Nicknamed The Cheech, a new center focused on Mexican-American art and culture is set to open this fall in Riverside, California.

A significant portion of actor and comedian Cheech Marin's 700-piece collection will always be exhibited at the center. Marin has developed the finest private collection of Chicano art in the United States. Much of it formed the core of his blockbuster exhibition, Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, which broke attendance records during its groundbreaking 12-city tour during 2001 – 2007 to major art museums across the U.S. 

Funds were appoved by the City Council in January. The Riverside Art Museum will oversee the administration and programming of The Cheech.

Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry at the Riverside Art Museum will, Marin says, be a “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."

The center's 61,420-square-foot facility, which was originally opened to the public as the Riverside Public Library in 1964, is an adaptive reuse of the mid-century building.