Click here for a description of 2009 High Plains Chautauqua

President Theodore Roosevelt once called Chautauqua the “most American thing in America”. The traveling Tent Chautauquas were an outgrowth of the lyceum movement and evolved in the early twentieth century to bring to rural America the same quality of entertainment, history and culture that was available to city dwellers. The Circuit Chautauquas were modeled after the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York state, a community with summer long programs by politicians, writers, theologians, and musicians.

We hope you join us at the ninth annual High Plains Chautauqua, a free, five-day festival of history and theatre that is produced in Greeley in partnership with the Colorado Humanities.
High Plains Chautauqua is a labor of love that has steadily grown in popularity since its inauguration in the year 2000. It would not be possible without our generous sponsors and individual donors, the dedicated volunteers who begin planning in October to bring history to life under the Big Tent, and you, the appreciative audience members who inspire us to keep the Chautauqua tradition alive.

We hope you are gaining insights as we turn the mirror on ourselves in “The American Spirit,” a three-year series. In August 2009 we focus on the twentieth century, when United States became a major player on the world stage.

If you would like to get involved in next year’s event, please call Aims Community College’s Public Information Office at (970) 339-6365, or call Colorado Humanities at (303) 894-7951. Individual volunteer opportunities are available on several of our committees – budget and fund-raising, program, marketing, and volunteer coordinating. You can also assist in numerous ways during the festival.

Donations to keep High Plains Chautauqua coming back each year can be made payable to Colorado Humanities and addressed to Colorado Humanities, 1490 Lafayette Street, Suite 101, Denver, CO 80218. Be sure to write “HPC” on the memo line.