Culture of Texas



Due to its geographic location and settler past in the United States's history, 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. 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 and the Dakotas have experienced a "brain drain" as their university graduates move to Texas to find employment.

Annual events
There are many popular events held in Texas celebrating cultures of Texans. The annual 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 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 in  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 s on and an annual, music, and  festival known as. The longest-running concert music program on American television, , is videotaped on campus. Austin City Limits and run the, an annual music and art festival held at  in Austin.

Arts and theatre
Known for the vibrancy of its and, the &mdash;a 17-block area in the heart of &mdash;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.

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, the , the , and ). Houston is widely recognized as the nation's third most important city for contemporary.

Dallas and Fort Worth serve as epicenters of the North Texas region's art scene. (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, the , the , the , and the downtown. The of  is home to several arts venues. Notable venues in the district include the, the , , and the.

Also within Dallas is the notable district which originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime  and  hotspot in the. The name is thought to have originally derived from local tongues saying "Deep Elm", but that came out as "Deep Ellum". Artists such as, , Huddie "" Ledbetter, and played in original Deep Ellum clubs like The Harlem and The Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues. One major art infusion in the area is the city's lax stance on, thusly several public ways including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals.

Sports
Texas is known for its love of and is noted for the intensity with which people follow  and  teams&mdash;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. For example, the turf of the football field at cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Such facilities and programs can garner a school attention, however. Duncanville's largest basketball court, the Sandra Meadows Memorial Arena, was named in 2004 as one of the top ten places to watch basketball by . In May of 2005,  also named the high school's sports program as one of the top 25 in the nation.

is also very popular in Texas, with, with the and  are equally popular in the state, 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. is also closely followed.

Other popular sports in Texas include (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate),  (the state has three  teams, the, , and ), , and. , originally played by some of the indigenous tribes, is a visible sport and growing. is a popular participatory sport&mdash;especially among children&mdash;but as a, it does not yet have a large following despite two Texan teams in. has been a growing participatory sport in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the became the  in 1993. Minor league pro hockey has become quite popular in the last decade; Texas is home to eight of the 's seventeen teams. Texas is also home to the and  of the  and the  of the