ShareThisDALLAS - The Dallas Arts District is a Texas-size getaway neatly packaged in a colorful box. Museums and performance venues squeeze into a 19-block area, making it easy to walk or drive from one attraction to the next. Grand theaters, luxury hotels, eclectic shops and premier restaurants enhance the visitor experience.
Never weather-dependent, a visit focused on museums and performances suits travelers searching for culturally enriching entertainment, whether hearing the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, feeling the emotion of modern dance or contemplating the beauty of Asian art.
The sparkling diamonds dangling on patrons at the Winspear Opera House can't compete with the architectural jewels shimmering across the 68-acre Dallas Arts District. The building is the ruby-red glamour girl of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, designed by the firm of Foster and Partners under Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster. The center hosts more than 500 performances and events annually (http://www.attpac.org/).
Nearby, the Meyerson Symphony Center credits its curvilinear form to architect I.M. Pei. The 89 musicians of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra perform classical concerts, plus a pops-music series (DallasSymphony.com). The city's oldest continuously operating dance company, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, electrifies the silvery Wyly Theatre (dbdt.com).
As with everything else in Dallas, the museums were built to impress. They do it with their world-renown collections. At the Dallas Museum of Art, more than 600,000 visitors a year view traveling exhibitions and prized pieces from its own collection of 23,000 works of art from around the world. The exhibition "Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement" is scheduled to be on view Feb. 13 through May 8 (DallasMuseumofArt.org).
Around the corner, the museum housing the Crow Collection of Asian Art offers a more intimate experience. Four light-filled galleries display jade treasures, scrolls, ceramics, silk screens and art objects from China, Japan, India, Tibet, Nepal and Southeast Asia. The exhibition "Fabled Journeys in Asian Art: South and Southeast Asia" is on view through Jan. 8, 2012 (CrowCollection.org).
In a museum designed by architect Renzo Piano, the Nasher Sculpture Center has many boldface names: Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse, Willem de Kooning, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and David Smith. The exhibition "Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy" is on view through March 6 (http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/).
When your feet say "enough!," return to your hotel for a glass of wine and a meal. The Sheraton Dallas, just a half-block from the Dallas Arts District, continues your cultural immersion with its aesthetically pleasing restaurants, lobbies and guest rooms. The award-winning culinary team dazzles with flavorful entrees presented like works of art (sheratondallashotel.com).
Once you have re-energized, you can sally forth to shop. The pedestrian-friendly heart of the city boasts the flagship Neiman Marcus, a department store synonymous with high-end shopping. Discriminating buyers will find exquisite merchandise at the museum boutiques sprinkled throughout the Dallas Arts District. The Lotus Shop at the Crow Collection galleries sells jewelry and accessories that reflect the influence of Asian culture on artists, craftsmen and designers.
The Dallas Arts District rubs shoulders with the West End Historic District. Here the Dallas World Aquarium gives glimpses of ocean and river inhabitants. Restaurants, shops and nightclubs occupy a 100-year-old redbrick retail district. Of course, visits to Texas must include a stop at a Western-wear emporium. Wild Bill's Western Store sells to presidents and cowhands, and most certainly has a hat and pair of leather boots to fit you (www.wildbillswestern.com).
Nearby attractions are the Dallas Holocaust Museum and Center for Education and Tolerance, Old Red Museum of Dallas County History and Culture, and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, a landmark chronicling the life and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.
(Linda Lange is a freelance travel writer living in Knoxville, Tenn.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
