UPDATE: The panel decided to request bids for a newly constructed Amp, based upon the design that was proposed last year and refined after input from the community and experts.
A panel of twenty four people is expected to decide today whether to demolish the 122-year-old Amphitheater at Chautauqua Institution and rebuild a replica, or try to work with what they’ve got in the aging structure.
The administration of the Chautauqua Institution has raised $33 million dollars in private funds for a plan that would tear down most of the existing Amphitheater and rebuild it, with better sight lines, more handicapped accessibility and an orchestra pit, which it doesn’t have now.
But the group “Save the Amp,” says the existing structure should be saved, and adds that two historic architects and four preservationists agree with them.
The group started an online petition that has signatures from 10,000 people who want to save the Amphitheater.
Pictured, Pulitzer Prize winning author Anthony Doerr speaking at the Amphitheater on August 14.