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The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York. It was founded in 1874 by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist Bishop John Heyl Vincent as a camp for Sunday school teachers. The Institution has operated each summer since then, gradually expanding its season length and program offerings organized around the four pillars: arts, education, religion and recreation. An average of 7,500 people are in residence on any particular day during the season, and another 145,000 attend public events, including popular entertainment, theater, symphony, ballet and opera. For other uses of Chautauqua, see Chautauqua. ...
Lewis Miller was an Ohio businessman who made a fortune in the late 19th century as inventor of the first combine (harvester-reaper machine) with the blade mounted efficiently in front of the horse rather than pulled behind it. ...
The Institution also includes school of Special Studies and a residential music program of intensive study is offered to students on the verge of professional careers who audition for admittance into Chautauqua's schools of fine and performing arts.
The physical setting of the Institution defined its development as an assembly. The grounds are situated at a prominent point on the west shoreline of upper Chautauqua Lake, and especially in the early decades of the assembly those who attended met among groves of trees and greenery. The early tent camp assembly gave way to cottages and rooming houses, and then hotels and eventually condominiums. But much of the pastoral summer retreat on the lake survives. Even today the speed limit on the brick-lined streets is 15 mph and on many streets vehicles are banned.
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Institution Programs Summer admission to Chautauqua is by "gate ticket" which allows the purchaser to enjoy the grounds and its village atmosphere, including many 19th-century houses, churches, theaters, pavilions, attractive gardens, and the town square, Bestor Plaza, named after Arthur Bestor, president of the institution from 1915 to 1944. Bestor, Arthur Eugene, Jr. ...
The gate pass also allows use of Smith Memorial Library, including open wireless internet, use of public beaches and parks, and attendance at lectures and concerts. There is an additional charge for some courses, for films shown at the Chautauqua Cinema, for opera and theater tickets, and for use of the golf course and tennis courts. Smith Memorial Library is a member of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System. ...
The Chautauqua Cinema is located on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in western NY. The 110-year-old Higgins Memorial Hall was used by the Institution as a meeting place and performance hall, including some film showings, until it was converted into a movie theater by the Schmidt family in...
The official Chautauqua season runs for nine weeks each summer, from late June to late August, though many of the residents arrive as early as May and stay well past Labor Day. Though many of the people living on the grounds have been coming for many years and for multiple generations in their family, the Institution also eagerly seeks to attract those who have never before visited Chautauqua. Newcomers often begin with a stay of a day or two, move on to a week and then come for longer in subsequent years. Chautauqua waives the gate fee for visitors aged 90 and over (It has been facetiously described as "the place where little old ladies go -- and bring their grandmothers.")
Weekly Program A typical weekday at Chatuauqua includes a devotional service and a lecture on a social, political or academic issue in the morning, an afternoon lecture on a religious topic, and an evening program. This evening Amphitheater event may be a symphony concert by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, a dance program by the Chautauqua Ballet Company, or a program by a special guest artist. Performers this past season included Neil Sedaka, Three Dog Night, and Michael W. Smith. During most weeks, there is at least one opportunity to catch an opera and a play, both put on by Chautauqua's resident summer companies. Operas are performed in English at Norton Hall, a 1930s era art deco structure. There are also regularly scheduled organ recitals, student recitals, master classes, forums, and seminars for the sophisticate. The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra is the resident summer orchestra of Chautauqua Institution. ...
Neil Sedaka 2005 Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist , and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. ...
Three Dog Night was an American rock and roll band active from 1968 to 1975. ...
Michael W. Smith // Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957, to Paul and Barbara Smith in Kenova, West Virginia), often nicknamed Smitty, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. ...
A remarkable range of special studies courses in music, art, dance, drama and general topics are also offered. The Chautauqua Schools of Music offer extremely competitive programs on the basis of scholarship. George Gershwin visited Chautauqua as a summer refuge to compose parts of his Concerto in F in a small wooden piano studio and give its first public performance. George Gershwin photograph by Edward Steichen in 1927. ...
The 10:45 morning lecture program is one of the most distinctive features of the program at the Institution. The program for each week is built around a unifying theme, such as Chautauqua has been visited by United States Presidents from Ulysses S. Grant to Bill Clinton, and by other prominent Americans including Booker T. Washington, Karl Menninger, Tom Ridge and, in 2006, Al Gore. Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic "I hate war" speech was delivered from the podium in the Chautauqua Amphitheater. Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American general and politician who was elected the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877). ...
William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ...
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator and author. ...
Karl Menninger (1893-1990) was an American Psychiatrist and a member of the famous Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. ...
Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is a U.S. political figure who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1983–1995), Governor of Pennsylvania (1995 – 2001), Assistant to the President for Homeland Security (2001–2003), and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
|- ! Born | March 31, 1948 Washington, D.C. |} Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ...
FDR redirects here. ...
Sundays at Chautauqua are rich and full, with many worship services, both denominational and ecumenical. There is an afternoon Amphitheater program, such as a military band or student dance program. On Sundays, entrance to the Institution grounds is free. Worship services are coordinated by the permanent Department of Religion staff and are conducted by prominent protestant ministers.
Special Events There is a special program on the first Tuesday in August called "Old First Night". This is the "birthday party" for the Institution, marking the opening of the first season back in 1874 and serving as an opportunity to whip up spirit for the fund-raising that makes Chautauqua programming possible.
Department of Religion The Chautauqua tradition continues to be Christian, and most mainstream denominations are visibly represented through "denominational houses" that offer both religious programs and lodging. But there is also a strong Jewish presence and a growing Muslim community, thanks to an interfaith effort to bring together the Abrahamic traditions, started several years ago by Chautauqua's Department of Religion.
Children's Programs One of the oldest day camps in the United States is the Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club. The Children's School established in 1921, is a developmental preschool for youth ages 3-5, and was a pioneering program in the field of nursery school education. The program includes a social, recreational and educational activities which often incorporate other Chautauqua programs in the areas of music, drama and art.
Institution Facilities The Institution's grounds, located between New York State Route 394 and Chautauqua Lake, include public buildings (such as the 6,000-seat Amphitheater), administrative offices, a library, a movie theater, a bookstore, hotels, inns, rooming houses, and many private cottages. There are about 400 year-round residents, but in the summer the population swells as many as 10,000 at any one time. The Institution is largely a pedestrian community, with bikes and scooters seen everywhere and a 12 mph speed limit for cars. There are several parking lots located on the periphery of the grounds. Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York. ...
The Athenaeum Hotel on the grounds is the only hotel actually owned and operated by the Institution. The 156-room hotel, said to be the largest wooden building in the eastern United States, was built in the Second Empire style in 1881. The hotel usually offers complete packages of room, meals at the hotel's dining room, and the Chautauqua gate pass. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (975x649, 252 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Chautauqua Institution Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (975x649, 252 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Chautauqua Institution Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
Palestine Park is a relief map of Palestine, showing the general contour of the area, including mountains, valleys, water-courses and cities. Palestine Park is located on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in western NY. The park is a scale-model of the Holy Land, including tiny cities, hills, rivers, and seas in approximately correct geographical location. ...
Chautauqua's Impact on Adult Education The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), founded in 1878 by Bishop Vincent, is America's oldest continuously operating book club. It was originally founded to promote self-learning and study, particularly among those unable to attend higher institutions of learning. Six to nine books are added to the reading list each year, with authors generally coming to Chautauqua to discuss their writing and to talk with readers. Members may graduate from a CLSC class on a special Recognition Day during the summer season after they have paid dues for four years and read any 12 books from the complete CLSC list. The ideals of the Chautauqua Institution were spread through out the United States through a series of traveling Chautauqua assemblies that incorporated many of the components of program at the Institution, including lectures, music and a focus on current issues. The Chautauqua, (pronounced shə-tôkwə) was a popular educational movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. ...
Institutional Concerns Efforts are being made to introduce more racial diversity to the traditional Chautauqua clientele, which is still almost entirely Caucasian, and drawn heavily from the surrounding area of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. There is concern at Chautauqua that the summer experience, once enjoyed by clergy, teachers and others of modest incomes, is pricing itself out of that market, particularly through conversion and renovation of older houses into expensive condominiums and upmarket villas.
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