Art & Culture

Drawn Come for the seaside and stay for the art, live entertainment and festivals.to BY LAWRENCE FERBER BEAUTY

If you include art and culture as part of your travel experience, you'll find that this small corner of the Baja California peninsula provides ample oportunities for artful pleasures, live entertainment and engaging activities.

Start in San José del Cabo where you’ll want to visit the charming and sophisticated Gallery District. Not only is the area home to countless galleries and artist studios, it also plays host to an incredibly popular weekly Art Walk, which takes place on Thursday evenings between November and June.

Here you’ll find spaces dedicated to work by some of the most important and trailblazing local artists, including sculptor Julian Garcia Forcelledo’s 22-year-old Arte Gallery and studio, and 14-year-old contemporary Galería Corsica. Keep an eye out for pieces by Javier Guadarrama, Victor Mora, Eduardo Mejorada and Spanish-born painter Enrique Bascon, who heads up his own gallery as well.

Gallerist Patricia Mendoza — whose namesake gallery spotlights a diverse range of contemporary creators and work, including conceptual, avant-garde, and cheeky paintings and sculpture —started offering an Art-to-Table experience that sees collaboration between Mexican artists and the area’s organic farms. For the event, chefs craft menus inspired by the artists and incorporate produce and meat from the local growers. These can be booked for groups directly with the gallery.

The district is also home to the San José del Cabo Jazz Weekend Concert Series, which takes place in the winter.

Keep an eye on the calendar at visitloscabos.travel/events for the latest updates on the jazz festivals, as well as concerts and other live events.

REEL TO REEL

The Los Cabos International Film Festival draws thousands of film aficionados and hundreds of film industry professionals. Directors Spike Lee, Terry Gilliam, Oliver Stone and Paul Schrader, and actors Nicole Kidman, Adam Driver, Monica Bellucci, Jared Leto, Jacob Tremblay and Octavia Spencer number among those who have presented work, received awards and taken part in events.

WHAT A SAINT

Not far from Los Cabos, Todos Santos is a bastion of art. One of three magical towns in the Baja California peninsula, it’s a Colonial city overlooking the Pacific Ocean that moves to a much slower rhythm. Park beside the picturesque, yellow church downtown, and set out to explore the galleries, restaurants and shopping available there.

The town is a joy in itself, with its cameraworthy pastel buildings and historic façades. Still, the standout feature is in the city’s galleries, most of which line the cobblestone streets surrounding the downtown district. Some are housed in weathered, single-story, brick buildings, while others, such as in-home galleries where the artists live and work, offer more intimate settings. On any given day, you can visit a dozen or more studios where you’re likely to meet the artists and hear a bit about their latest projects.