The city's emphasis on history, art and culture, as well as the large Latino population in the area, and the proximity to five universities, were also appealing.

After receiving a $600,000 pledge from the Riverside-based Altura Credit Union, the campaign was able to meet its initial fundraising goal of three million dollars on May 29, 2018.

[5][6] Shortly after Altura's commitment, the State of California included in its budget an additional $9.7 million to assist with the development of the center, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the money needed for the renovations.

[3][8] The center, which Marin dubbed "The Cheech",[2] is housed in what was the main branch of the city of Riverside's library system, a 61,420 square feet (5,706 m2) facility located close to the historic The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa.

It underwent extensive renovation by the firm Page & Turnbull (in consultation with the cultural specialists wHY Architecture) to repurpose the library for its new role as an art museum and academic center.

In order to create a dramatic backdrop that frames this atrium, glass artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre were commissioned to make a large-scale (26 x 13-foot) permanent installation.

[3] The initial collection, donated or promised by Cheech Marin, consists of over 700 paintings, drawings, prints, mixed media, sculptures and photography assembled over the past 30 years.

Rubio's La Lechuza (2001) depicts the mythical owl woman that appeared to him, to warn him away from an area in which he was later almost killed by a drive-by shooter.

Gaspar Enriquez's Charolito, 2009, features a young woman who was discouraged from pursuing an artistic career because her mother destroyed her art, which she considered to be satanic.

George Yepes' La Pistola y el Corazón (2000) is a large reworking of his most famous painting (the original was destroyed in a fire.)

Eloy Torrez's It’s a Brown World After All [portrait of Cheech Marin] features Marin wearing a six pointed crown that the artist refers to as “a time machine that travels backwards in time, connecting the subject to his or her ancestral past.” Two small scale paintings by Ana Teresa Fernández, To Press I and To Press II, 2007, feature the artist engaging in a virtual tango with an ironing board, the light coming in from the window, and her photographer as part of a project that addresses virgin/whore and clean/dirty dichotomies.

The de la Torre brothers utilize many famous Mexican images, including the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Aztec Stone of the Sun (a.k.a.

This kinetic mixed-media, blown-glass installation features a monumental version of the Stone of the Sun (120 x 144 x 36 inches) as a ferris wheel that spews faux blood into a glass canoe that is situated beneath it.

"[15] Co-curated by Cecilia Fajardo Hill, with Marissa Del Toro and Gilbert Vicario, the exhibition was organized by the American Federation of Arts.

[15] On view June 17 – October 1, 2023 at the Altura Credit Union Community Gallery at The Cheech, this exhibition explored how seven Chicana/o and Mexican American artists utilized their personal histories in Southern California as sources of inspiration for their art.

Origenes/Origins was curated by Cosmé Cordova,[16] From October 14, 2023 – February 18, 2024, The Cheech presents Indigenous Futurism, with sculptures, paintings, works on paper, and videos "viewed through an indigenous lens by 18 all-femme artists who hail from all four directions in California: to the East, the Inland Empire; to the South, San Diego; to the West, Los Angeles; and to the North, the Bay Area.

The participating artists are: Abby Aceves | Ariana Arroyo | Adriana Carranza | Melanie Cervantes | Amparo Chi | Rosy Cortez | Emilia Cruz | Stephanie Godoy | Mariana Gómez | Mariah Green | Jeshua | Belen Ledezma | Andrea Ramirez | Lilia Ramirez | Denise Silva | Maritza Torres | Sarah Vazquez | Mer Young.

Silva explains the concept behind the exhibition, which "explores how the artists incorporate their ancient tools in their respective practices for our collective liberation.”[17] The term “indigenous futurism,” which is analogous to Afrofuturism, was coined by professor and author Grace Dillon, who is of Anishinaabe ancestry.

Dillon explains that it explores “how personally one is affected by colonization, discarding the emotional and psychological baggage carried from its impact, and recovering ancestral traditions.”[17] The exhibition is situated within the Altura Credit Union Community Gallery at The Cheech.

Hernández’s work was included in the first groundbreaking exhibition of Chicano art in Europe, Les Démons des Anges, where she was one of only three women featured."