Casa de la Cultura Tijuana turns 49 with a free big band concert on its front steps Thursday

Tijuana’s Casa de la Cultura, in Colonia Altamira, celebrates its 49th anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 15, with a free concert on its emblematic front staircase at 6 p.m., the city government announced on Oct. 13. Tiko’s Big Band, the resident ensemble directed by Gustavo Valdez, will play with guest singers, according to Uniradio Informa and Tijuana Última Hora.

Admission is free, but the city is using the night to raise money for the building’s rehabilitation and equipment and for its arts programs, and it is inviting the public to chip in. Culture Secretary Yadira Esther Gutiérrez Ávila said the celebration recognizes the Casa’s long run as one of the city’s most representative cultural spaces.

The building opened in 1930 as the Escuela Secundaria y Superior Álvaro Obregón and was declared part of Baja California’s cultural heritage in 2014. Its upkeep has been a public debate: in September 2025, Zeta reported that the state heritage council had approved removing a damaged ornamental piece over one of the main entrances after a civil protection inspection flagged it as a risk, and a city culture official said the building had gone about 15 years without professional restoration work.

If you go

• When: Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. Free.
• Where: the staircase of the Casa de la Cultura Tijuana, Calle Lisboa 5 at Avenida París, Colonia Altamira (address per Fever’s venue page).
• Same night: Festival de Octubre’s Las familias de la orquesta at CEART at 5 p.m., and Kany García at El Trompo’s Audiorama at 9 p.m.

More free shows are on our calendar.