UT Tyler offers outstanding musical performance facilities for School of Performing Arts events, as well as regional, national, and international touring performances.

R. Don Cowan Fine & Performing Arts Center

The Cowan Center is the focal point for performing arts on campus, as well as in the City of Tyler and the Northeast Texas region. It houses the School of Performing Arts and includes state-of-the-art lecture and performance facilities, including Vaughn Auditorium, Braithwaite Recital Hall, classrooms, MIDI/piano lab, and practice spaces.


Jim and Bonna Bess Vaughn Auditorium comfortably seats 2,000 patrons in a warm acoustical environment. A full Broadway-sized stage includes a hydraulically-controlled orchestra pit floor which may be raised for concert use, or lowered for musical theatre productions.

David G. and Jacqueline M. Braithwaite Recital Hall is the premiere chamber music venue of the region, and regularly hosts solo recitals and small chamber performances. It seats 161 patrons in three sections, with ample accessible seating areas.

Center for the Musical Arts

The Center for the Musical Arts opened in Spring of 2016, and features new spaces for instrumental and choral rehearsal, as well as new faculty teaching studios. This state-of-the-art addition compliments one of the finest performing arts complexes in the region.