Stirling Dickinson is without doubt the person most responsible for San Miguel de Allende becoming an international art center," says John Virtue, author of Model American Abroad, a biography of Dickinson. Although only an amateur painter himself, Dickinson became co-founder and director of the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes, an art institute that he opened in a former convent only a few months after his arrival.
Much of the most obvious culture seen on the streets of the town relates to foreign residents and visitors. The town contains vegan organic cafes, boutiques, art galleries, upscale restaurants and hotels, and a wide variety of bars and nightclubs. Bars and nightclubs range from DJs or loud bands catering to young people, to jazz clubs, sports bars and even those that specialize in traditional Mexican music such as mariachi. Some are owned by foreigners and reflect that ownership, for example the Berlin Bar and Caf�. Shops around the Jardin Principal sell art, handcrafts, furniture and decorative items. The Fabrica La Aurora is an old textile mill that has been converted into galleries and shops selling art, furnishings and antiques; it has a lot of open space along with a caf� and restaurant. San Miguel has several schools for learning Spanish, most catering to foreign visitors. These include the Instituto Allende (with credits transferable to U.S. or Canadian colleges), Language Point and Warren Hardy Spanish. Some universities such as the University of Texas-Pan American offer study abroad programs in the city, not only in Spanish but also in arts and literature, and creative writing. So much of what is offered is not traditionally Mexican, leading some to complaining about the town's "Disneyfication".
Festivals
Many of the festivals here are purely Mexican, combining social activity with religious expression. Throughout the year there are pilgrimages, all-night vigils, ringing church bells, processions and
