Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill addressed a gathering of the Bestor Society on Aug. 5, 2018. The President’s Address is traditionally the highest-profile speech the Chautauqua president delivers during the Chautauqua season. His remarks as prepared for delivery, with light edits, are provided below. My heartfelt thanks to each of you for spending your Sunday afternoon here and for representing some of Chautauqua’s truest friends. It is an honor to gather with you in this magical environment with this picturesque view of our beloved lake behind us, in the shelter of this tent to shade us from the sun,...
(Chautauqua, NY) Chautauqua Theater Company under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Borba and Managing Director Sarah Clare Corporandy opens its 36th season with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Obie Award-winning play, An Octoroon. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, An Octoroon is playing June 29–July 8 in Bratton Theater on the Chautauqua Institution grounds. Tickets are $35–$40. A MacArthur “genius” grant recipient and two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Jacobs-Jenkins premiered An Octoroon in 2014 at Soho Rep. It was quickly declared “this decade’s most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America” by The New York Times, and in 2018 it was...
Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill addressed a gathering of Chautauquans on July 31, 2018, at the rededication and 10th anniversary celebration of the Everett Jewish Life Center at Chautauqua. His remarks as prepared for delivery, with light edits, are provided below. It’s a joy to be here with this esteemed group of speakers and all of you. A very special thank you today to Rich and the board of the Everett Jewish Life Center, to my friend and predecessor Tom Becker, and with an abundance of gratitude to Edith Everett and your family for bestowing on the Institution this...
Works by celebrated documentary filmmaker and librettist Kimberly Reed take center stage for three days at Chautauqua, starting with As One Community Day, Sunday, Aug. 5. The Aug. 5 half-day program starts at 12:30 p.m. with a free presentation of Reed’s acclaimed autobiographical documentary Prodigal Sons at Chautauqua Cinema, located at 25 Wythe Ave. on Chautauqua’s grounds. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Best Documentary Jury Prize at NewFest, and Special Jury Prizes for Fearless Filmmaking at the Florida Film Festival and Bravery in Storytelling at the Nashville Film Festival, Prodigal Sons is a raw...
Chautauqua Institution today announced the appointment of Sharon Louden as the artistic director and Sydelle Sonkin and Herb Siegel Chair of its resident visual arts program, VACI (Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution). In this capacity, Louden will oversee a dynamic department composed of the Chautauqua School of Art, Strohl and Fowler-Kellogg Art Centers, an artist lecture series and growing education and community engagement programs. Louden succeeds Don Kimes, who announced in November his intention to step down following the 2018 Chautauqua season. “It is an honor to receive the opportunity to build upon the legacy Don Kimes has left after his...
The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson to Moderate Amphitheater Conversation Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce that the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Joan Brown Campbell will appear in a conversation moderated by the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, at the Chautauqua Amphitheater, closing a week themed “The Forgotten: History and Memory in the 21st Century.” Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is one of the foremost civil rights, religious and political figures of our time. For nearly 50 years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for peace, civil rights,...
Through Partnership With WRFA, Interviews To Be Broadcast On New Program On 107.9-FM Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce the launch of its new flagship podcast, “CHQ&A,” featuring interviews with prominent guests who participate in Chautauqua’s summer season of programs in the arts, education, interfaith dialogue and recreation. Now with 13 episodes available at podcast.chq.org and on most major podcast platforms, “CHQ&A” aims to provide further insight into the work and thought processes of some of the celebrated individuals who pass through the Institution’s grounds this summer. Through a partnership with listener-supported WRFA 107.9-FM in Jamestown, interviews from “CHQ&A” will...
Chautauqua Show Will Be First For Pair This Summer Five-time Grammy Award nominee Michael Feinstein and Pink Martini’s Storm Large launch their summer 2018 “Shaken and Stirred: Classic Songs Reimagined” tour at Chautauqua Institution on Friday, July 13, 2018, in the Chautauqua Amphitheater. Accompanied by a five-piece band, “Shaken & Stirred” will pay tribute to a wide range of artists such as Al Green, Frank Sinatra, Bill Haley, Nat King Cole, James Taylor, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Donny Hathaway and many others. “Their performance at Chautauqua will be the first time this summer the world will be able to...
Named After Institution’s 14th President, Facility to Serve as Important New Community Resource A gift from Jane Fortune in honor of her late partner, Robert Hesse, the 14th Chautauqua Institution president, will make possible a new business center on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in time for the organization’s 2018 summer season. The Dr. Robert R. Hesse Welcome and Business Center transforms a substantial portion of the Institution’s existing Main Gate Welcome Center into a modern, adaptable workspace that will allow those on vacation at Chautauqua to stay remotely connected to their offices. “It is a great privilege to honor...
Performances June 24 – August 15 Chautauqua Theater Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Borba and Managing Director Sarah Clare Corporandy, announces the launch of Free Will: Chautauqua Shakespeare in the Park, a new program that will bring free, public Shakespeare performances to Chautauqua Institution and venues across Chautauqua County in partnership with the City of Jamestown (as part of the Summer Performance Series at Allen Park), the Mayville / Chautauqua Community Chamber of Commerce (as part of the Summer Concert Series at Lakeside Park) and Southern Tier Brewing Company. Borba will direct the program’s inaugural production, As...