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Houston's commitment to the arts is undeniable. The city ranks among the top cities in the nation in the amount of money devoted to the arts, and it is home to a wide spectrum of fine and contemporary art museums, as well as critically acclaimed galleries. More than 200 nonprofit arts organizations help preserve and promote Houston's cultural, ethnic, and creative diversity. Most of them have something interesting on display, from paintings to historic archives to prehistoric animal bones to objets d'art. Here is a small sample:
American Cowboy Museum, 713-433-4441. Dedicated to the preservation and understanding of the multicultural western heritage, the American Cowboy Museum is located on a ranch south of town. Featuring a multitude of hands-on activities, the museum chronicles the development and culture of the wild west. At the ranch, participants can experience a hayride, ride horses, feed livestock, and take a nature walk.
Art Car Museum, 713-861-5526. Art and autos collide at this interesting and eclectic museum located at 140 Heights Boulevard. On a rotating basis the museum houses several highly individualized, themed, and ostentatious (but fun) cars and bicycles. Much time, effort, and love have gone into the creation of the shark car, the leopard car, the camera car, and others. Can't get enough? Go watch the Art Car Parade, April 15ó17.
Contemporary Arts Museum, 713-284-8250. Chartered in 1948 and today one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the United States, this is the only major museum in Texas dedicated entirely to the presentation and interpretation of regional, national, and international contemporary art. Rather than focus on maintaining a collection, the museum directs its energies to finding and exhibiting art made in and of our own time. A vigorous schedule of innovative programmed exhibitions consistently brings national and international attention.
Holocaust Museum Houston, Education Center and Memorial, 713-942-8000. Opened in March 1996, the Holocaust Museum Houston offers visitors a somber yet intensely moving experience. The permanent exhibit "Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers" takes visitors through the origins of Judaism and life before the Holocaust to the rise of the Nazi party to postwar desolation and the aftermath. Don't miss the changing exhibit gallery, which features art, photography, and artifacts on specific aspects of the Holocaust and related topics that promote tolerance and understanding. "Echoes of Childhood," a combination of three diverse exhibits that present the lost innocence of disrupted childhood, January 13--April 4.
Houston Children's Museum, 713-522-1138. Opened in 1993, this museum encompasses 44,000 square feet and features nine different galleries. A range of hands-on interdisciplinary exhibits and activities entice children while educating them, incorporating history, science, and culture.
Houston Museum of Natural Science, 713-639-4600. Founded in 1909, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the most highly attended museum in Texas, with more than two million visitors annually. A major science learning center, the museum features more than a dozen permanent exhibitions on such subjects as astronomy, space science, Native Americans, paleontology, energy, gems and minerals, seashells, Texas wildlife, and African wildlife. The museum's Discovery Place is filled with interactive and hands-on exhibits. Make reservations to experience the Cockrell Butterfly Center (complete with a towering rain forest, native plants, its own ecosystem, and hundreds of species of butterflies), the Wortham Imax Theatre, and the Burke Baker Planetarium. The freshly renovated planetarium (713-639-4629) presents an interactive space journey with Sky Vision, the new high-resolution video technology that hurls viewers through space at 150 megabytes per second. All projected images are controlled by computers, allowing the operators to make every show a unique performance.
Houston Zoo, 713-523-5888. A sanctuary for animals and their admirers, the zoo in Hermann Park features everything from elephants to an aquarium full of fish. In the Tropical Bird House, visitors can walk through a rainforest complete with free-flying birds. The new carnivore section will feature sun bears, the smallest of the eight bear species in the world (the zoo has acquired a pair to help save this vanishing species). One of the most intriguing programs is Twilight Prowls, which gives visitors the opportunity to see the zoo after the crowds go home.
The Menil Collection, 713-525-9404. Opened in 1987, the internationally acclaimed Menil Collection features the extraordinary art collection of John and Dominique de Menil. Considered one of the most important privately assembled collections of the twentieth century, it features antiquities, Byzantine and medieval art, art of tribal cultures, and twentieth-century paintings.
Museum of Fine Arts, 713-639-7300. In the Museum District near Rice University, this Houston mainstay features a permanent collection, a couple of major national touring exhibits each year, and a photographic exhibit almost year-round. If you get a chance, take in one of the films in the museum's film series.
Museum of Health and Medical Science, 713-942-7054. Take a tour of the human body from the inside at this fascinating museum that stimulates health awareness and wellness. The Amazing Body pavilion includes giant models of human organs and dozens of hands-on exhibits and interactive stations that explore how each system of the body works and how to stay healthy.