The Cheech Marin Museum Economic Impact Study

Project Overview

An Arts Institution Built on Cultural Tourism

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture (commonly known as "The Cheech") is a Riverside, California museum dedicated to Chicano art, anchored by the personal collection of comedian and art collector Cheech Marin. Since opening, the museum has become a destination for cultural tourism in the Inland Empire, drawing visitors from across Southern California and beyond.

The economic impact study evaluated three distinct streams of activity attributable to the institution: capital construction spending during the build-out, ongoing operational spending by the museum, and visitor expenditure on lodging, dining, transportation, and retail in the Riverside area. The combined annual impact was found to be approximately $29 million in economic output for the City of Riverside and the surrounding region.

Methodology

Each of the three impact streams was modeled separately using IMPLAN with multipliers calibrated to the Riverside metropolitan area:

• Capital construction. One-time spending on the build-out of the museum facility, including general contracting, specialty trades, materials, and professional services.
• Operations. Annual recurring spending on museum staff, exhibitions, education programs, conservation, marketing, and administration.
• Visitor spending. Off-site expenditures by museum visitors, with attention to the share of visitors traveling from outside the Inland Empire (representing net new spending) versus local visitors (substitutional spending).

For visitor spending, attendance figures were combined with average spending profiles drawn from regional tourism data and museum-specific visitor research. Out-of-region visitors received the full impact treatment, while local visitor spending was discounted to reflect substitution effects.

Why Cultural Tourism Studies Matter

Arts and cultural institutions are often valued only for their direct programming, with their broader economic role left unmeasured. But museums are also magnets for visitor spending, which flows to hotels, restaurants, parking facilities, and retail businesses across the host city. A rigorous economic impact study captures this fuller picture and gives city officials, donors, and the museum's board the data they need to support continued investment in cultural infrastructure.

For The Cheech, the study supports the City of Riverside's tourism marketing, the museum's fundraising efforts, and broader cultural-economy advocacy in Southern California. The results have been featured in local press coverage of the museum's growing role as a cultural anchor for the Inland Empire.

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