On This Page:

Addressing the Needs of Today and Tomorrow

The Mission of Bay View

The History of Bay View

The Continuum of Religion, Education, Arts, Recreation

• Religion
• Education
• Arts and Culture
• Recreation

The Challenge

An Invitation to All

Nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay, the Bay View Association with its 445 pristine Victorian cottages is one of the oldest chautauquas in the country and is a National Historic Landmark. Over its 134 years of celebrating recreation, religion, education, and the arts, Bay View has hosted such notables as Booker T. Washington and Helen Keller. Its membership includes families from across the U.S. and three foreign countries.

The heart of the community for Bay View residents and the face of Bay View for the greater community is John M. Hall Auditorium. Built in 1914, it was named for the farseeing director of the Assembly who envisioned a wide range of educational, musical, and religious events, and the building to house them. He donated the $45,000 needed to build the 1800-seat structure, thus launching not only a century of high-quality programming but also Bay View’s historic tradition of philanthropic giving.

Today, the Bay View Association is the leader in bringing religion, arts, and learning to Northern Michigan. Over 100 events take place each summer in John M. Hall Auditorium. However, this historic community resource has not kept pace with improvements in auditorium acoustics, lighting, and technology. Hall Auditorium’s sound and lighting systems are piecemeal and of differing ages. Many components are obsolete, making repairs problematic or impossible. The sound is not reliable and sometimes cuts in and out during an event. The current infrastructure for sound and lighting equipment is at loading capacity. The size and configuration of the auditorium do not lend themselves to good acoustics. There are building code issues, ADA issues, and safety concerns. Those who appear on stage have no ventilation or restroom. The audience is sitting in 50-year-old seats. There is no running water in the building.

Providing programs of excellence has been the mission of Bay View from its inception, and it remains our mission as John M. Hall Auditorium enters its second century. To maintain this tradition, Bay View needs to reinvest in its most central structure. Competing for the best preachers, performers, lecturers, and educators, the community needs an up-to-date facility. All those who attend Hall Auditorium deserve to experience worship, performances, and programs in surroundings conducive to enjoyment, safety, and comfort. An enhanced John M. Hall Auditorium is critical to the ongoing religious, musical, and educational programs that serve Bay View and provide vital links to the greater community.

To address these concerns, an ad hoc Bay View Auditoria Committee was formed by the Board of Trustees in 2003 and directed to develop a plan for improving the performance venues to support and more effectively promote the goals and values of Bay View. Data was collected to define needs, comparative facility evaluations were made and the architectural firm of Kingscott Associates was hired to provide professional expertise in the area of theatre design, acoustics and building upgrades.  In accordance with the committee’s conclusion, which reinforced the importance of Hall Auditorium in the future of the Bay View Association, Kingscott Associates recommended:

• The exterior of Hall Auditorium should be preserved and the facility should be used as originally intended: as a worship, lecture, and music space. 
• To this end, an extensive rehabilitation of the exterior and stabilization of Hall Auditorium was undertaken to address immediate concerns of deterioration.  This effort was accomplished through a leasehold assessment.
•  The interior of Hall Auditorium should receive a comfort and technological update, incorporating the recommendations from Kingscott Associates for sound, acoustics, seating and safety.  Changes should be made that would enhance the performance and reception of current programming.
• The Board of Trustees accepted the Auditoria Committee’s report in August 2006.  The Board passed a resolution to pursue voluntary giving rather than assessment for the needed improvements. Support for the resolution came by way of general consensus of the membership at the 2006 annual meeting.  The Board approved hiring a fundraising consultant to perform a feasibility study to determine the level of financial support to upgrade the auditorium interior. Conducted during the summer of 2007, the study results showed the Bay View community could raise $2.5 million toward interior improvements to the auditorium.

The Heart of Bay View Campaign will raise $1.5 million to fund the following capital improvements to the interior of John M. Hall Auditorium:

• Sound and Sense in the Heart of Bay View (Sound and Acoustics)
          New sound system, install a hearing-assistance system, relocate sound booth to main floor,
          technical upgrades to organ console.
• Seeing Is Believing in the Heart of Bay View (Lighting and Electrical)
          Upgrade audio/visual controls, upgrade recording capacity, lighting instrument upgrades,
          lighting location upgrades, relocate lighting controls to main floor
• Safety First in the Heart of Bay View (Safety and Code)
         Electric wiring replacement, new surge protection for electrical equipment, balcony railing
         revisions, accessibility requirements for main floor and stage access
• Amenities & More in the Heart of Bay View (Amenities, Comfort and Usability)
         Partial replacement of main floor seating, replace first two rows of balcony seating,
         backstage restroom facilities for performers/participants, remove blinds and replace system
         of light control, provide on/above stage ventilation
  
• Additional Items
          Escalation, contingency allowances, architectural and engineering fees, printing, permits and campaign
          costs.

In 1875, a group of Michigan Methodists met in Jackson to organize a Camp Meeting, a popular form of religious gathering at that time in America.  Although Methodist in origin and still associated with the United Methodist Church, Bay View has always been and remains ecumenical in spirit. 

The early founders chose Bay View as the site because of its summer climate that promotes good health, its beautiful location on the shores of Little Traverse Bay, and its accessibility by railroad and lake steamer.  Their vision was to create a center for worship, learning and recreation. The following year ground was cleared and tents were erected to house the several hundred people who came for six days of religious talks and sermons delivered from the “preaching stand.” The first building erected on the grounds, it is now a part of the Bay View Historical Museum.  By 1877, streets, parks, and public areas had been platted and twenty simple cottages had been built.  Ten years later there were 125 cottages, a hotel and a chapel.

Today, the community is comprised of 445 cottages, most built during the first 25 years, 31 public buildings and two inns.  Cottagers may be in residence from May through October. Bay View was awarded National Historic Landmark status in 1987.  The Landmark Significance Statement declares: “Bay View is one of the finest remaining examples of two uniquely American community forms, the Methodist Camp Meeting and the independent Chautauqua. Designed for the first purpose in 1876, and adapted for the second from 1885 to 1915, Bay View is a major monument of American religious, cultural, social and educational ideals embodied in an artistically shaped community plan.”

To preserve and enhance Bay View’s status as a National Historic Landmark, the Association By-Laws authorize an Architectural Review Committee to oversee and enforce a process which promotes preservation of Bay View’s unique historic significance and architectural characteristics.  Bay View still embodies the spirit and vision of its founders. Bay View has thrived, has adapted to changing times, and remains true to the founding ideals. It stands today as one of nine remaining permanent chautauquas in America and offers a dynamic community for people of all ages and backgrounds.

History has been kept alive at Bay View.

• The Bay View Library was established early, and has been cited as the best summer colony library in the United States.
• The Bay View Historical Museum is the caretaker and exhibitor of historically significant artifacts donated and collected since 1900. Educational programs and annual displays of early Bay View cottage life and activities are viewed and enjoyed each season in the two oldest buildings on campus.
• The Bay View Archives collects and makes available for study the records of the Association and other materials related to its history.

Summer Assembly programs have included prominent religious leaders and widely known personalities in the areas of education, politics and science. Through the years, Bay View has hosted outstanding pulpit voices and stars of opera and concert.

Bay View continues to provide a multigenerational, multidimensional mix of programs that reflect the chautauqua platform – religion, education, arts and recreation.  It is unique.  It is historic.  It is a matrix of spiritual refreshment, provocative learning, intellectual stimulation, arts and culture, personal growth and renewal, rest and recreation that enriches all of Northern Michigan.

The founding principle of 1875—“to be a center of Christian influence and to provide a place where Christian people could meet and enjoy fellowship”—has been the guiding principle for 135 years. The original tents have become cottages and the outdoor preaching has moved inside John M. Hall Auditorium, but the remarkable heritage of spiritual life continues to provide the foundation for community life in Bay View.  Ecumenical weekly program offerings include:

• Sunday Morning Worship, featuring national and international preachers, that reaches thousands, not only in Hall Auditorium but also by radio
• Sunday Morning Communion Service in Crouse Chapel, led by ordained clergy
• Adult and Youth Sunday School Classes in which participants can contemplate their Christian faith
• Religion and Life Lectures, four times a week, on weekly themes, leading to active dialogue about essential matters of living one’s faith
• Youth Ministry that includes Bible studies and weekly youth group meetings
• Weekly Bible Study groups for women and men, enriching understanding of faith
• American Experience Week with nationally known historians lecturing on themes of American history

Education has always been important in Bay View.  From its inception until today, Bay View has a strong tradition of education to promote intellectual and personal growth. 

• A “university” was begun in 1886 with many departments.
• The School of Music was the forerunner of the Music Conservatory and the Bay View Music Festival, which attracts high-caliber faculty and students from many parts of the country.
• Albion College conducted a summer school on the grounds from 1917 to 1969.
• Bay View participated in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles movement, said to have been the largest adult education program in history with an enrollment of over 2.5 million students.  The Bay View Reading Circle (1893-1921) had study groups extending across the country and included 25,000 members.
• Current Issue Forums are held each Friday.
• Education Seminars offer classes for all ages in bridge, crafts, culinary arts, gardening, health and recreation, and visual arts, plus various opportunities for study, reading groups and book clubs.
• Informal informational programs are regular offerings at Woman’s Council, Morning Council and Campus Club.

Music in Bay View began with hymn-singing and continues in various forms. The nationally renowned Bay View Summer Music Festival provides diversified programs in music, dance, and theatre and is recognized as the longest continuously running summer music festival in the United States. Festival students represent most of the 50 states and a number of other nations.  Artists and student artists of the Music Festival, Theatre Arts Department presentations, Sunday worship services and the popular Sunday Vesper Concerts bring thousands to the Hall Auditorium each season. The high-caliber faculty, student artists and performers bring a source of enrichment and entertainment to Bay View and provide a cultural resource for surrounding communities.  Programs include:  

• Sunday Vesper Concerts
• Wednesday Festival Concerts
• Crouse Visiting Artist Series
• Artist Recitals
• Student artist Recitals
• Pops Concerts
• Broadway musical production
• Opera Production
• Theatre Arts production
• Youth Theater
• Handbell Workshop and Concert

Bay View’s beautiful setting in a terraced, wooded location on the shore of Little Traverse Bay lends itself to refreshment and recreation, with opportunities available for all ages.  In addition to leisure-time enjoyment of swimming, boating, and tennis, there are organized programs.

• An active program of clubs, games, athletics, crafts, camping, swimming, sailing, tennis, hiking and music for children of all ages is carried on under experienced full-time recreational leadership. 
• A social program for Junior and Senior High young people under trained leadership is centered in the “Rec Club” building on the beach.
• The Campus Club, a separate member organization, has its own building and provides indoor games and the outdoor sports of shuffleboard, croquet and bowling on the green. 

Bay View remains a true chautauqua. It attracts residents, visitors and participants from all over the United States as well as other countries.  Its programs are open to all. We must take the necessary action to maintain its excellence.  Not to do so is a threat to our existence as we have come to know it.  Sub-par programs in a sub-standard facility could negatively impact revenues, which would ultimately diminish our programs, impacting our ability to survive and flourish for future generations. The need is great.The time is now.

From the moment John M. Hall leaned against a tree in the beech grove to listen to the Big Sunday morning sermon the summer of 1885, the Michigan Camp Ground Association of the Methodist Church was changed forever.  Hall had a vision of something no one else could have ever imagined.

Mary Jane Doerr, "Beneath the Beeches"

John M. Hall’s vision of a vibrant Bay View with programs and opportunities for all was turned into reality through his commitment.  John M. Hall Auditorium exists today because of his personal spirit of philanthropy -- donating the funds to construct this building.  

Now the leadership of the Bay View Association is committed to turning The Heart of Bay View vision into reality.  A campaign cabinet comprised of dedicated Bay View and community leaders will lead the campaign, with a goal of $1,500,000, to a successful conclusion. 

Never before

• has Hall Auditorium had a comprehensive interior improvement.
• has Bay View devoted so much time and study to one of its buildings.
• have you had such an opportunity to impact directly the future programming and infrastructure of Bay View.

Follow these links for more information on the Heart of Bay View Campaign for John M. Hall Auditorium:

Heart of Bay View Campaign

Introduction

Confessions of a Perfectionist

Campaign Cabinet

Tentative Project Costs

Gift Acknowledgement Levels

Heart of Bay View Flyer (pdf)

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