In a metropolitan area of almost 1½ million people, with as broad a mix of cultures as any city, you’d expect to find a correspondingly broad array of music and art available for listening, and participation. And you won’t be disappointed in this metro area. Culture is rampant and residents and visitors alike partake of the offerings with great gusto. In fact, in a study released as part of the Cultural Collaborative, a cultural view into the future, the number 1.2 billion stared back at reviewers as in $1.2 billion, the dollar amount culturally oriented businesses give back to city coffers.

And our neighbor cities, such as New Braunfels, of German heritage, and Seguin, to name but two, offer up their own kinds of culture.

Across the area, musical offerings run the gamut. The San Antonio Symphony, featuring programs of classical, contemporary and pops is closely associated in genre with the Mid-Texas Symphony, which calls both Seguin and New Braunfels home, and the San Antonio Opera, all satisfying our need for the classics. Hispanic conjunto and the offerings of the Carver Cultural Center—jazz, gospel and African rhythms, to touring groups who perform at the Majestic Theatre, the AT&T Center, and the Verizon Amphitheater add to the excitement.

Dance ranges from Mexican folkloric ensembles at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center to the San Antonio Ballet Company.

Downtown literary buffs will find stimulation in Gemini Inc, a literary center offering weekly poetry readings and weekend classes. And the Southwest School of Art & Craft, housed on the campus of a former girls’ school, is both an exhibition space for local artists as well as a school where young and old(er) can take classes in a broad range of mediums.

Live theatre is offered at the Majestic and Charlene McCombs Empire Theatre, where traveling companies bring us Broadway shows each year. Local companies include the Steven Stoli Playhouse, San Pedro Playhouse, Sheldon Vexler Theatre, the Circle Arts Theatre in New Braunfels, and the Boerne Community Theatre. And original plays and performances are also staged at the Jump-Start Theater at the Blue Star Arts Complex south of downtown.

An eclectic array of private galleries and special exhibits are at the heart of San Antonio’s visual arts scene.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is a repository of painting, sculpture and photography from around the world. Its large collections are diverse, containing Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, Texas furniture and decorative arts.  Mexican folk art and Spanish colonial art from the 19th and 20th centuries and Chinese and Asian art round out the collection.

The McNay Art Museum, the first private museum incorporated in Texas, has an extensive collection of American and European artists of the last two centuries and its collection of contemporary paintings  is top drawer. In addition, the museum’s Tobin Gallery of Theatre Arts, including operatic and theatrical works of art, books, librettos, and maquettes of stage settings and costume drawings, is world-renowned.

The Witte Museum focuses on history and science, with occasional emphasis on photography and ancient art. Its H-E-B Treehouse, built on the back grounds, is full of hands-on participatory exhibits that delight the young.

And finally, the San Antonio and New Braunfels Children’s Museums are wonderful places for children who revel in a hands-on atmosphere.

So while mentioning some of the cultural highlights of living here, we’ve only briefly scraped the surface. The true worth of the arts and music here is best enjoyed first-hand, with no alternatives like the written word truly able to capture its magnificence.

Come experience it yourself.