Week Three: July 5–12, 2025

Every summer Chautauqua Institution welcomes over 100,000 visitors, to celebrate community and prioritize personal growth. Many travel here to relax, renew and recharge on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. Join us and see for yourself why Chautauqua was, and continues to be, a cherished destination. Keep scrolling to explore Week Three’s Theme: Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts.

Featured Entertainment and Events

Chautauqua Lecture Series

Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts

Chautauqua has long offered a cross-fertilization of art forms, bringing together art makers and art lovers in community — and increasingly it serves as an incubator for new, exciting work, providing a window into the process of creative experimentation and excellence. What are the dual roles and responsibilities of the artist and the audience, and what do works of art tell us about cultural, political, and social ideas and/or ideals? This week aims to connect impactful artistic experiences with a deeper understanding of artistic meaning and process from the makers themselves. 

Opening the week on Monday, July 7, 2025, is Kate D. Levin, the lead of Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Program, who will share work being done through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, demonstrating the extraordinary power of art and culture as a form of civic glue. Critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves is artistic advisor of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, and on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, she’ll take the stage to explore the theme and discuss her work at The Denyce Graves Foundation, championing the hidden musical figures of the past while uplifting young artists of world-class talent from all backgrounds. In a special joint presentation for the Chautauqua Lecture Series and the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, on Thursday, July 10, 2025, celebrated author George Saunders will discuss his most recent collection, Liberation Day, and consider the significance of books, stories and the literary arts as cultural touchstones in our increasingly siloed and stratified social and intellectual consciousness.

Confirmed Lectures

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July 7 @ 10:45 am Week Three (July 5–12)

Kate D. Levin

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$30 View Details
Kate D. Levin
Kate D. Levin
Monday, July 7th 2025 @ 10:45 am
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Kate D. Levin

Kate D. Levin oversees the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, supporting a range of organizations and activities in the United States and around the world. Current initiatives include management training, public art, and digital technology. She is also a principal at Bloomberg Associates in Cultural Assets Management. Client cities have included Athens, Bogotá, London, Nashville, Newark, and Oakland. Opening Chautauqua’s week on “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” Levin will share work being done through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, demonstrating the extraordinary power of art and culture as a form of civic glue.

From 2002 to 2013, Levin served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Managing the largest single arts funder in the United States, she increased support for cultural organizations, and expanded creative sector participation in economic development, tourism, human service, and education initiatives. During her tenure capital funding recipients tripled, while agency-sponsored technology and capacity building projects strengthened non-profit leadership. Levin oversaw the city’s permanent public art commissioning program, and helped develop and promote numerous temporary exhibitions and performances.

The inaugural fellow at the National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University and a former professor of English at City College/CUNY, Levin also served in the administration of New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

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July 8 @ 10:45 am Week Three (July 5–12)

Denyce Graves

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$30 View Details
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves
Tuesday, July 8th 2025 @ 10:45 am
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Denyce Graves

Recognized as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century” by USA Today, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves’ career has garnered unparalleled popular and critical acclaim. The recently appointed artistic advisor of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, Graves is artistic director of The Denyce Graves Foundation, which she founded in 2021. Exploring the theme of “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” Graves will both open the week in concert with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, July 5, 2025, and then speak three days later in her Chautauqua Lecture Series debut. In that presentation, Graves will discuss her dedication to the singers of the next generation, and her work championing the hidden musical figures of the past while uplifting young artists of world-class talent from all backgrounds.

Currently, Graves is a U.S. Global Music Ambassador with the U.S. Department of State, representing the nation with her artistry and leadership. A member of the voice faculty at the Peabody Institute, and a distinguished visiting faculty member at The Juilliard School, Graves’ acclaimed appearances as Carmen and Dalila in Samson et Dalila have resounded in the world’s greatest opera houses. In the 2024–25 season, Graves joins Washington National Opera as Prime Minister in Fidelio and Maria in Porgy & Bess, as well as directs the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia with Virginia Opera in a co-production with Richmond Symphony. Recent season highlights include appearances with The Metropolitan Opera as Sally in The Hours, Seattle Opera as Erda in Das Rheingold, and Lyric Fest and Washington Performing Arts in Cotton, where she was presented with the inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Fund Award.

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July 10 @ 10:45 am Week Three (July 5–12)

George Saunders

Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly

$30 View Details
George Saunders
George Saunders
Thursday, July 10th 2025 @ 10:45 am
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George Saunders

The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and numerous literary awards, George Saunders is the celebrated author of a novel, four collections of short stories, a novella, a book of essays and a children’s book. His most recent collection, Liberation Day, is a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics and justice, cutting to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. It is this work that will help frame his joint presentation for the Chautauqua Lecture Series and Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, during a week dedicated to “Art in Action: Building Community Through the Arts,” in which he’ll consider the significance of books, stories and the literary arts as cultural touchstones in our increasingly siloed and stratified social and intellectual consciousness.

In 2017, Saunders won the Man Booker Prize for his long-awaited first novel Lincoln in the Bardo. His collection Tenth of December was a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of the 2014 Story Prize for short fiction and the 2014 Folio Prize, which celebrates the best fiction of our time.

His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, GQ and Harpers Magazine, and has appeared in the O’Henry, Best American Short Story, Best Non-Required Reading and Best American Travel Writing anthologies. Named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2013, Saunders teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University.

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Interfaith Lecture Series

Contemplation: Meditation, Prayer and Silence

Noise inundates us wherever we turn. Commercials on TV and in between YouTube videos. Advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. Blasting music in restaurants and grocery stores. How do we cultivate silence in our lives given how loud our worlds are? What can we learn from the different wisdom traditions on contemplation and meditation? What do we do when we pray? How can we grow in our practices of meditation, prayer, or contemplation, and what is the role of silence in this growth? This week, we will hear from a range of perspectives from artists to scientists on why the contemplative life matters.

Confirmed Lectures

Safi_Interfaith_070825

July 8 @ 2:00 pm Week Three (July 5–12)

Omid Safi

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$19.00 View Details
Omid Safi
Omid Safi
Tuesday, July 8th 2025 @ 2:00 pm
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Omid Safi

Omid Safi is a teacher in the Islamic mystical tradition of Radical Love and serves as a professor of Islamic studies at Duke University. Omid’s passion for teaching has been recognized through the ten times that he has been nominated for professor of the year awards.

Omid has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. His Memories of Muhammad is an award-winning biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition. His next two books are forthcoming from Yale University Press on the Persian Sufi Kharaqani, and from Princeton University Press on Rumi’s Masnavi. Omid is committed to the intersection of spirituality and liberation, and has offered the annual Martin Luther King lecture from the spot of Dr. King’s assassination, Lorraine Motel, on “What Does Martin Have to Say to Today’s America?”

Omid often appears as an expert on Islam in the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Al-Jazeera, PBS, NPR, NBC, BBC, CNN, and other outlets. He has a podcast (“Sufi Heart”) at the Be Here Now Network. He teaches online courses through Illuminated Courses on topics ranging from Rumi to the mystical dimension of the Qur’an. Lastly, he offers for the general public Illuminated Tours, spiritually oriented contemplative journeys and retreats which have brought more than 1,200 friends from over twenty countries to Turkey, Morocco, Andalusia, and now Umrah since 2002. The Turkey, Morocco, and Andalusia programs are open to friends of all backgrounds. Information about the above books, podcasts, courses, and tours can be found at www.illuminatedcourses.com

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July 9 @ 2:00 pm Week Three (July 5–12)

Chenxing Han

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$19.00 View Details
Chenxing Han
Chenxing Han
Wednesday, July 9th 2025 @ 2:00 pm
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Chenxing Han

Chenxing Han’s work delights in the interplay between Buddhism, Asian America, spiritual care, pedagogy, translation, and creative expression. Chenxing is the author of the books Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021) and one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care (2023), along with many essays and articles for mainstream and academic audiences. A national speaker and workshop leader, she has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation, the Lenz Foundation, and the University of Michigan. Trained as a Buddhist chaplain, Chenxing holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA from the Graduate Theological Union and the Institute of Buddhist Studies. She is a founder of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard; May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors; and Roots and Refuge: An Asian American Buddhist Writing Retreat.

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July 10 @ 2:00 pm Week Three (July 5–12)

Rabbi Marc Margolius

Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly

$19.00 View Details
Rabbi Marc Margolius
Rabbi Marc Margolius
Thursday, July 10th 2025 @ 2:00 pm
Hall of Philosophy & 
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Rabbi Marc Margolius

Rabbi Marc Margolius is Vice President for Faculty and Program for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS). He directs the faculty and overall programming for IJS; oversees its Kivvun: Mindful Jewish Leadership program and programming for alumni of its Clergy Leadership Program; hosts IJS’s online daily mindfulness meditation sessions and its weekly podcast, “Jewish Meditation for Everyone;” and teaches Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot, an online program integrating Jewish mindfulness with attention to core character traits.

Previously, Rabbi Margolius served as rabbi at West End Synagogue in Manhattan and Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, PA. He developed and led the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project at the Legacy Heritage Fund in New York from 2005-10, an initiative to promote systemic educational change in Jewish congregations around the globe. He has been a public interest attorney serving low income communities in New Haven and Hartford, CT. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Yale Law School, he lives in New York City with his wife, Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, and their children.

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Weekly Chaplain

Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne's headshot

The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne

The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Wenonah Duchesne, is a teacher, preacher, scholar, & consultant who delights in & encourages wholeness, justice, and healing with all creation. Her work in Beloved Speech, centers on identity formation, deep listening, and relationship building, particularly within the context of antiracist and decolonized preaching and worship practices.

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People in theater, dance, opera, orchestra and concert performances

Explore Performing and Visual Arts

The arts can sometimes bridge differences and illuminate perspectives as no other method can. Artistic expressions at Chautauqua — including professional and pre-professional offerings in classical and contemporary music, theater, opera, dance, visual arts and literary arts — aim to inspire, educate, entertain and engage a diverse and growing audience.

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Places to Stay

If you love the events you see in Week Three, ensure you have accommodations. Space on the ground is limited, and accommodations go fast find reservations at the Hotel or Private Accommodations. 

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Dining & Shopping

Make your Chautauqua experience memorable! Share a delicious meal at one of our many restaurants. Or take piece of Chautauqua home with you from our unique shops.

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