RIVERSIDE, CA (April 1, 2022)—Chicano roots-rockers Los Lobos will headline a benefit concert on May 7 for the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, known as “The Cheech,” in downtown Riverside, the City of Arts & Innovation. The show, presented by Hot 103.9 and Katy 101.3, celebrates the approaching grand opening of The Cheech on June 18, 2022.
The benefit concert begins at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, 3485 Mission Inn Avenue, a few doors down from The Cheech. East LA rock band Quetzal will be the opening act, and Marin himself will be making a special appearance. Tickets start at $32 and are now on sale through Live Nation with all proceeds going to The Cheech.
The Cheech is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside.
When it opens on Saturday, June 18, The Cheech is expected to be the nation’s premier center for Chicano art and culture, welcoming more than 100,000 guests annually to explore exhibitions and engage in educational opportunities. The center will house nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures gifted from renowned comedian, philanthropist, and Chicano art collector Cheech Marin.
“We are going to make Riverside the center of Chicano art in the world,” Marin said. “And we’re going to bring the world to Riverside. Who better to celebrate this with than the best Chicano band in the world, Los Lobos?”
Over the last five decades, the East L.A.-bred band Los Lobos has made an indelible mark on music history by exploring an enormous diversity of genres—rock-and-roll and R&B, surf music and soul, mariachi and música norteña, punk rock and country—and building a boldly unpredictable sound all their own. The band released their most recent album, Native Sons, in July 2021.
Chicano art has roots in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, visually representing the social justice efforts of that time, and incorporating imagery from colonial folk art, religious iconography, indigenous traditions, graffiti art, and the melding of cultures along the US/Mexico border.
The 61,420-square-foot center, which used to be a midcentury public library, will house the work of artists such as Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez. A portion of this collection will be exhibited and toured at venues across the nation and throughout the world.
