View a primer on PBS American Portrait, a national storytelling project aligned with PBS's 50th anniversary celebration, which invites America to participate in a national conversation about what it really means to be an American today. To answer this question, PBS and its partners are collecting photos, videos and text submissions from across America to capture the state and spirit of our nation.

PBS American Portrait is the subject of the 10:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 16, conversation between PBS CEO Paula Kerger and Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill, part of our CHQ Assembly week on "Art and Democracy." https://assembly.chq.org/videos/who-are-the-american-people

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.