57 Best Performing Arts in Texas, USA

The iconic PBS music show Austin City Limits is one of the city's treasures, and anyone can see it live. In true ACL fashion, live tapings for each season are still announced to the public at a moment's notice, and general admission is still free for those who wait in line for tickets. The theater also hosts an additional lineup of amazing musical acts throughout the year, independent of the television show's taping schedule. The 2,750-seat auditorium manages to maintain an intimate feel where every seat is a good seat.

As much as Austinites love music, they love being outdoors even more. The result is this six-day fall music festival spanning two weekends in October; it's the unofficial farewell-to-summer shindig that takes over Zilker Park. Fans flock to hear more than 130 international, national, and local acts on eight stages. Featured headliners have included the likes of Bob Dylan, Miley Cyrus, Tom Petty, Björk, Phish, Willie Nelson, Radiohead, and Billie Eilish.

The Chinati Foundation, occupying 15 buildings on a 340-acre campus, is in the vanguard of the "minimalist" movement that defines the Marfa aesthetic. It emphasizes large installations and changes its exhibits regularly, and it has a well-attended annual open house. People fly from all over the country to view the collection, and the foundation conducts guided tours Wednesday through Sunday of its huge contemporary-art holdings. Guided tour times are subject to change based on availability. Advance reservations are encouraged via website, email, or phone.

A masterpiece of baroque splendor with Spanish mission and Mediterranean-style influences, this 1929 movie and vaudeville theater once showcased talents like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and George Burns. Today the fully restored, 2,311-seat theater presents the Majestic Broadway Series of top-notch touring companies of Broadway shows like Hamilton, Waitress, Chicago, and many more, along with concerts and comedy shows. No photography of any kind is allowed, so commit to memory the glittering "night sky," ornate architecture, and dazzling surroundings of one of the finest atmospheric theaters in existence. See a show here if you can get last-minute tickets—they sell same-day tickets immediately before each performance. 

In a restored downtown vaudeville house and movie palace, this gorgeous 1915 theater presents musicals and plays by touring theater companies and hosts concerts by well-known jazz, folk, and rock artists, along with the occasional stand-up comedian and speaker series. In April, it hosts the annual four-day Moontower Comedy Festival, and during the summer, movie lovers escape the heat for the Summer Classic Film Series, featuring time-honored films from Gone with the Wind to The Wizard of Oz.

The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts represents one of the most remarkable transformations in the history of San Antonio. After voters approved $100 million in construction bonds, the old and venerable Municipal Auditorium became a world-class performing arts venue. The H-E-B Performance Hall has 2,039 seats in a flat-floor configuration. Besides bringing in top acts in music and theater from around the world, the Tobin has resident companies that reflect the very best that the city has to offer: Ballet San Antonio, Classical Music Institute, OPERA San Antonio, The Children's Chorus of San Antonio, San Antonio Symphony, and Youth Orchestras of San Antonio. Free performances and activities are also held on the grounds on the Will Naylor Smith River Walk Plaza, including free movie nights and yoga and wellness programming. Ask about free scheduled tours of this impressive and important landmark. 

The original Drafthouse location in downtown Austin may have permanently closed, but the locally grown cult movie theater-turned-national-chain still operates other locations around town that remain must-visits for movie lovers. A Drafthouse movie is always an experience, whether you pregame with some karaoke at the attached Highball bar and lounge or attend a theme sing-a-long screening in full costume with friends. Expect new releases, cult classics, and loads of seasonal and special event screenings, all paired with a full food and drink menu served in-theater.

Houston's resident professional theater company is set in a fortress-like low-lying structure.

The biggest touring musical acts set up stage at this arena designed by David M. Schwarz. The arena, home to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and the NHL's Dallas Stars, is the centerpiece of burgeoning Victory Park, an area filled with tony restaurants, clubs, and shops. Tours are available at 10:30 am Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when there are no scheduled events.

Erected in 1939, this unique outdoor music and performing arts venue in the heart of La Villita was designed by River Walk architect Robert H. H. Hugman and built by the WPA. Have a seat on the grass-covered steps on the river's edge and watch performers on the small stage across the water. In this open-air format, the river, not a curtain, separates performers from the audience. Some of San Antonio's top events take place here, including Fiesta Noche del Rio, a summer music and dance show presented since 1957, making it the oldest outdoor performance of its kind in the United States.

Located on the McLennan Community College campus, Art Center Waco hosts major exhibits in its main gallery and smaller showings in other rooms, as well as weekend classes and demonstrations. A 35-piece sculpture garden is open all hours.

Austin's first professional opera company has been putting on multiple mainstage productions a year for 35 seasons and counting. Voted “Opera Company of the Year” for 2020 in a national BroadwayWorld.com poll, the company combines international stars with extraordinary local talents. Performances are hosted at the Long Center.

Eight classical concerts, four pops concerts, a holiday-favorite performance, a children's Halloween presentation, and many free events are performed by the Austin Symphony, Austin's oldest performing arts organization, throughout the year. Performances are held at the Long Center.

Now in a state-of-the-art downtown center, Ballet Austin has risen in prominence over the years as the city's preeminent dance company. Part performance company and part dance academy (with classes available to the general public), Ballet Austin puts on a regular lineup of ballet productions, performed at the Long Center, throughout the year, including an annual rendition of the classic The Nutcracker each holiday season. The season runs from September through May, with season tickets options that offer better seating for frequent attendees.

Ballroom Marfa is part gallery, part live-music venue. Young, hip, modern, and undeniably cool, the Ballroom welcomes visitors Wednesday through Saturday from 10 to 6 and Sunday 10 to 3. Performers periodically take the stage on Friday and Saturday evenings. Ballroom Marfa closes at times for new installations; see the website for closures and the latest concert information.

Barry Whistler Gallery often showcases contemporary Texas artists and their prints, paintings, sculpture, and photography.

The flagship theater of the Texas Performing Arts is the largest of its kind in Austin and attracts visitors from near and far for special symphony, orchestra, choral, ensemble, and concert band performances. The 2,900-seat auditorium is world-class in every way. Also inside, the smaller, more intimate Bates Recital Hall features performances by both students and faculty of the University of Texas as well as professional visiting musicians.

Public tours are available of the majestic Bass Performance Hall, which spans a full city block. Four resident companies call the world-class venue home.

The Bosque River Stage, set on the banks of the Bosque River bordering the McLennan Community College campus, hosts numerous concerts each year.

This community treasure is the cultural heart of the city's east side. Year-round performances, classes, and programming focus on their mission to celebrate the world's diverse cultures, with emphasis on African and African American heritage. Acts that have graced the stage at the Jo Long Theatre for the Performing Arts include top names in modern dance, ballet, music, poetry, and theater. The Carver Gallery, in the theater lobby, presents visual artists in free exhibitions that change every few months. The building complex itself has a storied past, with the Little Carver venue housed in what was once a beloved neighborhood church and the Jo Long Theatre lobby once a city library designated only for black residents when segregation kept them out of other city library branches.

A theater-in-the-round under one of Buckminster Fuller's first geodesic domes, Casa Manana is the site of the performing-arts organization's mainstage productions, as well as its popular Children's Playhouse series.

The top performing-arts attraction in Dallas is whatever's on at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, where the Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays.

The city's highest-profile theater performances are from the Dallas Theater Center at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, the only theater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The city's biggest annual party launches 10 days of city-wide celebrations. Parades and performances are part of approximately 100 events that honor the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto.

Held in Market Square during the first three weekends of December, this event features childrens choirs, folkloric dance groups, mariachi bands, and a visit by Pancho Claus.

The Circuit of the Americas racetrack doesn't just showcase a regular season of Formula One motor-racing—it's also home to this state-of-the-art live music amphitheater hosting a diverse range of big-name artists and bands as well as various festivals and special events throughout the year. Previously known as the Austin 360 Amphitheater, the Germania Insurance Amphitheater offers assigned seating with great stage views from any vantage point. The green parkland behind the assigned seating lets you bring your own picnic blanket to listen under the stars. There's a regular lineup of food trucks and plenty of full-service bars on-site.

Founded in 1980 to preserve and develop Chicano, Latino, and Native American arts and culture, the GCAC regularly stages dance, music, and theatrical performances. It also displays the art of emerging artists and holds classes in dance and music, with a unique summer theater day-camp for young aspiring playwrights, actors, and tech crew. Of the center's major annual events, the Tejano Conjunto Festival is a huge draw, bringing together more than 10,000 conjunto music lovers from all over. The annual CineFestival San Antonio presents five days of Latinx film. The GCAC is a national model that has inspired other community-based Latinx arts organizations nationwide. 

This hall, home to the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Society for the Performing Arts, appears almost encased by a second, colonnaded building. Its teak auditorium is more attractive than the exterior.