Get your culture fix whatever your artistic passion, El Paso delivers in fine fashion
By Steve Larese
Seen at right: The 1,503-seat McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre uses the Franklin Mountains as a backdrop of performances.
Photo by Mark Paulda
El Paso may be better known for margaritas than Mozart, but true to its being a cultural crossroads, you can find both and more here thanks to a vibrant art community.
The El Paso Symphony performs year-round, as does the El Paso Wind Symphony, the El Paso Opera, the El Paso Choral, and the El Paso Friends of Jazz Society, keeping the Abraham Chavez Theatre, Plaza Theatre and Performing Arts Center, Fox Fine Arts Center, and UTEP’s Dining Theater all pretty busy.
The University of Texas at El Paso is proud of its latest addition, the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, which promotes contemporary art, as well as UTEP’s Union Gallery, which exhibits student works. Its Fox Fine Arts Music Department offers frequent concerts covering all ranges of music.
El Paso Museum of Art is a treasure that houses the permanent Samuel H. Kress collection of 12th to 18th century European art. Works by Giovanni di Paolo, Francisco Zubarán, and other masters grace the museum’s walls, as do works by American masters that include John Sloan, Max Weber, Frederic Remington, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Henriette Wyeth. Its Spanish Viceroyal collection celebrates Spanish masterworks created during the 17th through 19th centuries. The contemporary collection displays the best of Mexican, Texan, and Southwestern artists, including Luis Jiménez and Linda Ridgway.
Relish El Paso’s summer nights in Chamizal National Memorial for the free “Music Under the Stars” concert series. Concerts and performances such as Shakespeare on the Rocks and Viva El Paso! are frequent at McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre, where a natural stage creates perfect acoustics.
And artists apparently find plenty of inspiration in El Paso’s cultures, history, and natural beauty. The annual Kermezaar Festival, in late September, fills downtown El Paso with art to benefit the El Paso Museum of Art.
CULTURE
El Paso Symphony Orchestra - (915) 532-3776
El Paso Opera - (915) 581-5534
University of Texas at El Paso - www.utep.edu/artsculture/
El Paso Museum of Art - 1 Arts Festival Plaza, (915) 532-1707
El Paso Pro Musica - (915) 833-9400
Kermezaar Festival - (915) 543-6747
McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre - (915) 231-1176
EDUCATION
The University of Texas at El Paso
500 W. University Ave., El Paso, Texas 79968
(915) 747-5000
The University of Texas at El Paso is changing the face of higher education. A nationally recognized leader, UTEP ranks third in educating Hispanics — the country’s fastest growing group — and is the only U.S. research university with a mostly Mexican-American student body. Students choose from more than 160 degree programs, including 14 doctoral degrees. UTEP ranks second among UT System academic institutions in research spending — nearly $46 million a year. Undergraduates perform cutting-edge work alongside faculty and doctorate candidates in the university’s many labs and research facilities.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
Office of Admissions
4800 Alberta Ave., El Paso, Texas 79905
(915) 545-6551
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine will be the first four-year medical school on the U.S-Mexico border, which will focus primarily on Border, Hispanic, and International Health. Success will be measured in retaining graduate physicians who will reside and practice medicine in El Paso, improving healthcare for our region and creating a vast impact on our economy. Increases in the number of students, faculty and staff, as well as in the annual operating budget, grants and research funding, have been projected to improve El Paso’s overall economy by $1.31 billion by 2013.
The balance of first-class higher medical education with excellence in healthcare is the overriding benefit for the El Paso region. The needs of the community will be met by growing its future healthcare workforce, ensuring quality patient care and providing new opportunities for the Border and International Research.
The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine’s first four-year class is expected to begin in 2009.
