Pardo has been a Chautauqua Institution trustee since 2006, having served during that time as chair of its personnel committee and as a member of its executive committee, nominating and governance committee, architectural review board and the Architectural and Land Use Study Group.

“The Chautauqua experience, while different for all of us, becomes an opportunity to realize and promote the best of human values, the enrichment of life and self-improvement through lifelong learning,” Pardo said. “I look forward to working with my fellow trustees, Tom Becker and the administration to maintain that which is cherished about the Chautauqua experience while, at the same time, ensuring that this place remains relevant and attractive to a new generation of Chautauquans.”

Chairman George Snyder, who will conclude his third two-year term at the August meeting, said, “I am very happy to leave the Institution’s board of trustees in such capable hands. I greatly appreciated having the opportunity to spend time with Bill Clinger in advance of my assumption of duties as board chair, and I look forward to assisting Jim in the same manner.”

Pardo retired from the firm of King & Spalding and from the practice of law on Dec. 31, 2012.  At the time of his retirement, he was the senior partner in, and a member of, the firm’s financial restructuring practice group. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia, Pardo received his B.A. with honors in economics in 1975 and his J.D. in 1979.

Pardo and his family first came to Chautauqua Institution in 1991. He and his wife, Mary, live in Atlanta, and have a home at Chautauqua on Root Avenue. They have two children, Claire and Grace. 

As author of the winning book, Egan receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua, a not-for-profit educational and cultural center in southwestern New York state. He will host a public reading and book signing on Wednesday, July 10, on the Institution grounds.

"Given the history of Chautauqua, and its role as a summer retreat for lovers of history, art, brisk argument and the written word, I couldn't be more thrilled to be a small part of this," said Egan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for The New York Times and the best-selling author of six books. "You've helped to give the subject of my book, the American Indian photographer Edward Curtis, a bit of a renaissance."

Now in its second year, The Chautauqua Prize is a national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a nonfiction account of Edward Curtis' early-20th-century quest to document the lives of 80 American Indian tribes. Chautauqua Prize reviewers described the book as "compelling" and "exhaustive," and noted that Egan, who won the 2006 National Book Award for The Worst Hard Time, "captures in language what Curtis expresses in photography."

"Chautauqua is very proud to honor Timothy Egan and Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher with the 2013 Chautauqua Prize," said Sherra Babcock, Chautauqua Institution vice president and Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education, who coordinates the prize selection process. "Egan writes with such lyrical prose that Edward Curtis and his obsession to document the Native American haunted me long after I read the last sentence."

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher was chosen from a finalist shortlist that includes five other outstanding titles: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Ecco) by Ben Fountain; The Presidents Club (Simon & Schuster) by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy; Devil in the Grove (Harper) by Gilbert King; The Song of Achilles (Ecco) by Madeline Miller; and The Names of Things (Ashland Creek Press) by John Colman Wood.

Chautauqua Institution received 125 books from 67 publishers as nominations for the 2013 Chautauqua Prize, each evaluated by three reviewers representing a panel of Chautauquans who are professionally involved with books and the literary arts. Thirty titles received recommendations from at least two of the three reviewers and advanced to the longlist stage. A three-person, independent, anonymous jury chose the finalists and winner.

The hallmark of The Chautauqua Prize is its focus not only on the literary quality or the writing, but on the reading experience as judged by thoughtful, experienced Chautauqua readers.

With a history steeped in the literary arts, Chautauqua Institution is home to the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded in 1878, which honors nine outstanding books of fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry every summer. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher will count toward members' reading lists (though not officially designated as a CLSC selection), ensuring continued readership by thousands of active readers.

Further literary arts programming at Chautauqua includes summer-long interaction of published and aspiring writers at the Chautauqua Writers' Center, the intensive workshops of the nationally recognized Chautauqua Writers' Festival, and lectures by prominent authors on the art and craft of writing.

The preeminent expression of lifelong learning in the United States, Chautauqua Institution is a 139-year-old community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 100,000 people visit Chautauqua and participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages — all within the beautiful setting of a historic lakeside village.

Details on The Chautauqua Prize are available online at http://www.ciweb.org/prize. Books published in 2013 will be accepted as submissions for the 2014 prize beginning Sept. 9, 2013.

Contact:

Sherra Babcock
Vice President
Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education
Chautauqua Institution
sbabcock@ciweb.org
716-357-6316

FREDONIA, N.Y. — April 30, 2013 — The 2013 Marion Fellowship for the Visual and Performing Arts has been awarded to SUNY Fredonia Photography professor Liz Lee, who will create “Cosmological Process,” a body of photographic work inspired by “Our Elegant Universe,” the opening week theme of the 2013 Chautauqua Institution season. 

The fellowship will support Lee at Chautauqua and two additional locations in the creation of a photographic series designed to inspire a new, closer relationship with the universe during a period of growing environmental and social crisis. She derived the series from “A New Story,” an article written by Thomas Berry, a 20th century priest and eco-theologian, which explored whether thinkers and theologians are closer to answering the most basic questions of existence.

Cathy (’79) and Jesse Marion created the fellowship to bring together the arts from both public and private sectors and facilitate community outreach at Chautauqua Institution, the Alberta College of Art and Design, Alley Theatre in Houston, the Ucross Foundation’s artist retreat in Wyoming and the Springboard Schools in Egypt. Lee’s fellowship is the first of three annual awards the Marions, whose philanthropy has benefitted these institutions, are funding. 

“Based on her creative and comprehensive approach, articulate presentation and enthusiasm, Jesse and I feel that Ms. Lee is an excellent choice as our first Fellow. She is uniquely qualified to further our long-term goal to enrich cooperation and collaboration between SUNY Fredonia and other institutions within the Marion Fellowship Circle,” Cathy Marion said.

The concept of the Marion Fellowship was developed by June Miller-Spann, associate director of the Fredonia College Foundation and a selection committee member. “The goal was to initiate collaboration between arts and edollaboration between arts and educational institutions in a way that results in a reciprocal benefit for these Marion Fellowship Circle members, while also aligning with the philanthropic interests of Cathy and Jesse Marion,” Miller-Spann said.

Launch of the Marion Fellowship coincides with formation of SUNY Fredonia’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, and the Marions’ desire to support the new college in a unique way.

“We are very grateful to Cathy and Jesse Marion for making this opportunity available,” Dr. John Kijinski, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the selection committee, said. “It is a great way for us to showcase our Fredonia talent at other institutions. Furthermore, it is an innovative example of public and private institutions working together in a common cause made possible by the philanthropy of the Marions.”

Dean Kijinski indicated that “Cosmological Process” is particularly suited for this fellowship, and that her project fits in perfectly with the “Our Elegant Universe” theme. The project will pose interdisciplinary questions about patterns of order and connections in the world and how those patterns and connections are both captured by and constructed through art, Kijinski said. Lee combines old and new technologies and puts them at the heart of the artistic process.

Lee’s proposal was an overwhelming favorite of the selection committee.

“Of all the applications reviewed, Liz Lee’s stood out as one of the most comprehensive in its focus and fit with the goals of the fellowship. In that her proposal encompasses an underlying spirit of discovery rich in potential, as well as strong collaborative opportunities, I think Liz is an excellence choice as the inaugural recipient,” said Bob Booth, SUNY Distinguished Teaching professor and a selection committee member.

Proposed projects for the Marion Fellowship represented music, dance, theater and visual arts, said Dr. Karl Boelter, director of the School isual arts, said Dr. Karl Boelter, director of the School of Music and a selection committee member. “We looked for advantageous and creative use of the opportunities that the Marions made available through this fellowship, and Liz Lee wrote a particularly compelling narrative that clearly defined this in every aspect of her project.”

The fellowship covers travel and lodging costs associated with artistic experiences at three or more Marion Fellow Circle Member destinations within a 12-month period and development of a final project.

Attendance at Chautauqua lectures, presentations and performances will enable Lee to gain a more complete understanding of “A New Story” and whether the thinkers and theologians assembled at the institution’s first week have come any closer to answering the most basic questions of existence posed by Berry in his 1978 article.

Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, will be Lee’s second destination in late November. She will discuss and demonstrate SUNY Fredonia’s more interdisciplinary arts-based photographic study at ACAD.

Student critiques, a public lecture, small process workshop and meeting with fine arts administrators to conduct a program review and discuss the BFA option will be key elements of the week-long visit by Lee, who grew up in Alberta.

A one-week residency in March 2014 at the Ucross artist retreat in Clearmont, Wyo., will be dedicated to compiling thoughts and creating a presentation of  Lee’s artistic journey that she will give at SUNY Fredonia in the spring of 2014. Lee, who participated in a Vermont Studio Center artist program that resulted in her “Sun Prints” series, is looking forward to gaining a fresh perspective on her ideas through interaction with other artists and writers at the renowned Ucross program.

Department of Theater and Dance chair Tom Loughlin, another selection committee member, is particularly fond of Lee’s views and insimber, is particularly fond of Lee’s views and insisight into technological and natural worlds, referring to her as a modern artist who has not abandoned many of the traditional views of art and its connection to nature and the human experience.

Students will benefit from Lee’s fellowship experience by seeing a working visual artist move from conceptualization through the entire process leading to the eventual creation of an artistic product, Loughlin explained. “That thought and imaginative process, I think, will be the big pay-off for students and the new College of Visual and Performing Arts alike. The skills and intellect she brings to the creation of artwork is something that all students should strive to emulate and achieve,” Loughlin said.

Lee is a meticulous and demanding artist whose work over the years has taken her on incredible intellectual as well as artistic journeys, he added.

The Marions anticipate students in the new college will be inspired not only by her finished work, but also the observations, interactions and insights she may find along the way during her travels on this creative journey.

The fellowship will allow Lee to work on new art, Kijinski said, “and nothing is more important for our students than getting to work with artists who are actively expending their own work and having that work recognized by others in the world of art.” Moreover, Lee will be introduced to other artists at the three Circle Member locations, and that could lead to internship and graduate opportunities for SUNY Fredonia students. 

Boelter said the fellowship, which demands collaboration between people and among artists, represents a model of what the new College of Visual and Performing Arts offers to the campus community. “I feel that the Marions understand that their fellowship, made possible at this particular point in time, is a catalyst toward a college that unites our work and mission.”

Lee, who earned a master’s of Fine Arts degree in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design and a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art n and a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art t from the University of Calgary, has held numerous leadership positions, including chair and associate chair of the Department of Visual Arts and New Media and vice-chair of the Academic Affairs committee. She also served on the College of Visual and Performing Arts Founding Dean search committee and is the accreditation coordinator for the Department of Visual Arts and New Media as it undergoes accreditation with the National Association of Colleges of Art and Design. Lee’s work has appeared in numerous national and international exhibitions.

“Liz is a very gifted photographer. Her work expands the concept of what the art of photography should be about,” Kijinski said. “I’m sure her work will be of real interest to people at the other institutions which she will visit during her fellowship travels.”

Franklin is president emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Morehouse College, where he served as the tenth president of the nation’s largest private, four-year liberal arts college for men from 2007 through 2012. He has been an active participant in Chautauqua’s religious programming since 2001, serving as lecturer, chaplain, theologian-in-residence, adviser to the Institution’s Abrahamic program, and as a member of the Institution’s board of trustees.

“I am excited and truly grateful for the opportunity to work with Robert Franklin as Chautauqua’s new director of the Department of Religion,” said Chautauqua President Thomas Becker. “Robert is a genuine scholar and a man of deep and committed faith. That combination is particularly powerful in the context of Chautauqua’s work and its ambitions.”

Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Founded in 1874 as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning for Sunday School teachers, Chautauqua provides a wide variety of services of worship, interfaith lectures and other programming that express the Institution's Christian heritage as well as its interfaith commitment.

"I am honored to become an official part of the life of Chautauqua and excited about working with Tom Becker, the board and staff to ensure a vibrant future for the Religion Department,” Franklin said. “There's no place in the world quite like Chautauqua, and working with the entire community I pledge to do everything I can to project Chautauqua’s values, practices and moral vision throughout the country and the global community.”

At Chautauqua, Franklin has served as a member of the Religion Department’s Abrahamic Advisory Committee; speaker on the Institution’s morning and afternoon lecture platforms; chaplain-in-residence; and, in 2005, theologian-in-residence for the nine-week season, as he prepared his book Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities. Franklin’s Chautauqua lectures have examined “America’s Unfinished Agenda”—the ongoing work of embracing diversity in the United States and learning from the nation’s history—and Martin Luther King Jr.’s expectation that morally serious people work actively to promote economic opportunity with justice to eradicate racism and to practice nonviolence, all working toward the creation of what King called “a beloved community.”

Franklin served as a member of Chautauqua Institution’s board of trustees from 2008 to 2009.

Franklin will assume his position as director of the Religion Department following the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell at the end of the year. This summer, Franklin will give the 2 p.m. Interfaith Lecture on Wednesday, July 10, as part of a weeklong exploration of “Emancipation: Where Do We Go From Here?” and will preside over the final service of worship and preach in Chautauqua’s amphitheater on Sunday, Aug. 25.

“It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I pass the baton of leadership of Chautauqua's department of religion to Robert,” said Campbell. “He brings to this important role the heart of a dedicated Christian pastor and a firm commitment to a world where people of every faith, and of no faith, are honored and respected.

“Robert is a scholar, a teacher and a lifelong learner, and is in every way a Chautauquan,” she said.

Franklin’s continued presence as a distinguished professor at Morehouse College will build upon institutional linkages that enhance both institutions and allow him to remain current with the latest research in religion, science and the humanities, dialogues among faculty, and the interests, habits and priorities of young people.

Ordained in the Church of God in Christ in 1975, Franklin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Morehouse College in 1975 with a degree in political science and religion. He continued his education at Harvard Divinity School, earning a master of divinity degree in Christian social ethics and pastoral care in 1978, and the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in ethics and society, and religion and the social sciences in 1985. He also undertook international study at the University of Durham, U.K., as a 1973 English Speaking Union Scholar. His major fields of study include social ethics, psychology and African-American religion.

His pastoral positions have included assistant pastor at St. Paul Church of God in Christ in Chicago and Protestant chaplain at St. Bernard Hospital, also in Chicago.

In 1997, Franklin assumed the presidency of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), the graduate theological seminary of the Atlanta University Center consortium where he served until 2002. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University where he provided leadership for a university-wide initiative titled “Confronting the Human Condition and the Human Experience” and was a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the law school.

Franklin has also served on the faculties of the University of Chicago, Harvard Divinity School, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, where he gained a national reputation as director of Black Church Studies. He is currently a Visiting Scholar in Residence at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.

Franklin is the author of three books: Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities; Another Day’s Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis; and Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought. He has co-authored a volume titled From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate. In 2012, he wrote the foreword to a reprint of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Franklin is married to Dr. Cheryl Goffney Franklin, an OB-GYN physician who holds degrees from Stanford University, Columbia University School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He is the father of three children: Imani R. Franklin, Robert M. Franklin III and Julian M. DeShazier.

• Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan (HMH)
• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (Ecco)
• The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy (Simon & Schuster)
• Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King (HarperCollins)
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Ecco)
• The Names of Things by John Colman Wood (Ashland Creek Press)

 The winning book will be selected from this shortlist and announced in mid-May. 

The Chautauqua Prize, now in its second year, is a national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. The author of the winning book will receive $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua, a not-for-profit educational and cultural center in southwestern New York state.

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a nonfiction account of photographer Edward Curtis' early 20th-century quest to document the lives of 80 American Indian tribes. Chautauqua Prize readers described the book as "compelling" and "exhaustive," and noted that Egan "captures in language what Curtis expresses in photography."

In the novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, the eponymous character, a 19-year-old hero of the Iraq War, spends a day on parade at the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving game and begins to understand difficult truths about himself, his country, his family and his brothers-in-arms. "Every sentence is worthy of attention," readers said, calling Fountain's writing "stylish" and "distinctive."

The Presidents Club is a history of the private relationships among modern American presidents — their backroom deals, rescue missions, secret alliances and enduring rivalries. Readers said Gibbs and Duffy's "handling of behind-the-scenes details is masterful." 

Drawing from a wealth of never-before-published material, Devil in the Grove recounts the case of Florida's "Groveland Boys" and Thurgood Marshall's involvement, despite being on the verge of bringing the landmark suit Brown vs. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court. Readers called the book "riveting," "engrossing" and "truly a book everyone should read." 

The Song of Achilles, a novel built on the groundwork of the Iliad, follows the friendship of the awkward prince Patroclus and Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," in a retelling of the Trojan War. "Miller weaves a remarkable classic of her own," readers said, describing the book as "touching" and "memorable."

In The Names of Things, an anthropologist left with many questions following the death of his wife returns to Africa to retrace steps he took with her years ago while living with camel-herding nomads. Readers called the book "compelling," "marvelous" and "extremely satisfying."

 With a history steeped in the literary arts, Chautauqua Institution is the home of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded in 1878, which honors nine outstanding books of fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry every summer. Further literary arts programming at Chautauqua includes summer-long interaction of published and aspiring writers at the Chautauqua Writers' Center, the intensive workshops of the nationally recognized Chautauqua Writers' Festival, and lectures by prominent authors on the art and craft of writing.

The preeminent expression of lifelong learning in the United States, Chautauqua Institution is a 138-year-old community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 100,000 people visit Chautauqua and participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages — all within the beautiful setting of a historic lakeside village.

Details on The Chautauqua Prize are online at http://www.ciweb.org/prize.

Tickets for Chautauqua’s Amphitheater concerts and renowned theater and opera productions go on sale Monday, April 1, at www.chqtickets.com. Registration also opens April 1 for the Institution’s Special Studies course offerings, with more than 400 one-day and weeklong workshops covering such topics as painting, dance, fitness, writing and finance. 

POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT

Join Straight No Chaser, Steve Martin, The Beach Boys, Amy Grant and many other top performers in country, bluegrass, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll in Chautauqua’s open-air amphitheater this summer. The Institution’s popular entertainment lineup also features special evening programs with Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion Radio Romance Tour 2013 and a conversation between legendary musician Paul Simon and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins.

The 2013 Season opens with the return of a capella sensation Straight No Chaser on Saturday, June 22. The concert marks the group’s third consecutive season performing at Chautauqua. Straight No Chaser releases its new album, “Under the Influence,” on May 7.

Following their sold-out Amphitheater show in 2011, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers will return to Chautauqua on Friday, June 28, joined by Edie Brickell, to perform songs from their new album, “Love Has Come for You,” set for an April 23 release.

The music of the 1970s and 1980s comes alive on Friday, July 5, with “Sailing Rock 2013,” an evening featuring nothing but hit songs by Christopher Cross (“Sailing”), Orleans (“Still the One”), Gary Wright (“Dream Weaver”), Firefall, John Ford Coley (“I’d Really Love to See You Tonight”), Robbie Dupree and Player (“Baby Come Back”). (“Baby Come Back”).

Chautauqua’s summer concert series also welcomes five-time Grammy Award-winning artist Michael McDonald, who brings his distinctive, soulful voice to the Amp on Friday, July 12, and American country music singer, songwriter and actor Travis Tritt on Friday, July 19.

Dust off those poodle skirts, bobby socks and 45 rpm records for Friday, July 26, when Dick Fox’s “Golden Boys” starring Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby Rydell take Chautauqua for a walk down memory lane. And a favorite for music lovers young and young at heart, The Beach Boys, return to Chautauqua on Friday, Aug. 9, for another evening of classic songs that epitomize the spirit of the California lifestyle in the 1960s.

The legendary Garrison Keillor brings more tales of Lake Wobegon to Chautauqua’s amphitheater on Friday, Aug. 2, as part of the Prairie Prairie Home Companion Radio Romance Tour 2013. And on Friday, Aug. 16, musician Paul Simon and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins sit together on the Amp stage with microphones and a guitar for a special evening conversation about the art of writing from the vantage point of their life’s work.

What happens when the "Founder of the Dance Revolution" and the "Kings of Disco" share the stage? You get an evening of singing and dancing for the entire family, featuring KC & The Sunshine Band and Village People on Friday, Aug. 23.

And to close Chautauqua’s 2013 uqua’s 2013 3 Season, American music icon Amy Grant brings her talents to the stage on Saturday, Aug. 24.

To purchase tickets, which go on sale April 1, please visit chqtickets.com or call 716.357.6250. Amphitheater performances fill on a first-come basis. Guaranteed floor seating is available at an additional cost for Friday-night concerts.

THEATER

Chautauqua Theater Company opens its 30^th anniversary season with a yet-to-be-announced American classic by Tennessee Williams, June 29 through July 7. The play will be revealed April 1 (the current Broadway production requires the secrecy until then). The company’s two other mainstage productions this summer include the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play Clybourne Park July 20 through July 28 and Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors Aug. 10 through Aug. 16. Continuing to build on its success of new play development, Chautauqua Theater Company also presents two New Play Workshop productions of fresh plays by important new voices in American theater July 11-13 and Aug. 1-3. 

For more information about Chautauqua Theater Company’s 2013 Season, please visit ctcompany.org.

OPERA

Chautauqua Opera Company’s season celebrates the birthdays of Giuseppe Verdi (born 1813), Richard Wagner (1813) and Benjamin Britten (1913).

The company presents Britten’s Peter Grimes in the Amphitheater on Saturday, July 6, for a one-night-only event with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. Verdi’s Falstaff will be performed Friday, July 26, and Monday, July 29, in Norton Hall. Chautauqua Opera’s Young Artists will join the CSO for a 200^th Birthday Celebration of Wagner and Verdi on Saturday, July 13, in the Amphitheater. e">

For more information about Chautauqua Opera Company’s 2013 Season, please visit opera.ciweb.org.

Chautauqua Opera Company and Chautauqua Theater Company join forces with Chautauqua’s other arts programs for the Institution’s production of The Romeo and Juliet Project on Saturday, July 27. The original retelling of Shakespeare’s timeless love story is the first in a three-year series of projects featuring the collaborative efforts, both off- and onstage, of Chautauqua’s opera, theater, symphony, dance and music school programs.

SPECIAL STUDIES

Chautauqua’s Special Studies program continues to create distinct new learning opportunities for the 10,000 lifelong learners who enroll in courses each summer. More than 300 teachers, experienced in subjects they love, arrive each summer to create a diverse assortment of courses for youtnt of courses for youth and adults offering a cross-generational learning experience. 

Special Studies courses, whether one-day or weeklong, are popular with Chautauqua County residents of all ages. A free commuter pass to access the grounds is issued for those taking classes.

To register for a Special Studies course, please visit chqtickets.com beginning April 1. To learn more about courses offered this summer, view the 2013 Special Studies catalog at www.ciweb.org/education-special-studies/.

The 2013 Chautauqua Season begins Saturday, June 22. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 100,000 visitors will participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages—all within the beautiful setting of the historic lakeside village. For more information, please visit www.ciweb.org.