Local News

New Chautauqua Institution president looks to continue platform, ideals

CHAUTAUQUA -- Mark Johnson, Chautauqua Institution's new president, has officially stepped into his role following the closing of the 2026 summer season.

Having grown up in the area with the Institution as a big part of his life, Johnson is looking forward to being able to continue their well-known platform and ideals.

HOW JOHNSON GOT HERE

Johnson described himself as a "Navy brat", coming back from the Philippines during the Vietnam War, following his father's time in the Navy in 1970. Johnson grew up going to Euclid Elementary School and Washington Junior High School. He and his brother and mother moved to Long Island following his parents' divorce and Johnson would spend his summers and other times such as Christmas back in the local area, including staying at Chautauqua Institution while his dad worked there.

Johnson also credits Chautauqua Institution with what would be his future career with the state department, specifically the United States, Soviet Relations conferences in the mid-1980s. Johnson traveled both to the Soviet Union and to Washington as part of these conferences, saying that the first one he attended was at the Institution, and members from the state department asked him there what he wanted to do with his life, steering him towards working for the state department and away from the Navy.

"The Institution has been a big part of my life, development, and direct career path," Johnson said. "It was a natural link."

Johnson began at the State Department in 1993, and at the time he thought he would be there for about five years, which he said is roughly two overseas tours. His goal was to improve his Spanish, and to maybe pick up another language in Southeast Asia. His plan was to then come back to New York state and use his law degree for something like business or politics. Johnson traveled all over with his job in the state department, including tours in Argentina, Guatemala, Europe, the Middle-East including Jerusalem, Latin America, Mexico, El Salvador, and then back to Washington for some seventh floor engagements, which Johnson said is the state department's political-level floor.

"I was a career officer," Johnson said. "I would support members of the political leadership of both parties; Republican and Democrat over the years, both overseas and in Washington. All of a sudden I realized that my five year plan had expired and I was 33 years in and looking to make the next move and change my life a bit. The Chautauqua opportunity came on the horizon, and I said, 'you know what, I would really like to go home and go and try to work with the place that gave me my values in many ways along with the Chautauqua County and Jamestown community, and that led directly to my career path.'"

'GUIDING FORCE'

Johnson said he feels extremely lucky to be in this new position and back home to help work with Chautauqua Institution on issues that he added he feels are extremely important.

Johnson noted that Chautauqua has played a major role throughout the broader community and overall country, such as with the Chautauqua Movements in the late 1800s, and the way it brought education, religion, politics, culture and arts out to many communities who did not have it before technological changes such as television, radio and the Internet.

"Chautauqua's role in being a guiding force in all of these areas continues," Johnson said. "I look at what our country is doing on the political front, where people are not necessarily able to talk to each other about different ideas. I think back to what I grew up with here, going to the 10:45 lectures and hearing different thoughts and opinions and having people of all different political stripes talking to each other, discussing the issues, politely, maybe passionately, but respectfully arguing about it. It made me realize, we need more of that."

Johnson said a safe space is needed where people can have conversations and press each other to be smarter and better and then be able to do something like get coffee afterwards. One of the big draws for his return to Chautauqua, he added, was the opportunity to continue that platform that the institution provides to have that safe space and see if they can push it out to protect and promote the country that has been built and that Chautauqua has had an influence in.

Looking forward with his specific goals, Johnson said his immediate goal is to listen. He does not wish to take on a new job and immediately change everything around; rather he plans to listen to his staff, Board of Trustees, Chautauqua's patrons and trustees, along with the larger Jamestown and Chautauqua County communities to find out what they are thinking and what people believe needs to happen to make sure the institution stays financially stable and to plan for the future, especially given the current political climate and changing technology.

Broadly, he said the institution's founders laid down a vision of what America can be via Chautauqua and other similar organizations that followed in the institution's footsteps. Johnson said he hopes to continue to preserve Chautauqua's traditions while also helping the teams and local community build on new ideas to help keep it fresh, and help ensure people want to come back, engage over time, and want to better themselves.

"I don't want to limit myself to we're only going to do X or Y," Johnson said. "I think the sky is the limit on how we can continue to work together with the Western New York community, expand out to where the people are who are coming and engaging with Chautauqua, and making sure there's interaction between the patrons that come to Chautauqua Institution and the people of the region."

LOOKING FORWARD

There are a few things Johnson said he is looking forward to, including the Buffalo Bills going to the Superbowl, and being back in his home community. He gave an example of recently going to Wegmans and meeting someone he went to elementary school with, who he had not seen in around 45 years.

"Its a lot of fun reconnecting with people I haven't seen in a long time and being part of the county that I love and doing all of the things we talked about before; trying to get a positive message out to the world while also trying to bring some great arts and culture to the broader community here," Johnson said. "I think it's a win for everybody."

Most importantly, Johnson said he wants people to know that "Chautauqua Institution is Chautauqua County", in that the two coexist and reinforce each other. The people that make up Chautauqua Institution are from all over the world, but also right in the home community as well. Johnson said he has met people who work there from Canada, but also Frewsburg and Celoron. He added he spends a lot of time in his meetings talking about his experiences growing up in the county and local places he has been. While there is a bit of a difference between the Institution and the county, Johnson said he hopes to be able to help bridge those differences and make sure people see each of them as part of the same whole, rather than different pieces of a broader puzzle.

"I'm super happy to be home," Johnson said. "I feel extremely blessed to be in this role. I like to see how the good that comes out of Chautauqua County, Jamestown, Chautauqua Institution can go even further."

Johnson described Western New York as a whole as a special place, where people are nice to each other and want to help each other. He said after living all over the world, coming home has a different feel to it, giving an example of being welcomed to a place he went to for a recent Bills game where he was welcomed immediately, even though he did not know anyone there.

"I think channeling that and keeping that unique character in a positive way, and helping to solve some of the problems that any community faces together is what I want to help accomplish here," Johnson said.