The African American Heritage House (AAHH) at Chautauqua is thrilled to announce the continuation and expansion of the Mirror Project, a collaboration with the Chautauqua Institution. The project, which started in the summer of 2020 as a way to spur year-around community discussions, reflections, and engagement on race, racism, and anti-racism, has grown since last year to include an ongoing reading circle where community members are encouraged to read books, convene in discussions, and consider what part each of us can play in creating a more just and equitable society.
This year, in addition to the reading circle, the Mirror Project will include two Porch Chats where participants will convene to discuss essays on Reparation and Housing Policy/Reform with specials guests, and two Special Presentations in January and March 2022, with nationally renowned speakers. These additions, we hope, will enrich our own conversations, and push us into action to bring about real change in our society. More details on the speakers will be announced in the near future.
We hope that you will join us. All our events are free to attend. This month, our selection is: The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee and we will meet on Tuesday and Thursday, October 26 & 28, 2021 at 6 p.m. ET. Please, register through this link to join us: https://learn.chq.org/courses/mirror-project-reading-circle-discussion
For more information, please visit https://CHQ.org/Mirror
THE MIRROR PROJECT 2020
Dear friends,
The following was sent to the Chautauqua community announcing a partnership initiative with the African American Heritage House (AAHH) at Chautauqua — The Mirror Project. This online endeavor is designed to allow the Chautauqua community a platform to look in the mirror and reflect honestly and collectively about race and racism in our lives.
Chautauqua’s online community – CHQ Assembly – is already reaching over 50 countries, so the “Chautauqua community” is now recognized as a global phenomenon! At AAHH we are encouraging interested parties wherever you are to participate in this important discussion.
As background to participate, please know that Chautauqua, AAHH and our allies are committed to the mission of Chautauqua – "Chautauqua is dedicated to the exploration of the best in human values and the enrichment of life through a program that explores the important religious, social and political issues of our times."
Also, Chautauqua Institution has “…Cross-cutting imperatives [to] enable Institution-wide action on important organizational capabilities needed to achieve its mission, of which one is “Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)". [To] Create the conditions in which everyone feels that they can engage as full and valued participants in the Chautauqua experience.
The African American Heritage House (AAHH) is a key partner to help create the environment envisioned by IDEA. Our mission states [that AAHH] “…will contribute to make Chautauqua a more vibrant community, to help African Americans feel more welcome at CHQ and to facilitate conversations with African Americans to help create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.”
So, to join in this conversation, please sign up at www.CHQ.org/Mirror. To enjoy the full Summer Assembly, which is complementary for 90 days, please sign up at www.Assembly.CHQ.org.
If you have any questions, please contact Erroll Davis, Board Chair at errolldavis@outlook.com We look forward to your constructive contributions.
The African American Heritage House Board of Directors
Dear Chautauquans,
As Chautauqua enters this week on "Art and Democracy" together, we want to keep you informed regarding what we are doing to explore one of the most complex challenges to our democracy — racism. Consistent with our mission to explore issues in a deep and multidisciplinary manner that invites multiple perspectives, we acknowledge and respect the very different experiences, emotions and viewpoints that our local and national community members hold today about racism. We also suggest there are difficult and painful areas in which we as individuals, as a community and as a nation need to grow. Chautauqua Institution can contribute to that growth by doing what Chautauqua has always done — convening the important and sometimes difficult conversations that make possible experiences of empathy by cultivating the exploration of our nation’s complex history, even as it is created in our own time, and by providing space for that work.
Today we launch a new partnership between Chautauqua Institution and the African American Heritage House at Chautauqua (AAHH) — The Mirror Project. This online endeavor is designed to allow the Chautauqua community a platform to look in the mirror and reflect honestly and collectively about race and racism in our lives. Chautauquans and anyone with whom they share the project will reflect on and respond to prompts throughout the summer. The prompts will be available on the project website. Participants can use a variety of platforms to respond — a submission on the website, a tweet, a Facebook comment, or an Instagram post. Submissions will be posted in an online gallery. As themes emerge from the submissions, we will design CHQ Assembly Virtual Porch discussions that allow a community member with expertise or lived experience to moderate a conversation on the issue for the community. As additional prompts emerge from our programs, we will add them to the project’s website so that the discussion is informed by and responsive to our Summer Assembly Season’s program. Because the questions posed will change over time, we believe we can keep the conversations relevant to current events.
Chautauqua Institution and the AAHH never have shied away from convening the most important conversations of our time — this is certainly one of them. We believe this represents an important first step in an ongoing process of assessment, questioning and improvement, both for the community as a whole and for participants as individuals. We are excited for this project to evolve over the course of the season and particularly look forward to establishing a synergistic interaction between our platform content and community conversations, with each informing the other.
We invite you to join the conversation at /chq.org/mirror.
Sincerely,
