Tarra Gaines

April is the perfect month to head outdoors and even underground for great art across Houston. The Orange Show brings days of moving art and one of the best parties of the year, as the Art Car Parade rolls into town. The Woodlands hold their own annual outdoor art festival, and the Buffalo Bayou Cistern begins its 10 year anniversary a little early with their next expansive installation. But if you prefer your art more indoors, the Menil, HMAAC, the Asia Society, and Sawyer Yards have vivid new shows to see.

The curtain might be coming down on Houston’s theater and performing arts 2025-2026 seasons, but before taking the final bow, they’ll give audiences laughs, thrills, earth-moving music, and some ultimate family dramas. This month offers world premieres from the Houston Ballet, Stages, and the Alley and a trip to New Orleans from Dirt Dogs. 4th Wall hams up Hamlet. Ensemble invites us to an awkward family dinner. TUTS makes some Beautiful music. Then the Ally closes May taking Stephen King fans on a wild ride.

May brings some of the biggest art shows and museum exhibitions of the year to town. Some fly in with patriotic fanfare, while others give us a rare opportunity to gaze at European masterworks. Whether someone is looking for irreverent performance art at the CAMH, wants to get in touch with whimsical spirits at Moody Art Center, buy art for a good cause at Silver Street, or get ready for the World Cup at Sawyer Yards, Houston artists, galleries, and museums have a show for all tastes.

For over two decades The Hobby Center has brought the best of Broadway to the banks of Buffalo Bayou, but at the “Raise the Curtain” gala the stars truly aligned for a million dollar night of glamour and surprises. Gala chairs Mady and Ken Kades, with honorary chair Margaret Alkek Williams, invited 240 supporters of the Hobby to take their places onstage and play featured roles in raising $815,000 for the Hobby Center’s education programs.

Musicals take the mic across Houston stages this June. From the tragic to the silly, everyone’s got a number, or dozen, to sing. Ironically, the one play exception is from the presenter Houstonians rely on to bring us the hottest Broadway musicals, Broadway at the Hobby Center, who instead gives us a Clue to solve a madcap summer mystery. We’re also highlighting some theatrical dance shows this month bringing us kinetic stories of love and life.

Summer brings art fun across Houston with lots of contemporary art exhibitions opening. Local artists put on a big show at several galleries this June, but the city also continues to live up to its reputation as a hotspot for international art with shows at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Ismaili Center. Houston gets ready for the World Cup with soccer art and for the United States’ big 250th birthday with art that tells an American story. If that’s not enough, Radio Tave welcomes a trans-dimensional summer art migration.

Houston theaters have some cool treats this month to sooth that summer heat. Lots of intimate cabaret and comic theater makes this month's must-see list, and many of these shows come with a full drinks menu. Broadway at Hobby invites Houstonians to the hottest party in town at the Moulin Rouge.

best july art MFAH celebrates America 250 and 7 more must-see art openings for July

August tends to bring darkened stages across Houston theaters as our favorite local companies prepare for the big fall season. But this month, Houstonians still have lots of summer theatrical shows and musicals opening.

As the summer sizzles on, Houstonians have the opportunity to contemplate some cool new art around the city. As some art institutions get ready for big fall blockbusters, this month's list highlights some intriguing gallery exhibitions and smaller shows that have popped up this month.