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Visions Of Beauty
This influences of several cultures in the area show up in local artists’ work, which is on view in galleries, museums and in the colorful murals on buildings. The treasures in the El Paso Museum of Art range from the modern art of local artists like Luis Jimenez to European, Mexican and colonial American collections. The museum encourages art in the community by offering art classes for children and adults as well as education programs. The University of Texas at El Paso’s (UTEP) recent contribution to the contemporary scene is its Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts. The center displays both local and traveling exhibitions in three gallery spaces, one of which is designed for large shows or installations. Galleries in El Paso, Las Cruces, Mesilla and Silver City regularly show local artists’ work.
Star Performances
Whatever your taste, there’s plenty of variety in theater, music and dance performances in the borderland. Larger touring shows often make a stop at Don Haskins Center at the University of Texas at El Paso and the Pan American Center at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. But smaller venues, like the Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts in Alto, NM and the Flickinger Center for the Performing Arts in Alamogordo, offer a more intimate space for traveling groups. Local community theater and music groups perform year-round in each city.
El Paso’s venues include the remodeled Judson F. William Convention Center, the majestic Abraham Chavez Theater and the newly renovated Historic Plaza Theater. All three venues have a full schedule throughout the year.
Music is an important part of Sun City’s cultural heritage, and it’s especially enjoyable on warm summer evenings. On Fridays you can enjoy free outdoor concerts in downtown El Paso, and on Sunday evenings thousands of people spread out their picnic blankets and take in the free Music Under the Stars concerts at the outdoor amphitheater at the Chamizal National Memorial.
The Showplace Reopens
The Plaza Theater was the largest theater of its kind when it opened in 1930 with a capacity of 2,410. The theater was known as the "Showplace of the Southwest" in the 1930s and '40s when stars from Lillian Gish to Rita Moreno performed. People traveled for miles to see performances, and to hear the $60,000 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ that accompanied vaudeville shows and sing-a-longs and entertained patrons before and after films.
With the advent of television and drive-in movie theaters, the Plaza declined. By the 1970s, the theater was sold, and its artwork and furnishings, including the Wurlitzer, were sold. Community groups saved it from demolition several times. In 1990, after the El Paso Community Foundation put a new roof on the theater, it was donated to the City of El Paso. In 2002, El Paso approved a public/private restoration partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation.
The Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre re-opened in 2006 with a 2,100-seat theater, a 10-story stage house, a 200-seat children’s theater, a rooftop garden and meeting facilities. The City of El Paso is confident it will again be the Showplace of the Southwest.
