Why Chautauqua?

Chautauqua Gate Pass

I have a feeling that Chautauqua and my thoughts about Chautauqua are going to play a major role in this blog, although that might just be because I had the inspiration for this blog while I was at Chautauqua and I have just come back from my week there and my mind is full of the experience.

So maybe Chautauqua will be a major player and maybe it won't, but either way, I'll take some time to explore/explain why it is pertinent to going solo.

Let me start by saying that this post will only reflect my experience of Chautauqua, and there's a lot I don't know, and there are some things that I do know that I'm leaving out, but these will all be explored in the future.

About Chautauqua
When I say Chautauqua, I'm talking about the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. Each summer, thousands of people participate in the nine-week season of Chautauqua, many coming for just a week, some for a day, and some for the entire summer. Each week has a theme. When I attended last year, the week's theme was "The Ethics of Dissent." This year, the theme was "Uncommon Ground: Communities Working Toward Solutions."

In the course of the week, visitors have the opportunity to attend lectures, concerts, plays, classes, art exhibitions, discussions, religious services, movies, and many other events. Many (most?) are related to the weekly theme, but not all are. Most visitors rent houses, apartments, or rooms on the Chautauqua grounds, and purchase a weekly gate pass that provides free admission to nearly all events.

Chautauqua was founded in 1874 as a Methodist education center, and each day begins with a religious service in the enormous central amphitheater (it seats about 4000 people). At 10:45, there is a lecture or panel discussion directly related to the week's theme. In the afternoon there are lectures in a smaller outdoor space, the Hall of Philosophy. And there seems to be an entertainment event each night in the Amphitheater. Events the week I was there included a performance by the Charleston Ballet, a Diana Ross Concert, a Chautauqua Symphony concert, and a 4th of July pops concert. As visitors entered the amphitheater for the July 4th concert they were given paper bags. The final piece was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and I had the pleasure of participating in the Chautauqua tradition of blowing up the bags and popping them on cue to provide the cannon sound effects at the end of the piece.

Children at Chautauqua can sign up for Kids Club, a camp that operates for three hours each morning and 2 hours each afternoon. This not only gives them plenty of fun time and chances to make friends, it also allows parents to attend programming that might not interest their children. Additional classes are available to kids and adults. Some are recreational--sailing, tennis, yoga. Some are musical (my daughter learned how to play the ukulele). There are classes in art, writing, cooking, French, Spanish, philosophy, computers--pretty much anything that Chautauqua visitors can teach one another are available.

Chautauqua also offers plenty of opera, theater, cinema, and dance performances. There is at least one art gallery and plenty of outdoor sculpture on the grounds. There is an indoor swimming pool, a library, a few restaurants and cafes, a bookstore, a farmer's market, a bike shop, and who-knows-what-else.

Chautauqua maintains a strong connection to its religious roots. There are 11 denominational houses on the grounds where different religious denominations offer programming and housing. There are many religious events every day, including "Chautauqua Knits for Peace" at the Hall of Missions, Bible Study at the United Methodist House, Roman Catholic Mass, an "LGBTQ and Friends Brown Bag Lunch and Discussion" sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and a discussion of Talmudic Ethics at the Jewish Chabad House.

Chautauqua and Going Solo
So what does this have to do with Going Solo? On the surface, it seems almost contradictory. Chautauqua is about community and Going Solo seems to be about the individual.

But that is not my vision of Going Solo at all. For me, Going Solo is about having the control of my life that will allow me to build and engage with my community in a more complete way than I would if I had a partner whose interests did not fully coincide with mine.

And in some ways, Chautauqua provides a model of community that I would like to create in my everyday life. Here is part of Chautauqua's mission statement that provides a good blueprint, or at least a starting point, for the life I would like to lead:

Chautauqua is dedicated to the exploration of the best in human values and the enrichment of life through a program that explores the important religious, social and political issues of our times; stimulates provocative, thoughtful involvement of individuals and families in creative response to such issues; and promotes excellence and creativity in the appreciation, performance and teaching of the arts.

I don't yet have a Soloista Manifesto, but I'll certainly keep the Chautauqua Mission Statement in mind when I develop one.