Chautauqua: A Place and an Idea…
… and Hope for Our Future
For almost three weeks, I’ve been fully immersed in the beauty, culture, learning, and inspiration of Chautauqua in western New York, my spiritual home for more than 50 years. Each day begins with a sunrise walk and meditation/reflection by the lake. From there, the day continues with a rich mixture of lectures, porch conversations, reading, writing, and evening performances. Every day brings unexpected gifts. I’ve shared impressions and insights in my last two articles, and today I write about Chautauqua Institution itself. And how, for many people here, it offers hope and a pathway forward for our country—perhaps even for the world.
For more than 150 years, Chautauqua Institution has been bringing together life-long learning, intellectual inquiry, performing and visual arts, cultural examination, civil discourse, spiritual exploration, science, nature and its wonders, and recreation. All of this happens in a nine-week residential, inter-generational summer assembly. People come for a day, a week, or for the entire season.
There is no place in the world that combines all of these elements in the same way that Chautauqua does. The programming is extensive, stimulating, informative, and inspiring. The weekly schedule is filled with prominent speakers and recognized performing artists across many genres, as well lesser-known experts, authors, and teachers. The morning lecture series is one of the highest-profile in the country; the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra offers world-class concerts in the amphitheater three evenings a week. Dance, opera, and popular entertainment round out the evening performances. Chautauqua is also home to summer training programs in music, dance, theater, and the visual arts.
The Chautauqua audience is made up of teachers, artists, CEOs, clergy, lawyers, healthcare practitioners, students, and children of all ages. You never know who you might sit next to at an event or meet by chance on a walk.
I first came to Chautauqua on a family vacation when I was 15 years old and have returned almost every summer since then. I came of age here in so many aspects of my life. For 55 years, I’ve sat in the same spot by the lake for morning reflection, offering a profound sense of where I am and who I am now in the arc of my life. It’s sacred time for me.
Over the years I’ve heard incredible speakers, well-known and emerging performing artists, powerful and inspiring preachers, and I fell in love with dance. In the late 1990s and 2000s, I served on the faculty of the Chautauqua Special Studies Program teaching classes in spiritual and personal development. It’s hard to express the depth and breadth of what Chautauqua has been in my life. I feel like I’m still “coming of age” here.
As the whole world seems to be in transition right now, so is Chautauqua. Michael Hill, president of the Institution for the last eight years, left his post at the end of May to become president of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. Kyle Keogh, life-long Chautauquan and former trustee of the Institution, assumed the role of Interim Chief Executive on June 1st. He recently wrote:
Chautauqua was born of innovation. One hundred and fifty-two years ago, it emerged as a bold experiment in lifelong learning and cultural enrichment. While the charm of our historic grounds and the strength of our traditions may sometimes obscure it, innovation is deeply woven into the fabric of this institution. That spirit of experimentation and reinvention continues to guide us today.
Chautauqua exists to engage people in the exploration of the most pressing and complex issues of our time—many of which are not only unresolved, but perhaps unresolvable. That is both the challenge and the beauty of our mission. We invite you into a space of inquiry—to join us in wrestling with ideas that matter, to sit with discomfort, and to lean into dialogue that stretches the mind and stirs the heart.
Our commitment is to create an environment where these conversations can flourish—where respect, empathy, and a shared commitment to understanding guide our interactions. We curate weekly collections of speakers, preachers, artists, and educators who bring a diversity of perspectives, intentionally layered to deepen and broaden each week’s theme. The issues we explore demand our best thinking—and that thinking is uniquely enriched by this community.
We recognize that people come here ultimately seeking joy—through experiences that comfort, inspire, and enrich across all our programmatic pillars. Some of our programs may also challenge deeply held beliefs, and we approach that complexity with great care. We strive to present a diversity of perspectives, ensuring that thoughtful dialogue and alternative viewpoints are always part of the conversation.
Patron Andy Shaw reflected in a Substack post following his Week One visit to Chautauqua, “… in the right setting, with enough trust and goodwill, Americans can still talk to each other—not at each other—and maybe even move forward.”
In times of challenge and change, we are called not to retreat into nostalgia, but to lean into our legacy of innovation—to engage on important topics, integrate multiple perspectives that help us imagine new possibilities, and to build a future worthy of generations to come.
—Kyle Keogh, Interim Chief Executive, Chautauqua Institution
Excerpted from The Chautauquan Daily Weekend Editions, July 12 and 19, 2025
Like Transformational Presence, Chautauqua encourages us to lean into what matters, as individuals and families, as communities, as organizations and companies, and as nations. It calls us to meet whatever is happening in our world from a place of curiosity, listening and responding from the whole of who we are. To be informed about what is happening in the world and to choose our responses consciously with clear intention. It encourages us to know who we are and to say yes to the callings of our hearts. And to be honest in real time about what is ours to do and what is not. It’s an environment that encourages and supports all the above—maybe in different words, but it’s all there.
Chautauqua has been described as “a place and an idea.” It’s a “place” on Chautauqua Lake in western New York. It’s an “idea” rooted in educational and cultural history, lifelong learning, cultural and social enrichment, self-improvement, community engagement, and conscious legacy. President Theodore Roosevelt called it “the most American thing in America,” acknowledging its role in shaping American culture and values. And, in fact, America has been referred to as an “idea”—a new form of democracy and government—as well as a “place.” While Roosevelt offered that description more than a hundred years ago, Chautauqua remains on the leading edge of the American “idea” and what it means to be an engaged citizen in today’s world. Chautauqua continues to lead the way in the exploration of “who we can be together”—as communities, as organizations, and as countries.
It’s not perfect. Chautauqua faces its own versions of the challenges families and communities and organizations and countries around the world are meeting today. Yet, to paraphrase Kyle Keogh’s words, Chautauqua exists to explore the most pressing and complex issues of our time—many of them unresolved, some perhaps unresolvable. It’s a space of inquiry—a space to wrestle with ideas that matter, to sit with discomfort, and to lean into dialogue that stretches the mind and stirs the heart.
Stretching the mind and stirring the heart. Both are essential. Mind and heart must lead together. In partnership. Not one or the other. Both. Together. This heart-mind partnership is at the core of Transformational Presence, and this is what Chautauqua is all about. Putting big ideas into action.
Last week’s morning lecture theme was “The Future of the American Experiment.” It was both challenging and hopeful. Drawing the week to a close, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the Music School Festival Orchestra, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus joined forces to perform Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on Saturday evening. There were 313 musicians on the amphitheater stage and several thousand people in the audience. It was a thrilling and deeply moving performance, especially the last movement, renewing hope and inspiration for our times.
This is Chautauqua. A place and an idea. Vision and hope for our future.
If you want to know more about Chautauqua, you can watch a 90-second introductory video on the Chautauqua Assembly YouTube Channel. And through that same link, you can access many of the programs and lectures from this summer and previous summers by subscribing for less than $5 a month.
Invitations
Free recorded Meditations for Changing Times led by Alan. More than 50 guided meditations. Choose the title that speaks to you and listen. Available for free to you anytime.
Visit The Center for Transformational Presence website
Consider reading one of Alan’s Books
Explore Coaching and Mentoring with Alan
Invite Alan to Speak to your organization or conference
Thank you!