Although Texas has never been regarded as a leading cultural center, the arts have a long history in the state. The cities of Houston and Matagorda each had a theater before they had a church, and the state's first theater was active in Houston as early as 1838. Stark Young founded the Curtain Club acting group at the University of Texas in Austin in 1909 and the little-theater movement began in that city in 1921. The performing arts now flourish at Houston's Theater Center, Jones Hall of Performing Arts, and Alley Theater, as well as at Dallas's Theater Center, National Children's Theater, and Theater Three. The Margo Jones repertory company in Dallas has a national reputation, and there are major repertory groups in Houston and San Antonio. During the late 1970s, Texas also emerged as a center for motion picture production. The city pf Austin has since become the host for the Austin Film Festival and the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film festival.
Texas has 5 major symphony orchestras—the Dallas Symphony (performing in the Myerson Symphone Center since 1989), Houston Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Austin Symphony, and Ft. Worth Symphony—and 25 orchestras in other cities. The Houston Grand Opera performs at Jones Hall, and in 1999 received a National Endowment for the Arts Access grant to provide free outdoor performances and artist residencies. Other opera companies perform regularly in Beaumont, Dallas, El Paso, Ft. Worth, and San Antonio.
Several cities have resident dance companies, including Abilene, Amarillo, Denton, Galveston, Garland, Longview, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, and Pampa. The ballet groups in Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and Corpus Christi are notable.
Popular music in Texas stems from early Spanish and Mexican folk songs, Negro spirituals, cowboy ballads, and German-language songfests. Texans pioneered a kind of country and western music that is more outspoken and direct than Nashville's commercial product, and a colony of country-rock songwriters and musicians were active in the Austin area during the 1970s. Texans of Mexican ancestry have also fashioned a Latin-flavored music ("Tejano") that is as distinctly "Tex-Mex" as the state's famous chili.
There are a number of groups for writers and storytellers, including the Writers' League of Texas and the Tejas Storytelling Association. In 2000, the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (chartered in 1997) opened in Abilene. Besides sponsoring its own museum of illustrated works, the Center provides educational programs and exhibits for teachers and other display venues.
In 2003, the Texas Commission on the Arts and other Texas arts organizations received grants totaling $1,655,600 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Texas Council for the Humanities was established in 1965. In 2000, the National Endowment for the Humanities contributed $3,173,869 for 58 state programs. The state and private sources also provide funding to the Commission and other arts organizations. The state of Texas has over 2,000 arts associations.