Nevada Humanities

Great Basin Young Chautauqua Frequently Asked Questions for Parents

What is Great Basin Young Chautauqua?

Great Basin Young Chautauqua, which was founded by Nevada Humanities in 1993, is the youth adjunct to the annual, weeklong Nevada Humanities Chautauqua festival in Reno. 2012 marks the 20th year of Great Basin Young Chautauqua performances in Reno. Great Basin Young Chautauqua is an intense program of scholarship, research, rehearsing, and performing. Young Chautauquans commit to developing a theatrical character in late January and spend more than six months reading biographies, learning stories, and rehearsing their character with other Young Chautauquans and workshop leaders at bimonthly meetings. In April and May, their characters are ready and Young Chautauquans perform throughout the Truckee Meadows area, gaining valuable performance experience. They each create a costume and polish flexible 5, 10, and 15-minute monologues that they present to community groups, schools, libraries, and service organizations. Performances at Bartley Ranch Regional Park during Nevada Humanities Chautauqua are the final event for the Great Basin Young Chautauqua program. Six months of research and practice are shared with the public in a series of celebratory performances.

What are the benefits of Young Chautauqua?

Founded by Nevada Humanities in 1993, Great Basin Young Chautauqua is a nationally recognized and award-winning youth program in which young scholars research and portray historical figures. In 2002, Nevada Humanities received a Coming Up Taller Award from the President’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities for creating and developing Young Chautauqua. Through monologues and question-and-answer sessions, young scholars – in and out of character – engage their audience in lively discussions and provide insight into historical study. The Great Basin Young Chautauqua program is a valuable way to increase a young person's understanding of, and engagement with, the humanities. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2012, it continues to inspire and educate children in Nevada and beyond.

Great Basin Young Chautauqua provides a rare opportunity for young people to apply scholarly research to creative activities such as writing and reciting their own monologues and learning theatrical skills. Young people develop research skills and learn to speak in public, honing their talent for rhetoric and gaining the confidence and poise that comes with presenting ideas publicly. These skills are interdisciplinary, initially focused on historical research, but applicable to math, social studies, literature, and beyond. Parents have reported that their children’s grades have risen as they progress with the Great Basin Young Chautauqua program.

Nevada Humanities has 20 years of experience in providing quality Young Chautauqua educational opportunities statewide. We have remained in contact with young people who have graduated from the program and have watched them become engaged in a variety of meaningful and creative pursuits, including becoming attorneys, journalists, and teachers. Many of these people credit Great Basin Young Chautauqua with helping them gain self-confidence, courage, research and speaking skills, and a deep appreciation for history and scholarship that has stuck with them through all of their interests and adventures.

Where and when are the workshops, how long do they last, and what do they entail?

The Young Chautauqua program runs from mid-January through June of each year. Workshops are held approximately every other Thursday, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, in rooms 107 and 109 of the Extended Studies building (1041 N. Virginia Street) on the UNR campus in Reno. The workshops are guided by a syllabus that begins with an information session for parents and young people in mid-January and ends with a week of public performances at Nevada Humanities Chautauqua at the end of June. The workshops cover topics such as character selection, research techniques, how to develop a character’s biographical time line, story development, rhetoric, and theatrical techniques. The last two workshops are dress rehearsals in which each Young Chautauquan has the opportunity to give a performance in front of their peers. After the workshops are completed in May, Young Chautauquans celebrate their achievements with a potluck and prepare to perform during Nevada Humanities Chautauqua week. Nevada Humanities Chautauqua performances include morning performance sessions for Young Chautauquans from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm at the Flying J. Pavilion and a key evening performance on the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater stage – both at Bartley Ranch Regional Park, Reno.

Who runs the workshops?

The Great Basin Young Chautauqua program is coordinated by Nevada Humanities staff and the Young Chautauqua Program Manager. In addition, parent and community volunteers contribute valuable expertise in helping to run the focused work groups. For the 2012 season, Nevada Humanities has hired Anita Watson to coordinate the Young Chautauqua program. Anita is a seasoned scholar and Chautauquan, having performed at the Nevada Humanities Chautauqua festival and for the Humanities on the Road program, adopting the characters of Emma Nevada, Mary McNair Mathews, and Mary Oxborrow. Anita earned her PhD in history at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she also taught. She has worked in the museum education field in Nevada and Minnesota, and published on the topics of Nevada women, Nevada medicine, and Nevada history for middle school students. Anita says, “I’ve been involved with Chautauqua in Nevada for nearly 15 years, and I’m excited to work with Young Chautauquans. Young Chautauquans bring something special to the Chautauqua experience. Their enthusiasm, their openness, their willingness to go out on a limb, to question, and then search for the answers, all of this is a critical part of the essence of Chautauqua, and the essence of a lively and dynamic experience.” We’re delighted to have Anita join our Young Chautauqua team.

How much does the program cost?

Participation in the Young Chautauqua program is free and open to all youth ages 8 – 18. Underwriting for the program is provided by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, NV Energy, the Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, individual donors, parent and community volunteers, and many other community partners. There are some minimal expenses associated with participating in the program, which include: costume supplies, parental transportation to and from workshops and performances, and the purchase of the annual Young Chautauqua t-shirt. Nevada Humanities provides all creative supplies associated with the workshops.

How old does my child need to be to participate in the program?

The Young Chautauqua program is open to all children ages 8 – 18. This generally includes grades 3 – 12. Children are paired together in similar age groups, and older youth often mentor younger children in the workshops.

How do I register my child for the Young Chautauqua program?

Registration forms may be downloaded at nevadahumanities.org. Please use the links in the bar to the left to download the necessary forms and a Registration Checklist. Each year, registration opens on December 15 and runs through the day the second workshop is held. Registration materials can be sent to Nevada Humanities or given to the program coordinator at one of the first two workshop sessions. Registration is open until either the maximum number of participants is reached or the second workshop has passed, whichever comes first.

What are my responsibilities as a parent of a Young Chautauquan?

Parental involvement is key to the success of Young Chautuauqua. Parents schedule performance opportunities for their children, transport their children to and from Young Chautauqua workshops and activities, assist with the construction of costumes; many parents volunteer to lead workshop groups, mentor Young Chautauquans, direct youth craft activities during Nevada Humanities Chautauqua week, volunteer during Nevada Humanities Chautauqua main stage performances, and much more. It’s the Young Chautauquan’s responsibility to conduct the necessary research. In this regard, parental involvement should be limited to guidance, direction, and encouragement.

I think my child might be too shy.

Many parents and young people think that the performance is what Young Chautauqua is all about. In fact, the performance is the reward for all of the research and speaking skills learned at the Thursday night workshops. As your child learns about her character and the historical time period of that character’s life, his or her enthusiasm for telling the story grows. As the storytelling skills develop in your child’s workshop group, his or her confidence grows. We have found, year after year, by May or June, these shy Young Chautauquans are eager to perform publicly.

My child has too many other activities.

The bulk of the effort in being a Young Chautauquan is in researching a historical character. This involves reading books, visiting libraries and archives, and utilizing the Internet. Your children are required to do a lot of reading for school assignments. They also write book reports and present verbal reports on the books to their classes. Schools also provide computer skills classes. Rather than Young Chautauqua interfering with these activities, Chautauqua research often reinforces schoolwork.

I’m afraid Young Chautauqua will interfere with my child’s schoolwork.

Some parents notice that their children’s grades have risen since they have become part of Young Chautauqua. Young Chautauqua teaches commitment and scholarly discipline, and makes learning fun. It gives young people a sense of pride in becoming the resident expert about a piece of history. Skills learned by Young Chautauquans are applicable to other subjects such as social studies, geography, math, and literature.