Chautauqua | Chautauqua Institution. PBS Documentary on Chautauqua Institution to Air Tonight. The Chautauqua Institution, an educational community and summer resort located on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in the Southern Tier of Western New York, will be featured in a one-hour documentary entitled Chautauqua: An American Narrative to premiere nationwide on PBS (WNED locally) tonight at 10PM.
Often called "the original PBS", the Chautauqua Institution was established in 1874 by an Ohio inventor and philanthropist Lewis Miller and John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist Bishop. While it began as summer teaching camp for Sunday school instructors the Institution grew to become a full scale educational community offering programing centered around the "four pillars" of the arts, education, religion and recreation, attracting visitors from around the world and becoming a center for modern American culture. The Institution has welcomed US Presidents from Ulysses S. Grant to Bill Clinton, as well as other prominent Americans including Booker T. Washington, Tom Ridge, Al Gore, and Sandra Day O'Connnor. Franklin D. Roosevelt's delivered his historic "I hate war" speech from the Chautauqua Amphitheater.
Today, the Institution is listed among the National Register of Historic Places and has also been designated a National Historic Landmark. Its grounds include a 6,000-seat amphitheater where concerts and lectures are held, the Athenaeum Hotel (a Second Empire style 156-room hotel said to be the largest wooden building in the eastern United States) a public library, a movie theater, an opera house, bookstore, various restaurants and shops, various hotels, inns, and boarding houses as well as condominiums and private cottages. The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Ballet Company perform throughout the summer season and various plays and operas are also popular season attractions. While there are only about 400 year-round residents, during the summer the population grows to as many as 10,000 residents on some days. The design of the grounds creates a unique pedestrian community, with bikes and scooters seen everywhere and a 12 mph speed limit for cars.
Get connected: Chautauqua Institution, 1-800-836-ARTS, ciweb.org
Source : http://www.buffalorising.com/2011/01/pbs-documentary-on-chautauqua-institution-to-air-tonight.html
