1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

Some of the world's finest classical and jazz performers can be heard at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts during its summer concert season, June through August. Music is also offered year-round in the house museum, which contains an extraordinary collection of Renaissance and Asian art. Enjoy afternoon tea from May through October on Thursday and Friday.

The Caribbean and Latin America know how to celebrate the annual carnival in style, so it's only natural their tropical stepsister does, too! Each year, Miami's pre-Lentan celebrations in February and/or March climax during Carnaval Miami. One of the main celebrations is held every year on Calle 8. The wild and fun street festival in the heart of Little Havana is the last blowout before Lent begins. This Sunday street party attracts over a million people, who dance in the streets and enjoy more than two dozen stages of DJs and live music.

What opened in 1927 as a vaudeville theater has matured and diversified into a performing arts center that showcases dance, music, films, and plays. The interior, with its gilded classical-style ornamentation and marble statues, is its own attraction.

Dating from 1926, this Beaux Arts space hosts classical, jazz, and rock concerts, as well as film events and international film festivals. Check online for a full calendar of indie, retro, and all-around interesting films and live performances.

This restored 1928 motion-picture palace is now a performing-arts center that mounts opera, traveling shows, symphonic music, and ballet. It's the cornerstone of the Center Stage Performing Arts Complex, which also boasts the intimate Rhythm Hall for local performers, as well as the Gottwald Playhouse, and a visual arts space called the Showcase Gallery.

In 1990, the vivacious Carrie Haddad opened Hudson's first art gallery and put the city on the art world's map. She holds eight large exhibits a year focusing on contemporary work from local artists.

Talk about aging in place. The comedian who once brought youth appeal to Las Vegas comedy turned 60 while performing in the Luxor theater he's anchored since 2005. The Florida native known offstage as Scott Thompson still is most unique when wielding his visual gags, and he sells his trunks full of props with a manic energy, a tourist's street-level view of Vegas, and a running commentary on the act itself, perhaps a sly nod to his eternal lack of respect.

At this 1,000-seat auditorium, live music is performed on Saturday night; a two-day festival is held each August. A museum in an adjacent building displays memorabilia from the Carter Family; descendants often perform in the shows.

This community treasure is the cultural heart of the city's east side. Year-round performances, classes, and programming focus on their mission to celebrate the world's diverse cultures, with emphasis on African and African American heritage. Acts that have graced the stage at the Jo Long Theatre for the Performing Arts include top names in modern dance, ballet, music, poetry, and theater. The Carver Gallery, in the theater lobby, presents visual artists in free exhibitions that change every few months. The building complex itself has a storied past, with the Little Carver venue housed in what was once a beloved neighborhood church and the Jo Long Theatre lobby once a city library designated only for Black residents when segregation kept them out of other city library branches.

A theater-in-the-round under one of Buckminster Fuller's first geodesic domes, Casa Manana is the site of the performing-arts organization's mainstage productions, as well as its popular Children's Playhouse series.

Celebrate Brooklyn! is one of the city’s most popular free outdoor performing arts festivals, and the place to catch excellent live music in the great Brooklyn outdoors. The artists and ensembles reflect the borough’s diversity, ranging from internationally acclaimed performers to up-and-coming musicians. The lineup also includes kids' shows, movies with live music, ballet, and more. Performances are rain or shine and free (suggested donation of $5)—with the exception of ticketed benefit concerts, which directly support the festival. There are usually about 2,000 chairs, but many people think the best seats are on the lawn, so come early and bring a blanket. Local restaurants set up food and drink stands.

This 2,600-seat theater-in-the-round hosts concerts and other live performances.

Dance, music, musical theater, and other performances take place at the University of Arizona's Centennial Hall. The Arizona Arts Live and Broadway in Tucson series are held here during the academic year (September through May).

This contemporary glass-faced gallery near Washington Square hosts lively discussions (which might be accompanied by films or other visuals) on topics like modernist architecture in Africa or Communist-era architecture in Prague.

A large red barn about 3½ miles east of the village center houses the busy Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck. The ongoing series of Saturday children's shows is popular.

Jackson's $35 million center is dedicated to supporting the fine and performing arts, including theater, film, and dance. It also hosts lectures on global issues, rotating exhibits, and showcases of star talent from Hollywood to Broadway. Classes for adults are included in the center's mission.

Under the dynamic leadership of Kwame Kwei-Armah, Center Stage presents a diversity of works by contemporary and classic playwrights, ranging from Christopher Durang to Shakespeare.

This venue hosts plays, music, dance, and readings.

Forget about 40-ounce Cokes and popcorn with neon-yellow butter—Central Cinema makes movie night a more elegant experience. The first few rows of this charming, friendly, little theater consist of diner-style booths; place your order for pizzas, salads, and snacks (including popcorn with inventive toppings like curry or brewer's yeast), and servers will deliver your food unobtrusively during the first few minutes of the movie. Wash it down with a normal-size soda, a cup of coffee, or better yet a cocktail or a glass of wine or beer. The theater shows a great mix of favorites and local indie and experimental films.

Consisting of four ensembles, this group has been around for decades and performs at the Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre ( 901 S. Beretania St., Honolulu), the Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College ( 45-720 Keaahala Rd., Kaneohe), the University of Hawaii's West Oahu Library ( 1001 Farrington Hwy., Kapolei), and other locations around Oahu. The season runs from fall through spring.

Some of the most sought-after soloists, chamber musicians, and recording artists from the Portland area and abroad perform here during the five-week summer concert series; performances take place at four different venues, primarily Reed College's Kaul Auditorium and the Lincoln Performance Hall at Portland State University.

Directed by David Hayes, this prestigious group performs chamber music from September to May at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

This is the premier live-music venue in the region. Bookings span all musical styles and include up-and-coming local bands as well as popular, internationally known performers.

The schedule here includes some of the nation's most popular touring performances for families and children.

Designed in 1892, the building that houses the Charles Theater has lived several lives: first, as a barn for cable cars, then a power house, a library for the blind, a ballroom, and now, a cinema. It's Baltimore's preeminent venue for first-run, foreign, and art films. Every week a classic film is featured on one of its five screens.

Toasting emerging designers and models with runway shows, competitions, and exhibitions, the main events at this five-night festival in March are held beneath tents in Marion Square. Smaller shows are hosted by downtown boutiques. The festival has helped several designers launch their fashion careers. But perhaps even more impressive than the festival are the tony after-parties.

This city-owned grand performance hall hosts symphony, theater, and ballet companies, as well as concerts by renowned musicians and numerous events during Spoleto Festival USA.

With a season that runs from late September through April, this nationally renowned symphony hosts full-scale masterworks performances, chamber ensembles, a pops series, family-oriented events, and holiday concerts at the Gaillard Center.

Chatham's summer town-band concerts—a tradition that began in the 1940s—begin at 8 pm on Friday from late June--August and draw thousands of onlookers. As many as 500 fox-trot on the roped-off dance floor, and there are special dances for children and sing-alongs for all.