Culture of Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The culture of Texas has been a melting pot of "Southern" (Dixie) and Southwestern (Mexi-WASPy fusion) North American culture with pockets of colonies of ethnic groups (recent, unassimilated, legal and illegal "immigrants") in and around metropolitan and other urban areas while the entire Rio Grande River valley, and increasingly other areas to the east and north of it, have been re-mexicized due to recent migration and high birth rates (accompanied by "white flight") among the ethnic Mexican population. All of this is due to Texas's geographic location and settler past in the United States's history. The state of Texas is a diverse ethnic-origin state predominantly due to international migration before and over its history, while at the same time very North American, and an international place to live, in part because of its many oil industries.
Texas also has an influx of people from the central United States moving in to find oil. Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota have experienced a "brain drain" as their university graduates move to Texas to find employment.
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[edit] Annual events
There are many popular events held in Texas celebrating cultures of Texans. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is America's largest rodeo. It is held over 20 days from late February through early March. The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at Reliant Park for a barbecue cook-off. The rodeo includes typical rodeo events, as well as concert performances from major artists and carnival rides. The Fort Worth Livestock Show and Rodeo lasts three weeks in late January and early February. It has many traditional rodeos, but also a cowboy rodeo, and a Mexican rodeo in recent years that have a large fan base for each. The State Fair of Texas is held in Dallas each year at Fair Park. The OU-Texas football game is played at the Cotton Bowl near Fair Park during the State Fair.
Texas has a vibrant live music scene in Austin boasting more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city, befitting the city's official slogan as The Live Music Capital of the World. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film, music, and multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped on The University of Texas at Austin campus. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin.
- See also: List of people from Texas, Miscellany topics of Texas, Don't Mess with Texas, and Gone to Texas
[edit] Arts and theatre
Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, the Houston Theater District—a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston—is ranked second in the country (behind New York City) in the number of theatre seats in a concentrated downtown area with 12,948 seats for live performances and 1,480 movie seats.[1]
Houston is also one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines (the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre).[2] Houston is widely recognized as the nation's third most important city for contemporary visual arts.
Dallas and Fort Worth serve as epicenters of the North Texas region's art scene. The Modern (formerly the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), founded in 1892, is the oldest art museum in Texas. The city is also home to the Kimbell Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the Will Rogers Memorial Center, and the Bass Performance Hall downtown. The Arts District of Downtown Dallas is home to several arts venues. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.
[edit] Sports
Texas is known for its love of American football and is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school and college football teams—often dominating over all else for the purposes of socializing and leisure. School districts in Texas are sometimes criticized for the amount of money spent on their sports programs and facilities. Such facilities and programs can garner a school attention, however.
Baseball is also very popular in Texas, with Major League Baseball, with the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are equally popular in the state (geographic wise), as North Texas, West Texas, and Panhandle residents are predominantly Rangers fans, while Southeast Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas is predominantly inhabited by Astros fans. Minor league baseball is also closely followed.
Other popular sports in Texas include golf (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate), basketball (the state has three NBA teams, the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Mavericks), fishing, and auto racing. Lacrosse, originally played by some of the indigenous tribes, is a visible sport and growing. Soccer is a popular participatory sport—especially among children—but as a spectator sport, it does not yet have a large following despite two Texan teams in Major League Soccer. Hockey has been a growing participatory sport in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the Minnesota North Stars became the Dallas Stars in 1993. Minor league pro hockey has become quite popular in the last decade; Texas is home to eight of the Central Hockey League's seventeen teams. Texas is also home to the Houston Aeros and San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League and the Texas Wildcatters of theECHL
- Further information: List of Texas sports teams
