The 2024–25 school year has brought exciting growth in the Chautauqua Arts Education School Residency program, Feelin’ the Beat. This program was created for students with disabilities to support social emotional learning goals and to develop musical expression through drumming. Over time, the program has expanded to support students who have different kinds of learning challenges, many of whom were impacted by the effect of the pandemic on their learning experience.  This program has been offered since 2014 when it started by serving two schools. Fast forward 10 years and the program will be in 15 schools this year —...

In July 2024, Chautauqua Institution’s Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright presented at the Kennedy Center’s ED@LEAD Conference. This event is an outgrowth of the Kennedy Center’s LEAD (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability)Conference. Fassett-Wright lead a session titled “Feelin’ the Beat: Where Drumming and Social Emotional Learning Meet,” sharing out about the Chautauqua Arts Education School Residencies drumming program. This program was developed originally to serve students with disabilities, integrating music and social emotional skill learning. However, it became clear with so many students struggling with social emotional skills due to the pandemic, many schools have been hosting this...

Chautauqua Arts Education is gearing up for another exciting school year. It promises to be a year of growth, engaging in more schools, strengthening partnerships and impacting students more broadly and deeply than ever before.  Resident Teaching Artist Stephanie Dawson has been hard at work, scheduling the Feelin’ the Beat school residency, a drumming program. Over the course of the school year, we will be welcoming four new schools to the program, expanding to two new Little Seeds Preschool locations in Sinclairville and Fredonia, and two new schools in Dunkirk, bringing the total number of schools served to 14 this...

This summer was brimming with creativity and excitement as Chautauqua Arts Education extended its programming into the Summer Assembly. Through a wonderful partnership with the Jamestown Summer LEAP program and the Jamestown Boys and Girls Club, fueled by the generous support of the Winifred C. Dibert Foundation and the Lenna Foundation, Chautauqua hosted approximately 320 enthusiastic students by summer’s end.  Weeks Five and Six brought a special treat: the return of teaching artists from the Young Playwrights Project (YPP) to the Jamestown Public Schools LEAP (Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress) program. This summer learning/day camp experience is open to current...

“How many of you know the story of Hansel and Gretel?” asks Joel Clemons as Older Hansel at the start of each “Hansel and Gretel vs. the Witch” performance. Familiar with this beloved folktale, a sea of student hands from grades PreK-6 shoot up in excitement.  Opera in the Schools, a collaboration between Chautauqua Arts Education and Chautauqua Opera Company, brings opera into elementary classrooms around Chautauqua County. This year, 11 schools participated, reaching approximately 3,500 students.  The program dazzled young audiences with a lively 45-minute adaptation of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, masterfully reimagined by Joshua Borths. The Chautauqua...

“It’s showtime today!” were the magical words that greeted the Chautauqua Arts Education Young Playwrights Project team members as they visited the schools to read plays written by Chautauqua County 3rd and 4th grade students. This year over 400 students worked to write 378 plays that shared a broad view of the world through the hearts and minds of these young students. The Young Playwrights Project (YPP) began in 2014 in collaboration with the Florida Studio Theater in Sarasota, Florida and has since evolved to a close partnership with Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) and developed further by Syracuse University acting faculty...

Impacting Students Through Rhythmic Expression Chautauqua Arts Education kicked off the 2023–2024 school year working with students to tap into their creativity and connect with others through rhythm and sound! The transformative “Feelin’ the Beat” School Residency Program shares the joy of musical expression through drumming with 10 area schools and almost 500 students.   Developed in 2014 by Chief Program Officer Deborah Sunya Moore and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Principal Percussionist Brian Kushmaul, the original vision was to create an arts education program for students attending special education programs in Erie 2 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) Educational Centers....

Bush 3rd Graders’ Imagination Takes Center Stage Through CHQ Young Playwrights Project Applause, cheers, and excitement filled the auditorium of Bush Elementary School as the special guests bowed. “Did you enjoy that play?” asks Emily Olcott, one of four teaching artists visiting the school that day from Chautauqua Institution. “YES!” the children replied in unison following the short performance. “Well, great! Because we’re going to perform another play for you except… This one hasn’t been written yet!” Olcott responded to the students’ amazement. “In just a minute, I’m going to go into the audience and get creative ideas and suggestions...