Nurturing a powerful cultural identity and ambience, creativity is infused into daily life in the Lone Star State. Cultural encounters abound—music and dance performances, art galleries, elite curatorial collections and Shakespearean
classics, to name a few. There are also the unexpected places for creative enrichment; in Texas, even airports, convention centers, hotels and malls are art destinations.
Melodically Minded
Whether it’s mariachi, rock, country, jazz or blues, music permeates the soul of Texas, birthplace of legends including Buddy Holly and Janis Joplin.
There’s a tune to be heard in destinations throughout the state, but Austin, the seat of Texas government, is also its music capital, and it shows. There’s music at the airport, at Austin City Council meetings and at nearly 200 venues in the city’s renowned entertainment districts.
The Austin CVB hires local talent for private events, such as rising rock quartet The Black and White Years, backed by ex-Talking Head Jerry Harrison.
“The music seems to put visitors in a better frame of mind,” says Landon Thompson, band member of The Black and White Years.
Culture Club
Texas is big on museums and other cultural institutions, which run the gamut and present groups with bold event backdrops or inspiring post-meeting diversions.
While Beaumont claims the “Museum Capital of Texas” title—its eclectic portfolio including the Museum of the Gulf Coast and the Texas Energy Museum—there are challengers throughout the state.
Already home to pearls such as the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Museum of Art, Dallas opens the dramatic Center for the Performing Arts next year. Designed by architectural superstars, the $338 million center—99 percent funded by private donors—will feature venues for music, opera, theater and dance. Uniting the center will be the 10-acre Performance Park. Collectively, the 68-acre Dallas Arts District will be the world’s largest continuous urban arts complex.
Steeped in cowboy lore, Fort Worth is also celebrated for its five-museum Cultural District, just outside downtown. Recast in concrete and glass in 2002, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth—the state’s oldest museum—appears to float in its surrounding lake. Transporting, too, are the Kimball Art Museum and Amon Carter Museum. And downtown, two trumpeting angels adorn the heavenly white exterior of the Bass Performance Hall.
The 18-member Houston Museum District anchors the city’s prolific cultural milieu, which includes America’s second-largest theater district. The Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts are among the standout collection, with free admission at 11 of the museums.
“We just became the 11th U.S. city to join the CityPass program, which includes several of the museums,” says Lindsey Brown, marketing director for the Houston CVB.
One of only a few U.S. cities supporting professional ballet, opera, symphony and theater, Austin is a true performing arts prodigy. Other event-ready Austin treasures include the whimsical Umlauf Sculpture Garden and two University of Texas cultural institutions: the Harry Ransom Center and the Blanton Museum of Art.
San Antonio’s outstanding museums represent a cultural map of Latin America and the world, highlighted by the superb San Antonio Museum of Art and Museo Alameda. The Witte and the Southwest School of Art & Craft are popular group draws, in addition to the Blue Star Arts Complex, an arts-oriented revitalization of the historic Southtown district, where Dreamworks recently held an event.
In Texas’ southwestern corner, El Paso’s extensive collection includes the Centennial Museum, more than 30 galleries and the historic Plaza Theater. Ideal for downtown social and corporate events, the Plaza’s new tri-level annex includes the Oasis and the beautiful Alcantar Sky Garden.
Huntsville is home to a 67-foot statue of state hero Sam Houston and a museum bearing his name.
In Lubbock, local son Buddy Holly is remembered at his namesake center.
Irving’s National Boy Scout Museum houses the world’s largest Norman Rockwell collection.
Odessa’s event-ready Globe of the Great Southwest authentically replicates Shakespeare’s original Globe Theatre from 1598.
In Amarillo, the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts colorfully evokes the desert inside and out.
In Big Bend Country—the stark setting for the movies Giant and No Country for Old Men—tiny Marfa is an international art mecca.
From Galveston’s Grand 1894 Opera House and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands to San Angelo’s Fine Arts Museum and the South Texas Art Museum in Corpus Christi, there’s a cultural institution in every corner of the Lone Star State.
Unusual Suspects
There’s frontier spirit in Texas’ cultural DNA, which is behind initiatives to bring the art to the people, wherever they may be. As a result, art—in all forms—can turn up in the unlikeliest of places.
A prime example is the multimillion-dollar Public Art Program at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the mammoth transportation complex that generated $16.6 billion for the North Texas economy last year. Designed to “express the dynamic, international culture of the Metroplex,” artwork flourishes throughout the airport’s international terminal D and the Skylink train stations.
Another unexpected art destination, also in Dallas, is the NorthPark Center mall. Since opening in 1965, world-class art has decorated the deluxe center’s 1.4-acre interior landscaped garden. An oasis of lawns and trees, “CenterPark” is also an exciting event venue.
Traveling around Texas gives the strong impression of a Golden Age for art commissions. Frisco, for example, commits public funds for art in local businesses and hotels under the national Percent for Art program. Creations from Austin’s homeless decorate the Austin Convention Center’s rustic limestone rotunda. Throughout the recently expanded facility—a sun-drenched, high-tech gem in its own right, with windows, outdoor terraces and city views galore—art installations such as Texas Wildflowers relax and inspire.
“With locations across Texas—three in Austin alone, including one in the historic Ritz Theater on Sixth Street—Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is another creative surprise and an absolute must for groups. This unique concept mixes first-run and retro films with Hollywood-quality customized interactive events.
“Dream it and we’ll make it happen,” says event manager Justin Ishmael.
Lord of the Rings with Hobbit costumes and food? Grease sing-a-longs? Founded in 1977, Alamo Drafthouse has realized many a celluloid fantasy, including an infamous road run of Smokey and the Bandit, since the show is transportable, complete with an inflatable screen.
In the Alamo City, there’s head-turning contemporary art throughout the new Grand Hyatt San Antonio, and the city is rich in murals depicting its Spanish Colonial, Latin American and global heritage. One of the finest is inside a beloved city institution, the Cortez family’s Mi Tierra Restaurant and Bakery. Founded in 1941 as a three-table cafe, it is now a 500-seat, 24/7 Tex-Mex temple for power breakfasters and night owls alike. Strolling musicians and top-shelf tequilas enliven the mood, and the ever-expanding wall mural celebrating the Hispanic experience in America is a sight to behold.
Look out for Bay Area Houston’s new Epic Art project. As part of a San Jacinto Historic District “museum without walls” plan, giant oil tanks are being painted with 90-foot murals depicting Texas history.
Embracing all things offbeat and out-of-the-way, the state also presents a number of only-in-Texas artistic gems for visitors to discover.
If you miss the popular Art Car parade every May in Houston, you can catch these outlandish automobiles at the city’s Art Car Museum.
In Las Colinas, nine bronze mustangs gallop magnificently across a granite stream, and an awesome 36-foot-high bronze statue of city founder Don Juan de Onate on horseback rears up at El Paso International Airport.
And there’s roadside Americana aplenty, including a cowboy hat-wearing Eiffel Tower in Paris (Texas), two Stonehenge replicas in the towns of Odessa and Hunt, and the iconic Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, not to mention oversized whimsies galore.
Janet Holliday, CEO of San Antonio-based event management company CE Group, has produced some major events in Texas, including last year’s NCAA Men’s Final Four official party in the Alamo City.
“Texas is an experience,” she says, understatedly summing up the spectacle.
