Long Beach City College's Performing Arts Center is officially named after Long Beach legend and LBCC alumna Jenni Rivera.
Last week, the LBCC Board of Directors voted unanimously to name the new facility the Jenni Rivera Performing Arts Center.
“This appointment recognizes not only an extraordinary artist, but a daughter of Long Beach whose voice and spirit transcended borders,” said Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the LBCC board of directors in a press release. “Jenni Rivera inspired millions through her music, resilience and advocacy. We are proud that future generations of artists will learn and create in a space that bears her name.”
Jenni Rivera Enterprises will donate $2 million over the next 10 years to the LBCC Foundation, with the bulk of the funds going toward scholarships and educational programs, the Long Beach Post reported.
“Our family is deeply honored that Long Beach City College has chosen to commemorate Jenni in this extraordinary way,” Jacqie Rivera, Rivera's daughter and CEO of Jenni Rivera Enterprises, said in a news release. “Long Beach shaped who Jenni was, as an artist, mother and woman, committed to her community. Knowing that young artists will grow, train and find their creative voice in a center that bears her name is deeply meaningful to us.”
The performing arts center, scheduled to open in spring 2026, is the “Unforgettable” singer’s second honor from the LBCC. Earlier this year, Rivera was inducted into the LBCC Hall of Fame along with actress and activist Jennifer Kumiyama and attorney Norm Rasmussen.
Born and raised in Long Beach, Rivera attended Long Beach Poly High School in the 1980s, where she became pregnant her sophomore year. She later graduated from Reid Continuation High School as the valedictorian of her class. He then attended LBCC before transferring to Cal State Long Beach to pursue a bachelor's degree in business administration.
He immediately used that title as a real estate agent, while simultaneously working at his father's recording studio and record label.
His father, Pedro Rivera, was a prominent corrido singer. In the 1980s he launched the Cintas Acuario record label. It began as a trading post and grew to become an influential and taste-making independent group, launching the careers of artists such as Chálino Sánchez. All four of Jenni Rivera's brothers were associated with the music industry; his brother Lupillo, in particular, is a huge star in his own right.
He released his first album, “Somos Rivera,” in 1992, launching a prolific career that was tragically cut short when Rivera and six others died in a plane crash in Mexico on December 9, 2012.
The self-proclaimed “Diva de la Banda” was a self-made star with a true rags-to-riches story. She was a true pioneer, an American-born woman who occupied a lot of space in the male-dominated world of Mexican music.
In 2015, Long Beach city officials honored the singer's legacy by naming a park in Long Beach after her. A 125-foot-long mural honoring Rivera's life and legacy is displayed along a brick wall at Jenni Rivera Memorial Park.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame also honored Rivera with a star in 2024, which his five children accepted on his behalf.
“One of my mother's former favorites used to work in this neighborhood. We would come to check on her and she would always dream. I remember sitting in the car, in her Mercedes, and she would always dream, 'I'll have my star here one day,'” Rivera's daughter, Jenicka Lopez, said at the star's unveiling ceremony.
“I thought it was impossible after he passed away, but God has a beautiful way of proving people wrong.”
