Tag Archives: Museums and Cultural Affairs Department

The Museums and Cultural Affairs Department encourages residents to spend part of the summer at the Downtown Art and Farmers Market with a variety of free, engaging activities starting July 7.

“Since its beginning, the Downtown Art and Farmers Market has become a gathering place within Union Plaza, and offering special activities like the teaching artist booth and cooking demonstrations, helps foster the vibrant, family friendly atmosphere we have created,” said Downtown Art and Farmers Market Coordinator Lucero Duran.

The teaching artist booths offer free arts and craft activities through August 25. Visitors can work with local teaching artists to create different projects every Saturday.

On July 7 and August 4 visitors can discover new ways to cook fresh produce available at the Market at one of the cooking demos offered by local chefs.

In addition, there are yoga classes at 10 a.m. every first Saturday starting July 7.

The Market opened in 2011 as the Downtown Artist Market; in 2013, it grew into the Downtown Art and Farmers Market with the addition of local growers providing seasonal produce. It serves as a small business incubator for local artisans, growers and cottage industry operators.

The Downtown Art & Farmers Market, located at the Union Plaza District on San Antonio and Anthony streets, takes place every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information on the Market including vendor opportunities, click here.

The City of El Paso Public Art Program of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) and Representative Henry Rivera, District 7, dedicated the newest public art project, Wagon Sprouts, at Travis White Park.

MCAD worked closely with the members of the community to design, fabricate and install a site-specific artwork at Travis White Park, 1700 Wedgewood.

The sculpture is located on the hill across from the playground area, clearly visible from the road and will be gently illuminated at night.

Wagon Sprouts is artist Christopher Fennell’s interpretation of Jack and the Beanstalk. The 24’ tall bean sprouts are constructed out of steel pipe and repurposed little red wagons.

The three sprouting beans create a gathering point where viewers can look up at the sprout leaves.

The art piece was created using funding from the City of El Paso’s Public Art Program. For ten years, the city has dedicated two percent of every capital project to site-specific public art. More than 50 public art projects have been completed since the program was started.

The City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD), in collaboration with El Paso Live, a division of Destination El Paso, invites the public to the final concert of Music Under the Stars as it closes out the 34^th season on Sunday, July 23, with Mariachi Los Arrieros at Noche Ranchera.

Noche Ranchera, a long-time staple of Music Under the Stars, is the most anticipated night of the season.

Los Arrieros was originally established to display the young local mariachis in El Paso and create a professional group that could travel, play concerts and represent El Paso throughout the world.

The group has shared the stage with internationally known artists including Vicente Fernandez, Lucero, Marco Antonio Solis, Pepe Aguilar

For information on GECU presents Music Under the Stars, including schedule changes due to weather, follow Music Under the Stars on Facebook.

The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Chamizal National Memorial.

The El Paso Museum of History invites the public to explore how images transformed the modern civil rights movement with the opening of the exhibit For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights on January 28.

The museum will host an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 28. The media is invited to preview the exhibition at 10 a.m., Thursday, January 28 at the El Paso Museum of History, 501 Santa Fe.

The touring exhibition will be on display at the museum through March 16. Through a compelling assortment of photographs, television clips, art posters, and historic artifacts, the exhibition traces how images and media disseminated to the American public transformed the modern civil rights movement and jolted Americans, both black and white, out of a state of denial or complacency.

“Exhibitions like this are important for us to be able to more fully tell the story of all the communities that have helped shape El Paso and by extension American history,” said Ben Fyffe, Assistant Director for the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department and Interim Director for the El Paso Museum of History.

Fyffe added, “I was particularly excited that the exhibition focuses on visual culture—images that our part of our everyday landscape generated by advertising, television, media and popular culture that more and more have a critical role in shaping our perceptions and understanding of people and the world around us.”

The El Paso Museum of History is planning several events in conjunction with this exhibit. These include lectures, family crafts and discussions. Additionally, the museum will be showing “Freedom Summer” and “The Loving Story” as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities Created Equal Grant.

This exhibition has been made possible through NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has been adapted and is being toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance.

For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Right was organized by The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore Country, in partnership with the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.

For more information and a complete schedule of events visit the El Paso Museum of History at https://history.elpasotexas.gov