{"id":16802,"date":"2016-01-11T11:51:30","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T16:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=16802"},"modified":"2016-02-22T10:54:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T15:54:03","slug":"listen-american-chronicles-episode-17-the-chautauqua-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-17-the-chautauqua-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 17 &#8211; The Chautauqua Institution"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F241446148&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&color=ff5500\"><\/iframe>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION<br \/>\nCopyright: John C. Merino 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wrfaradio\/american-chronicles-episode-17-the-chautauqua-institution\" target=\"_blank\">MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no question that the Chautauqua Institution is not only a gift to our county, but so too, deserves the world class reputation it has earned over more than a century as a seat for intellectual discourse and creative artistic presentations.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d be hard pressed to find any other center of learning like it, anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026and the announcement earlier this week of the end of year retirement of its president, Tom Becker, should give us pause to reflect on his accomplishments and say to him as a community, \u201cThank you\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>I am troubled, however, by the planned demolition of the historic amphitheater in order to replace it with a modern version. I have followed the discussion for the past year, as presented in the media, as proponents of restoration have built\u2026.I believe\u2026.a strong case for retaining the existing theater and rehabbing it at a much less expensive price tag than the new plan calls for\u2026.A reported $42 million.<\/p>\n<p>Here are my thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that has always challenged me about the Institution is their limited interaction with Jamestown and the missed opportunities to develop \u201coff-season\u201d programming for a population of children largely economically disadvantaged.<\/p>\n<p>Though over the years, they have solicited and received monies from the Jamestown based Foundation community (in the millions I might add) my personal experience some 12 years ago when I first came to our community to serve as CEO of the Gebbie Foundation, troubles me to this day.<\/p>\n<p>I was invited to and attended a luncheon with their senior staff and a few board members. Being new to the position and only having a cursory knowledge of the Institutions value and import, it was suggested by my bosses that I accept the invitation, visit the Institution and ask a simple question.<\/p>\n<p>That question was, \u201cwhat can we do to have the Institution program more broadly in the Jamestown community, especially in the \u201coff-season?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The response I received was unanimous\u2026.as several persons attending the luncheon spoke to the same basic answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo experience Chautauqua, one needed to be inside the walls of the Institution\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What troubles me about that idea is that \u201cone\u201d would think, that given their reputation and stature around the world, they would look at their local role in broader terms\u2026.feel some level of responsibility to help uplift and educate those children who might otherwise go a lifetime without hearing a concert, see a ballet or learning from the lecture series\u2026all of which are unparalleled.<\/p>\n<p>To give them credit, they have partnered with the Reg Lena, the Jackson Center, WRFA and many other local organizations for decades\u2026.yet, off season programming designed to nurture and expand the minds of Jamestown\u2019s most vulnerable citizens (our children) has been relatively non-existent.<\/p>\n<p>Is it their job to play a part in such an effort? I believe it is. After all, they are a part of our community, too.<\/p>\n<p>If it was possible to raise some $42 million to replace the historic amphitheater from donors who believe that it is the correct step to take, then how tough would it be to create an \u201coff-season\u201d fund for specially designed programming benefitting the community\u2019s children\u2026.in effect playing an important role in building new generations of local residents whose appreciation of the arts and letters presented there, guarantee future supporters\u2026..and wouldn\u2019t it help build better citizens in the long run?<\/p>\n<p>Whenever legacies are discussed\u2026.regardless of the individual or organization being touted at the time, those who will stand out are not the ones who confine their efforts to a limited constituency, but rather reach out to those whose need for those gifts is obvious\u2026and well outside a limited definition of who their beneficiaries are.<\/p>\n<p>Experiencing Chautauqua should not be limited to what happens inside the walls of the Institution\u2026especially for children who will never see a play, lecture, dance, concert or any other of the wonderful offerings presented there, unless nurtured to appreciate.<\/p>\n<p>Because so much financial support has been awarded to them by Jamestown based foundations for decades, and in order to play a part in building a stronger local community, choose instead to rehabilitate and restore the existing historic amphitheater and take a few of the millions raised to teach our children during their school year (the institution\u2019s off season).<\/p>\n<p>Open the gates to Chautauqua\u2019s valuable programming\u2026let it out for our children to experience.<\/p>\n<p>Legacy is built and sustained by the gifts that are given to those who otherwise will never know\u2026and without the Chautauqua Institution reaching out in a generous way, many of our children will never know\u2026.and ultimately\u2026.care even less.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m John Merino and this is American Chronicles.<\/p>\n<p><em>American Chronicles is a bi-weekly locally produced feature on WRFA written and produced by retired Gebbie Foundation CEO, John C. Merino. Currently, John is an Adjunct Professor of Micro-Economics, Organizational Management, and 20th Century World History at Mercyhurst University. American Chronicles airs twice monthly, Friday mornings at 7:15 and Friday Afternoons at 4:35. American Chronicles features original stories (partly fact and partly fiction), commentary on local, state , national, world conditions and more.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Find past episodes at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/tag\/american-chronicles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.wrfalp.com\/tag\/american-chronicles\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14240\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"14240\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-3-john-f-kennedy-assassination\/american-chronicles-web\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"290,290\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"American-Chronicles-web\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14240\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?resize=290%2C290&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"American-Chronicles-web\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?w=290&amp;ssl=1 290w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<br>More Posts for Show: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-17-the-chautauqua-institution\/#show-posts\"><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION Copyright: John C. Merino 2016 MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE There is no question that the Chautauqua Institution is not only a gift to our county, but so too, deserves the world class reputation it has earned over more than a century as a seat for intellectual discourse and creative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":14240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 17 - The Chautauqua Institution","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[5310,4742,5618,1270,5620],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-4n0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14168,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-1-the-national-center-of-comedy\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":0},"title":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 1 &#8211; The National Center of Comedy","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"June 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"American Chronicles 1 originally airing June 5, 2015. THE NATIONAL CENTER OF COMEDY \u00a9 2015 John C. Merino This nearly 30 year old idea is finally moving toward becoming a reality primarily because of the \u201cTeam\u201d compiled to make it happen. There is no question, in my estimation, that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17263,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-19-at-random\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":1},"title":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 19 &#8211; At Random","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"AMERICAN CHRONICLES: AT RANDOM Copyright: John C. Merino 2016 Originally airing Feb. 19, 2016 MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE This may be a long list. I honestly have no idea. I just started thinking about so many different things at once, none of which fit together, that I thought I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16675,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-16-politically-correct-for-the-holidays\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":2},"title":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 16 &#8211; Politically Correct (For the Holidays)","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"December 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"AMERICAN CHRONICLES: POLITICALLY CORRECT (FOR THE HOLIDAYS) Copyright: John C. Merino 2015 MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE I don\u2019t know about you, but I find that this time of year brings out the best\u2026\u2026.and sometimes the most annoying sides of people\u2019s desire to be \u201cPolitically Correct\u201d. Let\u2019s take a visit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-logo.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16319,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-14-stop-pussy-footin-around\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":3},"title":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 14 &#8211; Stop Pussy-Footin&#8217; Around","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"November 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Stop \u201cPussy-Footin\u2019 Around\u201d \u00a9 John C. Merino 2015 MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE I never thought very much of the late Governor George Wallace. He was a devout racist\u2026.and he preached segregation, standing in the school house door shouting\u2026\u2026..\u201dsegregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever\u201d\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026and he believed it, at least until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25656,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/rock-and-roll-rundown-thursday-june-21-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":4},"title":"Rock and Roll Rundown &#8211; Thursday June 21, 2018","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"June 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The WRFA Rock n\u2019 Roll Rundown is presented Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons and brought to you through the support of the Arthur R. Gren Company in Jamestown, NY. THU JUNE 21 Third Thursday ft. Brian Moore and Girls Rock - Winter Garden Plaza - Jamestown FRI JUNE 22 Bill\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Local Arts and Entertainment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Local Arts and Entertainment","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-arts-arts-and-entertainment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/wrfa-logo-1.jpg?fit=460%2C459&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14337,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-american-chronicles-episode-3-john-f-kennedy-assassination\/","url_meta":{"origin":16802,"position":5},"title":"[LISTEN] American Chronicles Episode 3 \u2013 John F. Kennedy Assassination","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"June 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION \u00a9 2015 John C. Merino On November 22, 1963 I was twelve years old, seated in Mr. Uri\u2019s Mechanical Drawing class at Niagara Falls New York\u2019s North Junior High School, when my concentration\u2026hand drawing arrow heads on graph paper\u2026.was broken by the squelch of the school\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/American-Chronicles-web.jpg?fit=290%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17267,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802\/revisions\/17267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}