'Cesar Chavez Leading the Way' by artist Ignacio Gomez, located at Main Street & University, Riverside. Created in 2015 to honor the legacy of Cesar E. Chavez. (Flickr/seiu721)
If you haven't yet had a chance to visit the Civil Rights Institute, today is a great excuse to head downtown (on Mission Inn Ave across from the Main Library) to visit the Working Coachella exhibition, which highlights the farmworker community of the Coachella Valley.
City Council does not meet this week. The Transportation Board will weigh options for more 20-minute parking spaces downtown to help local businesses and a Tyler Street railroad crossing closure pilot to ease traffic congestion.
Welcome to our weekly digest on public meetings and agenda items worthy of your attention in the next week. This guide is part of our mission to provide everyday Riversiders like you with the information to speak up on the issues you care about.
Transportation Board
The Transportation Board meets on Wednesday, April 2, at 5:30 p.m. (agenda) to:
Acclaimed Chicana Artist's Retrospective Makes Final Stop at The Cheech
Mesa-Bains exhibition showcases over 30 years of influential work through August 2025.
"The Virgin's Garden" (Courtesy of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture/Daria Lugina)
Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory, the first retrospective of the acclaimed Chicana artist, is on display at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture through August 2025. The exhibition showcases over 30 years of Mesa-Bains' work, including immersive installations and never-before-seen pieces.
Driving the news: The retrospective, concluding its national tour, features nearly 40 works by the MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient, highlighting her commitment to social justice, cultural resilience, and feminist advocacy.
The exhibition includes the Southern California debut of Mesa-Bains' latest sculpture, Celestial Cihuateotl.
Why it matters: Despite numerous international honors, this is Mesa-Bains' first comprehensive career retrospective, showcasing her significant contributions to Chicanx art and culture.
Her work challenges colonialism's legacies and affirms the value of marginalized communities.
The big picture: Mesa-Bains' installations explore themes of memory, identity, and feminist reclamation through her distinctive archaeological aesthetic.
The exhibition features all four chapters of her celebrated biographical series, Venus Envy.
What's next: A fully illustrated catalog, co-published with UC Press, accompanies the exhibition, featuring essays by leading scholars and the artist herself.
