Chautauqua Arts Education

Chautauqua Institution Arts Education, a year-round arts education resource for  youth, teachers and families in Chautauqua County, N.Y. and neighboring communities, provides authentic, inspirational, and engaging artistic experiences in drama, music, play writing, literature, opera, and visual arts.

Vision

Chautauqua Arts Education programs serve Pre-K through 12th grade students in Chautauqua County and beyond, encouraging creativity and self-expression through the performing and visual arts. These enriching experiences offer opportunities to develop artistic skills while learning about the world through the arts. Find out more at artsed.chq.org.

Chautauqua Arts Education programs are designed to be inclusive and accessible to students of all ability levels. Adaptations and accommodations are integrated into each program to encourage all students to have meaningful experiences through the arts. For more information about how Chautauqua Arts Education designs accessible arts education offerings, visit accessibleartsed.chq.org.

History

CI began its first arts education residencies outside of its nine-week summer season in the 2014-2015 academic year. Chief Program Officer and Senior Vice President, Deborah Sunya Moore, brought her extensive experience leading arts education programs to Chautauqua Institution and started three core programs in 2014-2015: the Residency Programs for students with disabilities, the VACI Art Galleries Field Trips, and the Young Playwrights Project.  During the Chautauqua Institution 2015 summer season, Education Day was created, enabling all Chautauqua County teachers, staff and students to attend all events at CI free of charge on any Wednesday of the season.  In 2016-2017 Chautauqua Institution became an official partnership team with Chautauqua Lake Central Schools and Jamestown Public Schools and became a Kennedy Center Partner in Education, providing professional development workshops for classroom teachers in Chautauqua County.  By 2017-2018, Arts Education programs had grown beyond the capacity of the current staff.  To fill this need, CI hired Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright.  During the 2017-2018 school year, two additional Arts Education programs began: Opera in the Schools and the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet Field Trip. During COVID, programming continued, moving most of its offerings online and developing programming focus to address the growing social-emotional learning need.

The programs have grown from serving 2 schools and approximately 511 students in 2014-2015 to serving 6,000 students in 14 Chautauqua County schools in 2024-2025.

Programs and Activities

School Residencies: Feelin’ the Beat         
Provided under contract with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through the 2024-25 school year, the Chautauqua Institution School Residencies offer underserved students with disabilities extended engagement and experiences with music and the arts.  
Developed by Director of Arts Education Suzanne Fassett-Wright, inspired by the work of Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra principal percussionist Brian Kushmaul, this program integrates teaching social emotional and music skills through drumming. Teaching artists use three primary musical techniques to accomplish this; unified steady beat drumming, call and response pattern development and improvisation. When engaging in unified steady beat drumming, teaching artists demonstrate steady beat and ask students to join in using various tempi, dynamics and drum sounds. The teaching artist models the sound; the students then join the group, requiring them to listen, focus and follow instructions.  Call and response pattern development is encouraged by modeling short rhythmical patterns for students and asking them to echo the patterns back, imitating as closely as possible the exact patterns and sounds they heard. After this process is modeled by the teaching artist, each student is given the opportunity to create their own patterns and be the leader.  This aspect allows students to build agency by experiencing a feeling of control and acceptance, as their unique patterns are embraced and imitated by all.  Lastly, teaching artists encourage musical expression through improvisation. Teaching artists model solo improvisatory playing for the students, then the students are given the opportunity to solo, if they wish.  Any music they make is embraced and encouraged as whole and a valued contribution to the group. This experience builds self-confidence and a feeling of self-worth, as students are shown that whatever music they bring to the experience is valuable and precious – just like they are.

From the inception of this program, the number of schools served has expanded from 2 BOCES Educational Centers in 2014- 2015 to serving 3 BOCES Educational Centers, 3 private pre-schools and and 8 public schools in 2024-25. 

Professional Development for Teacher        s
This program serves teachers by inviting them to participate in professional development workshops and to observe demonstration teaching for students in the classroom. Teachers attend professional development workshops in which arts integrated teaching techniques are described and modeled, with the participating teachers experiencing the work as students, learning first-hand the effect of arts integration techniques.

In 2016-2017, Chautauqua Institution, along with partner school systems Chautauqua Lake Central Schools and Jamestown Public Schools, became a Kennedy Center Partner in Education. This program teams Kennedy Center teaching artists with partnering organizations and schools to bring arts integration techniques to Chautauqua County classroom teachers, with the goal of advancing both arts and Common Core learning standards in an engaging, resonant way. The efforts of this program focus on development of teachers as a means of reaching more students on a more consistent basis, encouraging classroom teachers to integrate the arts into their everyday classroom activities.

The impact of this program is evolving from year to year. Post-COVID to meet changing teacher capacity and needs, the program has shifted from an after-school model to presenting these workshops during teacher inservice days, increasing the number of teachers who are able to attend. The partnership is also working towards the development of arts integrated lessons that fit in each school’s curriculum and professional development plans.

Opera in the Schools

Students get up-close and personal with young artists selected by the Chautauqua Opera Company as they sing and make music with students through an in-class lesson for 4th grade classrooms and a performance of a kid-friendly, 45-minute opera for the entire student body.

This experience also includes the popular game-show style activity premiered by the Chautauqua Opera Company during the CI summer season “So You Think You’re Louder Than an Opera Singer.”

Young Playwrights Project (YPP) – This three-phase project brings actors and teaching artists to schools to teach the art of playwriting. This program encourages students to use their imagination and tell their unique stories, centering their creative expression as they develop writing and theatrical arts skills. Students will write plays, hear their plays read and acted out, and see selected plays performed live at Chautauqua Institution.

Summer YPP and Field Trips – partnering with the Jamestown YMCA, YWCA and Boys and Girls Club, hundreds of students visit Chautauqua Institution during the summer season to enjoy rich learning experiences – and the fun of being at Chautauqua Institution in the summer!

Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet Field Trip – Students will visit the CI Amphitheater to enjoy a preview performance of the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet’s Spring Gala.

Education Wednesdays – All Chautauqua County K-12 educators and students are granted free admission to the grounds every Wednesday during the summer season.

Recommendations for Replication and/or Adaptation

Three Main Areas of Focus   We have found that it is important to serve students directly and to provide professional development. While an arts organization can offer inspiration and experiences through the arts, these experiences leave as students leave. It is important to create a generational and more sustained impact by training teachers, who are able to continue affecting a large number of students.

  1. Direct programming for students that focuses on deep impact
    These residencies feature regular, repeated classes with a limited number of students.
    • School Residencies: residencies.chq.org
    • Young Playwrights Project: ypp.chq.org
  1. Direct programming for students that focuses on maximum exposure
    These performances feature broad reach and one-time experiences. Examples include:

▪  Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet Field Trips: fieldtrips.chq.org
▪  Opera in the Schools: operaed.chq.org

  1. Professional development for classroom teachers:         teachered.chq.org
    • Empowers classroom teachers to work through the arts as new teaching strategies are mastered, allowing for new pathways to learning
    • Encourages teacher buy-in; increases understanding of the value of the arts in education by taking a deep look at learning goals and integrated curriculum

 Keys to Success

    • Adhering to a program development plan that serves the three focus areas above
    • Understanding if a particular focus is on quality of service or quantity served during the development stage
    • Developing relationships with area arts educators and administrators by building trust in providing quality programs
    • Accessing school/teacher relationships to play a lead role in determining what the needs of community

To best replicate or adapt these programs:

    • Develop a big picture with partners – what goals are your programs seeking to attain, and why?
    • Develop programs that will serve your joint goals, focusing on depth and breadth.
    • Develop programs that empower teachers to serve these goals daily in their own classrooms.
    • Partner with organizations that broaden capacity to develop quality programming
    • Build relationships and trust with educators and other stakeholders in the community by providing quality offerings in limited capacity, in the early stages.

Contact Information:
Website: www.chq.org/artsed
Suzanne Fassett Wright
Director of Arts Education
Chautauqua Institution
716.357.6421
sfassettwright@chq.org  

Laura Savia
Vice President of Performing and Visual Arts
Chautauqua Institution
lsavia@chq.org