Pattaya has been center of culture and arts for quite a while. I recall it was late 1980's I came here for first time, and already then there was a lot of cultural shows and acts and different artistry visible, mostly focusing on dance performances on stage. Predominantly female performers I recall.

 

Areas of cultural shows have since expanded,, which I think is normal in places where culture is so unseparable from local life. I recall cultural activies were mostly in WS and around soi 13s where most of artist shows happened. Now spread to Buakhao and even Jomtien, so for sure Pattaya deserves to be called a hub.

 

Gender balance also broadened, though only a bit. Modern approach to sexual orientation choise broadly accepted, including all shades of grey between the extreme genders joining the culture activities.

 

Graphical and sculpture artistry seems to be more and more extravagant also, esp on skins/bodies of performing artists. Graphics used to be fairly small scale black-white art before, now quite large size and multicolor. Sculpture was fairly uncommon, now sculptural work visible everywhere, mostly using modern silicon and other chemical materials, not bronze or clay like in some other places.

 

In terms of the core Thai cultural shows that include objects like fruits, pingpong balls and bottles, progress since 80's seems less - which often is the case with areas of art with long history and deep rooting in local culture, progress just slows down and things start to look like ancient culture. Thus, we have combination of ancient show culture and more progressive too.

 

Now just call it hub (like they do for everything these days) instead of center,!