1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

The nation's oldest continual free summer music festival hosts Sunday-afternoon performances of symphony, opera, jazz, pop music, and dance. The amphitheater is in a beautiful eucalyptus grove, perfect for picnicking before the show. World-music favorites such as Ojos de Brujas, Seu Jorge, and Shuggie Otis get the massive crowds dancing. Shows generally start at 2 pm, but arrive hours earlier if you want to see the performances up close—and dress for cool weather, as the fog often rolls in.

Opera has been staged at the Central City Opera House, the nation's fifth-oldest opera house, almost every year since opening night in 1878. Lillian Gish has acted, Beverly Sills has sung, and many other greats have performed here. Performances are held in summer only.

Home to Los Angeles's first home of spoken drama, El Capitan Theatre carries on that tradition by way of film showings—specifically Disney films, having been acquired by the company in the 1980s. Watching movies in this classic movie palace, originally built in 1926, is an elevated experience, thanks to its special screenings and its elegant East Indian Revival interior. Having survived several transformations, it has been restored to almost exactly how it looked in 1926. It's also the grand venue for all Disney movie premieres during which movie fans can spot (and perhaps even meet) celebrities as they walk the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard. Guided tours are available Friday through Sunday.

Developed by Community Roots Housing, 12th Avenue Arts is designed to keep the arts in the neighborhood. It plays host to two theaters with rotating shows from various local troupes, including the excellent Strawberry Theatre Workshop and Washington Ensemble Theatre. The building itself also provides low-cost housing, office space for nonprofits, and holds a few restaurants.

This group produces delightful "semi-staged" concert performances of rare chestnuts from Broadway's golden age, such as Fiorello! and Anything Goes.

Feeling casual and eclectic? Hit Tucson's 4th Avenue Street Fair, held one weekend in March and one weekend in December, where you can buy handcrafted wares and hear local bands while munching on every kind of festival food imaginable.

Even if you don't plan on seeing anything here, this Asian fantasia is worth a peek—it's one of the most beautiful venues in the world. The 5th Avenue Theatre opened in 1926 as a silent-movie house and vaudeville stage, complete with a giant pipe organ and ushers who dressed as cowboys and pirates. Today it has its own theater company, which stages lavish productions October through May. At other times it hosts concerts, lectures, and films.

Founded in 1979 and in its current location since 1987, 7 Stages is known for an edgy attitude and exciting works. The adjacent bar and coffeehouse, Java Lords, serves up delicious brews and affordable drinks before and after shows.

Steps from the beach and adjacent to Pier Park, this outdoor amphitheater hosts everything from world-famous musicians to local community performances, as well as special events and festivals. The 70-acre park also features a veterans memorial and three trails.

Hillsboro Village was once a hub for live music, but it hasn't had a proper venue in some years. That changes with the addition of AB, an arts venue and event space that plays host to concerts, community gatherings, pop-ups and more. AB also hosts neighborhood-wide events, like 2023's first annual AB Block Party.

New in 2022, this 300,000-plus-square-foot entertainment and sports venue has an 11,000-person capacity; an adjoining community ice skating facility; and multiple bars, restaurants, and portable food carts including Pizza by Giada De Laurentiis and Shaq’s Big Chicken. In its inaugural year, it hosted concerts by the likes of Sting, Luis Miguel, Stevie Nicks, and Dierks Bentley, as well as Cirque du Soleil performances. It's also the home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, an American Hockey League team affiliated with the Seattle Kraken. Other events held here have included WWE matches, monster-truck rallies, and preseason NBA games.

This acclaimed theater group presents an eclectic selection of classic and cutting-edge productions in its 150-seat theater at King Plow Arts Center, a stylish artists' complex hailed by local critics as a showplace of industrial design.

The annual Adirondack Canoe Classic is a three-day, 90-mi canoe race held in early September. The 250 boats participating make their way from Old Forge through Blue Mountain Lake to the village of Saranac Lake, crossing several portages.

More than 100 hot-air balloons puff their stuff as they ascend in this annual four-day event held around the third weekend in September. There are usually two launches on Saturday and Sunday (one at sunrise and the other in the early evening), weather permitting. Smaller launches are held on Thursday and Friday.

The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts presents a wide variety of programs, from classical concerts to coffeehouse entertainment, films, plays, exhibits, and workshops. Galleries display regional and national artwork. Center hours change by the season.

Want to feel like a Hollywood insider? Look like a local and attend an event at this Santa Monica–based American Cinematheque theater, which first opened in 1940. The name refers to its roots: this Streamline Moderne-style theater was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company to entertain its armies of workers during the war effort. Newly renovated, it offers new projection equipment, improved sound, and cushier facilities. In addition to now-standard digital films, the theater is equipped to show 35mm and 70mm reels. American Cinematheque also hosts industry events like filmmaker discussions and revivals.

The largest of L.A.'s Center Theatre Group's three theaters, the 2,100-seat Ahmanson Theatre presents larger-scale classic revivals, dramas, musicals, and comedies like Into the Woods, which are either going to or coming from Broadway and the West End. The ambience is a theater lover's delight.

The original Drafthouse location in downtown Austin may have permanently closed, but the locally grown cult movie theater–turned–national chain still operates other locations around town that remain must-visits for movie lovers. A Drafthouse movie is always an experience, whether you pregame with some karaoke at the attached Highball bar and lounge or attend a themed sing-a-long screening in full costume with friends. Expect new releases, cult classics, and loads of seasonal and special event screenings, all paired with a full food and drink menu served in-theater.

Four theaters make up the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to nine resident performing arts companies—including Alaska Dance Theatre, Anchorage Opera, and the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. The center also showcases traveling production companies. The lobby box office sells tickets to the productions and is a good all-around source of cultural information. Take a look inside to learn more about upcoming events—which are understandably more bountiful in winter—or relax amid the blossoms in the adjacent flower-filled Town Square Park on a sunny afternoon.

The magic of this free, weeklong music festival is its inclusivity: every performer, regardless of his or her level of professionalism, is given 15 minutes on stage, with the exception of the featured guest artists, who play two one-hour sets. Held each April, Folk Fest draws singers, banjo masters, and fiddlers from all over the state and beyond. Past guest artists have included folk singer Nanci Griffith and western swing band Hot Club of Cowtown. Almost as fun as the festival itself is the after-hours bar scene that blossoms around it. Most local bars host performances and jam sessions; on the weekend the music continues into the wee hours.

Giant vegetables are big attractions at Palmer's Alaska State Fair. Shop for Alaskan-made gifts and crafts, and whoop it up with midway rides, livestock and 4-H shows, bake-offs, home-preserved produce contests, food, and live music. The fair runs for 12 to 14 days, starting in late August and ending on Labor Day.

The historic Alberta Bair Theater, which underwent a major renovation in 2020, presents music, theater, dance, and other cultural events. It's the home of the Billings Symphony Orchestra. 

Albuquerque Little Theatre is a nonprofit community troupe that's been going strong since 1930. Its staff of professionals teams up with local volunteer talent to produce comedies, dramas, musicals, and mysteries that range from Amadeus to The Odd Couple and Singin' in the Rain. The company theater, across the street from Old Town, was built in 1936, and though its facade has been redesigned in recent years, there are still many clues that the original design was by John Gaw Meem. It contains an art gallery, a large lobby, and a cocktail lounge.

Home to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ( www.chambermusicsociety.org) since it opened in 1969, Alice Tully Hall has top-notch acoustics. A three-story glass lobby with a bar and café greets patrons, before they settle in for a performance inside the warm, even intimate 1,086-seat Starr Theater.

Allentown Arts Festival, a nationally acclaimed fine-arts–and–crafts show, brings nearly 500 exhibitors, food vendors, live music, and outstanding people-watching to the Allentown district for two days in mid-June.

Houston's resident professional theater company is set in a fortress-like low-lying structure.

Atlanta's Tony Award–winning professional theater presents everything from Shakespeare to the latest Broadway and off-Broadway hits.

Hawaii's "wearable arts" are showcased at this unique festival held every September at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa. From vintage displays of all kinds, to fashion runway shows (tickets required) and pop-up vendors and exhibits, this fun event also includes a few paid workshops, a lei contest, live entertainment, and even a special festival rate for the Feast & Fire Luau.

A local community theater group stages musicals and plays at this charming 1930s-vintage theater in Kainaliu. The theater also hosts concerts and film festivals.