Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture across Austin, TX.
Showing 97–120 of 234 places
Original and Locally Owned Austin Ghost Tours
Austin
This downtown walking tour leads small groups through Austin's older streets after dark, pairing local folklore with the real history of the buildings, saloons, and figures behind the hauntings. Tours depart from the Red River district, so it's an easy add-on to an evening downtown, and comfortable shoes matter more than nerves of steel.
The Caswell House
Austin
A restored Victorian home on West Avenue, the Caswell House is one of the more recognizable historic residences in central Austin, its wraparound porch and gabled roofline a quiet holdout among the surrounding development. Now run by a local nonprofit and used mainly for weddings and events, it's open to drop-in visitors only on weekday afternoons, so plan accordingly if you want to see the interior.
Kenny Dorham's Backyard - Diverse Arts
Austin
Kenny Dorham's Backyard is an open-air venue in East Austin named for the bebop trumpeter who grew up in the area, where Diverse Arts hosts live jazz and community events under the trees. It doubles as a neighborhood gathering spot, so you'll often find food and conversation alongside the music rather than a formal concert-hall hush.
Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery
Austin
Tucked into a downtown Austin office building near West 7th, Unchained.Art is a small contemporary gallery that rewards visitors willing to seek it out—the suite-number address means it's more of a deliberate stop than a walk-in. Check ahead before you go, since the gallery keeps limited hours and tends to be closed early in the week.
ComedySportz Austin
Austin
ComedySportz Austin runs on the long-standing improv format where two teams compete for laughs in short, audience-driven games, all overseen by a referee who keeps things moving and calls fouls for anything too crude. Shows are kept clean enough for all ages, so it's a reliable pick if you're bringing kids or a mixed group and want comedy you don't have to vet first.
Willie For President Mural
Austin
Just Up the Hill from South Congress, this mural reproduces the iconic poster art from Willie Nelson's tongue-in-cheek presidential campaign, painting the Texas music legend as a folksy candidate for the nation's highest office. It's a quick stop in the South Austin neighborhood off Elizabeth Street, best paired with a stroll through the surrounding 78704 area that locals wear as a badge of pride.
TROVADOR Custom Hats & Art Gallery
Austin
Tucked into a storefront on East Cesar Chavez, TROVADOR pairs custom hat-making with a rotating art gallery, so a visit means watching craft and creativity share the same room. Keep in mind the hours are narrow—it's open just a couple of weekday afternoons—so it's worth planning your stop rather than dropping by.
Doris Miller Auditorium
Austin
Named for Doris "Dorie" Miller, the World War II Navy hero, this city-run auditorium sits beside Rosewood Park in the heart of historically Black East Austin and has long served as a gathering place for community meetings, cultural programs, and performances. Visitors will notice its role as a neighborhood anchor more than a polished theater—it's the kind of venue where local events and civic life take center stage.
Symphony Square
Austin
Tucked along Waller Creek just north of downtown, Symphony Square is a small open-air amphitheater where the audience sits on a limestone terrace facing a stage set across the water, surrounded by a cluster of restored 19th-century stone buildings. Long tied to the Austin Symphony Orchestra, it hosts intimate performances and community events in a setting that feels more like a hidden courtyard than a typical venue.
The Museum of Human Achievement
Austin
Despite its grand name, the Museum of Human Achievement is an unpretentious East Austin arts space — a warehouse-style venue where experimental theater, live music, dance, and visual art installations share the calendar from one week to the next. If you're coming for a show, expect a flexible, DIY-leaning room that reshapes itself around whatever's being performed, so it's worth checking what's on before you go.
Trinity Street Playhouse
Austin
Trinity Street Playhouse sits on the southern edge of downtown Austin, a small black-box-style stage tucked into the Trinity Street corridor near the convention center. Its compressed evening schedule—shows running Tuesday and Wednesday nights only—signals an intimate venue where performances are events to plan around rather than drop in on.
Roadhouse Relics
Austin
Tucked along South 1st Street, Roadhouse Relics is the neon studio of artist Todd Sanders, where vintage-style signs are designed and hand-built using traditional techniques. The fenced yard out front, crowded with glowing relics and weathered Americana, has become a well-known stop for photographers and anyone drawn to old-school neon craft.
Cloud Tree Studios & Gallery
Austin
Tucked into East Austin's warehouse-lined stretch of 5th Street, Cloud Tree Studios & Gallery pairs working artist studios with a gallery space, so a visit often means seeing art in the same building where it's made. Hours are slim and midday-only, so it's worth checking ahead before you go.
Davis Gallery & Framing
Austin
Davis Gallery & Framing sits in a converted house just west of downtown Austin, pairing a working custom frame shop with rotating exhibitions that lean toward Texas artists and regional landscapes. Note the limited hours—it's open weekday mornings to early evening and closed by midweek—so it's worth timing a visit around the start of the week.
Texas Music Museum
Austin
Tucked into East Austin's historic Marvin C. Griffin Building, the Texas Music Museum traces the state's tangled musical lineage—blues, conjunto, country, gospel, rock—through rotating exhibits of instruments, recordings, and photographs. It's a modest, volunteer-run space with short afternoon hours, so plan your visit accordingly and expect to linger over the details rather than rush through.
Mary Moody Northen Theatre
Austin
Tucked into the St. Edward's University campus just off South Congress, the Mary Moody Northen Theatre is the university's main stage, where theater students share the boards with professional guest artists across a season of plays and musicals. If you're catching a show, plan to arrive a little early — parking on the hilly campus takes a minute to sort out, and the productions tend to draw a mix of students, families, and South Austin regulars.
Wally Workman Gallery
Austin
Wally Workman Gallery sits in a converted house on West 6th, in the Clarksville neighborhood just west of downtown, where the residential scale makes browsing feel less like a museum visit and more like dropping by someone's home. It focuses on contemporary work by emerging and established artists, and its midweek hours run short, so it's worth checking the schedule before you make the trip.
Neverland Design Fine Art Studio and Casa Neverlandia Art House
Austin
Casa Neverlandia sits in South Austin's Bouldin Creek neighborhood as a handmade, fantastical home-turned-art-environment, where artist-builder James Talbot has spent decades layering mosaics, hand-shaped woodwork, a rooftop perch, and playful features like a suspension bridge and fire pole into the structure itself. The first thing you'll notice is that nothing here is off-the-shelf — it's best experienced during one of its occasional open tours or arts events rather than as a drop-in stop, so it's worth checking ahead for access.
The Color Inside
Austin
The Color Inside is a James Turrell Skyspace tucked atop UT Austin's Student Activity Center, a quiet domed chamber with an oculus open to the sky overhead. What you'll notice first is how the LED light sequences staged around sunrise and sunset shift your perception of the framed patch of sky, turning it from pale to impossibly saturated—so it's worth timing your visit to one of those light shows rather than the flat light of midday.
You're My Butter Half Mural
Austin
Painted on the side of a building in East Austin, this mural shows two slices of toast leaning together, one buttering the other into a heart shape — a play on words that's become a favorite stop for photos. It sits along a stretch of MLK Jr. Boulevard that's easy to pair with other East Side murals, and you'll likely wait your turn for the shot on weekends.
Stage Austin
Austin
Set just off Highway 290 on Austin's east side, Stage Austin is a combined performance hall and event space where live music and theater share the calendar with food and drink. Expect a flexible room built for everything from a seated show to a standing crowd, with the easy parking and elbow room that comes with being a little outside the downtown crush.
La Peña
Austin
Tucked into a downtown storefront on Congress Avenue, La Peña is a Latino arts and cultural organization whose gallery showcases work by local and regional Latino artists. Stop in during its weekday hours to catch a rotating exhibition or pick up information about its community programming and events.
Austin Rock & Roll Car Museum
Austin
Tucked into a building complex out in south Austin, this small museum leans into its name, pairing vintage and custom cars with rock-and-roll memorabilia for a niche stop that car buffs and music fans tend to appreciate. It runs on limited hours, so it's worth calling ahead before you make the drive out to this corner of the 78744 area.
Texas Governor's Mansion
Austin
This Greek Revival mansion has housed Texas governors since the 1850s, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied executive residences in the country, and its white columns and broad front porch sit just a short walk from the Capitol. Tours run only a couple of afternoons a week and require advance reservation, so plan ahead — and note that the home was carefully restored after a 2008 fire, with period furnishings and details worth slowing down for.