Cheech Marin named LEAD XI honorary chair/padrino de honor

Richard Anthony Marin, better known as Cheech Marin, has been named the honorary chair/padrino de honor for the 2022 Latino Education & Advocacy Days LEAD Summit XI, set for Sept. 30 at Cal State San Bernardino, and online registration for the event is now open.

Each year the summit, which is open to the public and free to attend, brings together teaching professionals and educators, researchers, academics, scholars, administrators, independent writers and artists, policy and program specialists, students, parents, civic leaders, activists and advocates – all sharing a common interest and commitment to education issues that impact Latinos to help them define the future.

Registration for LEAD XI may be done online at the LEAD Summit XI website. LEAD Summit XI will take place from 8 a.m. to about 4 p.m. at the university’s Santos Manuel Student Union North.

The theme for the 11th annual summit is “Movimiento y Compromiso: 50 Years of Challenges, Possibilities, and the Quest for Educational Equity.” The summit programs will revisit and commemorate social movements from the last 50 years, including the birth of Chicano-ethnic studies, the school walkouts/blowouts, bilingual education and the Chicano Moratorium.

“Our audience/membership will be a perfect fit with all the efforts with the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry of the Riverside Art Museum, and this opportunity would serve to share the tremendous economic impact the Cheech Marin Center will have on the Inland Empire and how the museum in our region will elevate us in the art world,” said Enrique Murillo Jr., LEAD executive director and CSUSB professor of education.

Marin is probably best known as half of the comedic “irreverent, satirical, counter-culture no-holds-barred duo of Cheech and Chong,” as his website states. But he also is an actor, director, writer, musician, art collector and humanitarian.

Born in South Central Los Angeles, Marin met Tommy Chong in Vancouver, British Columbia. Once they moved back to Los Angeles, the duo rocketed into fame, with six of their albums going gold, four of them nominated for Grammys, with the album “Los Cochinos” awarded the 1973 Grammy for Best Comedy Recording. They also appeared in eight feature films.

Marin appeared his own work, written and directed by him, “Born in East L.A.” in 1987. He also appeared on TV, including the crime drama “Nash Bridges” with Don Johnson from 1996-2001, as well as the voice of several animated film characters, including Ramone in “Cars” and Banzai in “The Lion King.”

Off screen, Marin is known as a strong advocate for Chicano art, and began developing his collection in the mid-1980s, according to his website bio. “Much of it formed the core of his inaugural exhibition Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, which broke attendance records during its groundbreaking 15‐city tour during 2001‐2007 to major art museums across the United States,” the website says. “He states, ‘Chicano art is American art. My goal is to bring the term “Chicano” to the forefront of the art world.’”

The portions of his collection have toured more than 50 major art museums in the United States and Europe. In the Inland Empire, Marin has entered into a partnership with the city of Riverside and the Riverside Art Museum to create the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry (aka “The Cheech”), the museum’s website says. The “Cheech” opened to the public on June 18. Festivities leading up to the public opening included a Celebrando Chicano Art Gala the evening before at the Riverside Convention & Visitors Center, preceded by numerous years of planning and several major social, music and art fundraising events.