‘Cheech’ Marin to receive lifetime achievement award in San Jose

 Cheech Marin will be in San Jose later this month to receive a community award for his lifetime achievements as an actor, activist, and Chicano art supporter.

Marin, who is most known for his role in the comedy “Cheech & Chong” during the 70s and 80s, will be presented the Latino Leadership Alliance’s lifetime achievement “Ollin Award.” The award derives from MesoAmerican Indigenous cultures (Ollin meaning ” movement” in the Aztec’s Nahuatl language) and is associated with being a great leader who possesses wisdom, long life, good advice, and mental balance.

The actor is set to open “The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Arts & Culture,” which is being called the world’s largest Chicano art collection later this summer in Riverside, California where more than 700 pieces of Chicano Art will be housed.

“After collectively surviving the last two years of a pandemic,  we are celebrating our arts leaders who create, curate, and celebrate the beauty of our communities daily – many of whom are still struggling to recover,” said Mayra Flores, LLA Co-Chair. “Cheech’s efforts to not only support but center and uplift Chicano art through his museum serves as a leadership example we want to honor.”

The Ollin Award has been presented to five of California’s most influential Latino leaders, including the State’s first Latino Senator Alex Padilla (2021, former Santa Clara County Supervisor and the first Latina San Jose City Council member and Vice Mayor Blanca Alvarado (2020), Latino Leadership Alliance co-founder and former East Side Union High School District Trustee Eddie Garcia (2019), Stanford University Professor Emeritus and one of the founding scholars of the field of Mexican American history and Chicano Studies Dr. Albert Camarillo (2018), and Actor/Producer, Founder of Centro Legal de La Raza, and Founder of the National Association of State Latino Chambers of Commerce Tony Quintero (2013).

Marin will receive the Ollin Award during LLA’s 5th Annual Gala on May 25 at The School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose and will also deliver the evening’s keynote address.

“Art is an essential part of our society and it can help and inspire leadership,” said Erika Bustamante, LLA Co-Chair. “We are excited to celebrate both, art and leadership, at our Gala and we are thrilled to be able to honor Cheech and his efforts with our Ollin award.”