LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs or DCBA is honored to welcome multimedia artist Julio Salgado as Creative Strategist for the Office of Immigrant Affairs or OIA. Salgado joins the department through the Creative Strategist-Artist in Residence Program of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
As the Creative Strategist, Salgado will work alongside OIA to find creative ways to reach and connect with immigrant communities across the county. His work will focus on raising awareness of immigrant rights and county services while helping build trust between these communities and local government.
Based in Long Beach, Salgado’s work explores immigration, identity, and belonging through illustration and visual storytelling. His artwork has appeared in marches and community spaces, as well as institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Huntington Library, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is also a contributor to the Los Angeles Times, where his comic strip “Good Immigrant, Bad Immigrant” reflects on the realities of immigrant life through personal narrative and satire.
“In response to the cruel immigration raids that created fear and uncertainty for many immigrant and mixed-status families, I authored a motion last year to place the County’s next Creative Strategist within the Office of Immigrant Affairs,” said Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Hilda L. Solis. “My goal was to ensure Los Angeles County could use creative and culturally relevant outreach to better connect communities to trusted information, County services, and critical resources during a time of heightened fear and instability. Julio Salgado’s work has long captured the realities, resilience, and humanity of immigrant communities, and I am proud to welcome his voice and vision to this important effort.”
“When we think about how to effectively reach and serve immigrant communities, trust is everything,” said DCBA Director Rafael Carbajal. “Julio has spent his career earning that trust through his art, and we are grateful to have his voice and vision guiding this work.”
The Creative Strategist program was developed by the Department of Arts and Culture as part of the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative. The program places artists and creative professionals within County departments to work alongside staff to use creative approaches to address civic issues.
“I am honored to have been selected to this program,” said Julio Salgado. “For the past two decades, being an immigrant artist working in tandem with the immigrant and queer community has allowed me to navigate through some tough times. I hope I am able to continue to bring this spirit of collaboration as we continue to heal through the trauma that we’ve been put through in recent years.”
In addition to his new assignment with OIA, Salgado is the co-creator of The Disruptors Fellowship through the Center for Cultural Power, a program that supports emerging television writers in Los Angeles through mentorship, master classes, and financial support.