanist, professor and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer will join the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle to present her celebrated book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.

All Week, Bratton Theater: Chautauqua Theater Company continues the run of its production of Indecent, a play full of joyful human passion inspired by true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway production of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT

Chautauqua’s Mystic Heart Interspiritual Meditation Program offers community members daily meditation sessions at 7:45 a.m. in the Presbyterian House Chapel throughout the week.

Chautauqua Dialogues provide a forum in which people of diverse backgrounds can bring their political, religious, cultural, and social beliefs, experiences and knowledge to conversations that matter. They take place Wednesdays through Saturdays of the Summer Assembly at various times, but primarily in the afternoon.

ABOUT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION
Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer — and year-round through the CHQ Assembly online platforms — 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 engaged dialogue.

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