2026 Special Events
We will update this page as event details become available.
Lecture & Q&A by the Honorable Grace Hanlon
Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall
Time: 12:15pm - 1:15pm
The legal state of affairs for LGBTQ+ people.
The Honorable Grace Hanlon is a New York State Supreme Court Justice and Director of the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the NY State Courts.
Justice Hanlon will talk about the LGBTQ Commission she leads as well as update us all on the legal state of affairs for our community. The format of the talk will be a 40-minute lecture followed by a 20-minute Q&A.
The theme for Week 6 is “America at 250: In Partnership with the Constitution Center and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation”. Ken Burns and Jeffrey Rosen will be highlighted this week.
The Sarah James Trio
Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Location: Roe Green Theater Center
Time: 10pm
You must purchase a ticket through Chautauqua Institution
This is a ticketed event sponsored by Chautauqua Institution - $25
Chautauqua’s own award-winning singer-songwriter and recording artist Sarah James from Scottsdale, AZ, brings her trio to our late-night series at the Roe Green Theater. From Pittsburgh, PA, accompanying Sarah will be notable guitarist and musical artist Doug Edgell and Aaron Majiros on bass and keys. Sarah James has been a staple at 3Taps here at CHQ and other CHQ County venues bringing her own blend of what she calls “Americana-Fusion” covering a wide variety of genres from rock, pop, indie and a dab of country.
Post-Theater Gathering
Saturday, July 25, after the 4PM showing of the world premier of Sharyn Rothstein’s “Best for Baby”.
Location: TBD
Buy your tickets to the world premier of Sharyn Rothstein’s “Best for Baby” and then join us for a reception with the Chautauqua Theater Company members. Location for the reception will be determined soon.
LGBTQ+ Literature and Culture: Out in Nature
Date: Tuesday, 8/11 thru Friday, 8/14
Location: Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall Poetry Room
Time: 3pm - 4:15
You must register with Special Studies to take class.
Note: This is a Special Studies course offered through Chautauqua Institution and is not sponsored or run by LGBTQ+ and Friends at Chautauqua. You can register for Special Studies classes starting April 29 at chq.org.
From the poetry of Walt Whitman to Mary Oliver, to the essays and fiction of contemporary writers like Callum Angus, LGBTQ+ writers have drawn inspiration from nature and the natural world to express queer experience and to imagine queer futures. In this course, we'll explore this relationship through short fiction and poems from selected writers. Through discussion and some short, focused writing, we'll draw upon the beautiful natural surroundings of Chautauqua to tease out how nature models queer transformations.
Tim Francisco (he/him) teaches LGBTQ+ Literature at Youngstown State University where he also served on the diversity committee. In classes, he creates community by exploring the rich and varied histories of queer culture and the way queerness is a way of being and seeing the world, one that is ever changing and dynamic. This class is about how nature—ever changing, generative, and resilient mirrors queer experience and there’s no better place to do than amidst the natural beauty of Chautauqua. In addition to teaching, Francisco is rooted in queer community as a former board member of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio’s statewide LGBTQ+ news and advocacy organization, and a co-founder of The United in Pride fund at The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley. He is also a Shakespesare scholar and trustee of The Shakespeare Association of America, the discipline’s lead organization, serving on the diversity committee. He has published academic articles on early British texts through queer, gender, and class studies approaches.
