EP2007 - El Paso Culture

Tantalized by art galleries and live theater and music? Enjoy it all in El Paso.

By Myrna Zanatelle

While El Paso once epitomized the Wild West, it was also the region's social and cultural center. Today it is still a cultural hub with outstanding museums, galleries, theater, music and spectacular festivals. Year-round, El Paso is filled with a wealth of sights and sounds to delight the art lover. The Sun City is a regional showcase for captivating musical and dramatic performances and outstanding visual displays.

Readily accessible and affordably priced, venues for the visual and performing arts stand out as one of the Star City’s shining attributes. Home to world-class collections of Spanish Colonial art, American masters, and the renowned Kress Collection, The El Paso Museum of Art also showcases local legends, muralists, painter and writer Tom Lea, and National Humanities Medal winner Jose Cisneros. As an exceptional souvenir, the book Texas 100 profiles Texas artists in the EPMA permanent collection. Ranging from coffee shops and artists’ lofts to multistory complexes, commercial galleries also abound, offering local art infused with a spicy hint of the border.

The Abraham Chavez Theater, the Plaza Theatre and Performing Arts Center, the Fox Fine Arts Center, and UTEP Dinner Theater feature year-round schedules of events ranging from high-profile concerts by the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and sumptuous Broadway in El Paso productions to intimate performances by local theater and musical groups.

On warm summer evenings from June through August, bring your blanket and a picnic supper to the Chamizal National Memorial to enjoy free Sunday night concerts presented by “Music Under the Stars” or marvel at the natural acoustics and soaring canyon walls that enhance performances at the McKelligon Canyon Amphitheater.

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