I’ll be honest. Of the traveling type, I’m a pretty lazy art culture traveler. Tell me about a bar or restaurant with the best taco al pastor or a great live band and I’m there. Mention a beach with a fish shack and legit piña coladas and I’ll be there before the sun comes up. But tell me about a museum or gallery or exhibit that I should check out and I’m probably flaking. Hey, we each have our style. Mine happens to be yummy booze drinks, delicious food and beaches with fish shacks. But, last week, a fellow expat friend put together a tour of PALCCO (Palacio de la Cultura y la Comunicación) and I decided to push myself. (After almost flaking like 656 times.)
One of the things we were most excited about with this move, the gobs of things to do in Guadalajara was at the top. And if someday I really want to call this home, I’d have to get to know this historical and cultural city in more ways than just taco restaurants (which at this point we’ve tried quite a few) and beer taps.
We met by the sculpture exhibit. Director de Artístico, Leonardo, showed us around (and let me add that nothing puts your fancy game on fleek like being taken around a palatial establishment by its director with an Italian accent). PALCCO, a private institution had been under construction for the last 5 years and finally opened in February 0f 2016. The architecture was directly inspired by Zaha Hadid known as the “Queen of the curve,” which is obvious why they called her that if you’re looking at PALCCO.
While there are a few sections to PALCCO, the main attraction are the 3 concert stages or theaters which provide an array of ways to enjoy music and performance:
E l T e a t r o M o n c a y o
used for ballets, symphonies, and opera as well as conferences, presentations, and lectures.
E l T e a t r o d e C a m a r a (or Chamber Theater)
where you can catch jazz concerts, soloists, or recitals. On Mondays, they host a Music Monday of sorts and sell botana (light snacks for my U.S. people and picadera to my Dominicans) AND WINE!
E l F o r o S i d r a l A g a
an open air amphitheater that holds up to 5000 spectators and was designed for concerts and bigger events.
But there’s more to PALCCO than concert stages. In continuing our tour, we checked out the dance and music school. They are “selective,” said Leonardo, “not in talent but in commitment. Your child doesn’t have to be an amazing musician – we could teach them that” but they do want kids that are passionate.
For more information on their music program, you can visit their website.
Lastly, we checked out the Museum of Radio and Television (MURTV). We started with a short presentation; from there, we wandered among a collection of about 400 pieces of radio and TV history: gramophones, phonographs, TVs, cameras, and radios of all sizes, colors, and decades.
I didn’t see any concerts or shows that day but I did see my laziness of art culture travel a little differently. There’s a Ballet of Mexico Folk Dance in November that I have my eyes on and a Christmas Festival in December that I’m sure I won’t miss. And if there is wine at Music Mondays, well, I might just be an art culture traveler yet.
P.S. When you move to Mexico and a must see in the Dominican Republic that I almost missed
