About The Cheech Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum

WHAT

  • The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture will be the world-wide home for Chicano art and culture in Riverside
  • It will be, as Cheech says, the “center of Chicano art, not only painting, but sculpture, photography, and video arts.”
  • The Cheech will explore Chicano culture from the barrio to the Bay, cholos to Cesar Chavez, pre-Columbian to modern murals.
  • Cheech describes Chicano art as follows: “The strict definition is Mexican-American artists, born in this country, who grew up with Uncle Sam and Cheerios and were influenced by historical Mexican artists, plus whatever was happening in American Pop.”
  • It will be the home for the premier collection of Chicano art in the world; a significant portion of his large collection will always be exhibited and can continue to be toured at venues across the nation and throughout the world!
  • The center will be housed next door to the historic Mission Inn in a 61,420-square-foot facility, which was originally opened to the public as the Riverside Public Library in 1964. The Cheech is a perfect adaptive reuse of this mid-century building and the historic and vintage aspects will be preserved in its transformation from a library to a museum and cultural center.
  • It will be a catalyst for the grassroots Riverside arts scene that encourages emerging Latino artists throughout the Inland Empire.

WHO

  • Cheech project is a public-private partnership; it is *not* solely a city project; in fact, the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) – a 501c3 nonprofit organization (not affiliated with the city) – is administering and programming the center;
  • The city is providing the old main library; The Cheech fundraising campaign is funding the renovation of the building through donations and other gifts; the campaign sponsor is the Riverside Art Museum
  • Cheech Marin is donating his collection to the Center
  • Page & Turnbull, a world-renowned architectural firm that has worked on cutting-edge projects all over California, has been chosen to provide architectural services for the new Cheech Marin Center of Chicano Art & Culture in downtown Riverside. Page & Turnbull has included a group of consultants on its team, including the architectural firm wHY.
  • Students and faculty from our 5 local colleges and universities will research and learn about the finest private collection of Chicano art in the U.S.

For more information please visit https://thecheechcenter.org/