Chautauqua patrons often tell us their experience of Chautauqua is “transformational.” This week’s themes may help us to better understand the reasons behind that feeling, as we explore the transformative power of music with the help of the incomparable soprano Renée Fleming. Our Interfaith Lecture Series will take us even deeper into this topic as we explore “The Arts: Expressions from the Soul.”
Chautauqua has long considered the arts as a powerful mechanism for deepening engagement, empathy and understanding. Our mission calls us to leverage this tool in tandem with education, religion and recreation. These four program pillars — the arts, education, recreation and religion — have been the centerpiece of Chautauqua’s distinction since our founding, as has been the idea that Chautauquans would leverage their transformational experiences here and beyond for good.
In addition to those joining Ms. Fleming during our morning and afternoon lecture programs, this week we are thrilled to host the 20th Annual Robert H. Jackson Center Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States, featuring Kate Shaw, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Kate is a constitutional law scholar, and her academic work and writing focus on executive power, the law of democracy, the Supreme Court and reproductive rights and justice. There are many wonderful organizations near the Institution doing great work; I am honored to serve as a member of the board of directors of the Jackson Center and grateful for their partnership.
This week also welcomes the premiere of Chautauqua Theater Company’s production of Fabulation (or the Re-Education of Udine) in both previews and performances. This play, written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage leverages satire to illuminate life experiences with systemic cultural issues. As CTC’s work often does, this production will challenge many of us and our understandings of the experiences of Black Americans. I strongly encourage engagement in this program, as well as in the surrounding events offered by CTC, including the Theater Chat at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in Smith Wilkes Hall, focusing on the satirization of stereotypes.
We offer a warm greeting to our Week Six chaplain, Rabbi Jonathan Roos, who serves as the senior rabbi at Temple Sinai in Washington D.C. Rabbi Roos was a fellow in Chautauqua Institution’s Interfaith New Clergy Program in 2009 and recalls that “the program had a lasting impact on my theological development and understanding of interfaith relationships and engagement.” We look forward to welcoming him back to our community to support the week’s menu of transformative experiences.
I am looking forward to being in community with you this week as we all seek transformation for good — and for the betterment of the communities in which we live and serve. Welcome to Week Six of Chautauqua’s 150th anniversary season.
