Lucille Ball Archive An Angel Choir, Titans of Industry, and a Writers’ Festival: Western New York’s Chautauqua Institution Author: Nancy McCabe | Jul052016 Categories: Critical Essays No comments When I arrive in early June to teach at the Writer’s Festival, the Chautauqua Institution is a ghost town. The lake laps against the shoreline and the proliferation of white wicker chairs on the historic Athenaeum hotel veranda are mostly empty.