CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) β A panel of preservationists is out with recommendations for the future of the Chautauqua (shuh-TAW’-kwuh) Institution’s amphitheater.
Plans to demolish and rebuild the 122-year-old venue where Susan B. Anthony, Duke Ellington and countless others have taken the stage have been debated through the summer at the western New York intellectual retreat.
The latest information to consider comes from a historic preservation panel formed at the recommendation of the National Park Service.
Its Aug. 6 report says the institution must decide whether its desire for expanded programming and capacity is worth losing the existing amphitheater over. It suggests building a second venue for bigger productions, which an institution official called “financially unrealistic.”
The panel also recommends delaying any decision until an engineering report assessing the amphitheater’s stability is finished.
