The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (Arts and Culture) has announced Leticia Rhi Buckley has joined its Arts Commission, L.A. County’s longstanding advisory body for the arts. The Commission seats 15 members, who are diverse arts community leaders chosen by the Board of Supervisors to represent each of the five districts in the County. Buckley was appointed by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair, Supervisor Hilda L. Solis.

It is a homecoming of sorts. Buckley served in various leadership roles as the head of communications and then interim executive director at the former Los Angeles County Arts Commission, which the Board of Supervisors transitioned into a county department in 2019. She is currently the Senior Civic Strategist at The Music Center, Performing Arts Center of L.A. County, where she’s responsible for the overall direction, management, and strategic implementation of civic and community relationships, as well as for cultivating and building strong arts and culture-focused partnerships.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Buckley is deeply committed to shepherding diversity and making the arts accessible to all. While at Arts and Culture, she played a leadership role in development of the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative (CEII), a report launched in 2017 with a progressive suite of recommendations to strengthen diverse, equitable, and inclusive access to arts and culture for everyone in the County. During its development, she facilitated dialogue and worked closely with stakeholders to plot out actionable strategies to support the arts in historically under-resourced communities.

Prior to her roles with L.A. County cultural organizations, she managed record-breaking publicity, outreach and engagement initiatives for companies such as Cirque du Soleil and Disney Theatrical Productions. Buckley also created and operated a boutique marketing and PR firm specializing in Latino outreach and engagement, with a client roster that included Cheech Marin, L.A. Convention 2000, East Los Angeles Community Youth Center, and the City of Huntington Park. She was featured on KTLA’s “Making It: Minority Success Stories” and recognized by Hispanic Magazine as one of the “100 Most Successful Hispanic Women” in the industry.

Buckley is a fellow of Leadership L.A., a program of the Southern California Leadership Network. She serves on the boards of the California Arts Advocates and Californians for the Arts, co-chairing both organizations’ Racial and Cultural Equity committee. She is also the interim chair of the board of directors of the Arts for Healing and Justice Network, a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Theatre Academy, and serves on the marketing committee of the LA Tourism and Convention Board. She was recently honored by Chair Solis as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. An adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University’s Center for Business and Management of the Arts, Buckley holds a degree in political science from Loyola Marymount University and received the 2019 Alumni Role Model Award from the LMU Latino Alumni Association.

“Leticia Buckley’s career is steeped in community, equity, and arts. I am thrilled that she will bring that expertise to the Arts Commission, supporting it and the Department of Arts and Culture as they work to make arts and culture resources available to residents across Los Angeles County,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda L. Solis.

“I am excited to be reunited and work with Leticia again. She brings an incredible passion for the arts and years of lived experience forming partnerships at the intersection of government, the cultural field, and the LA community. She is a timely addition to the Arts Commission, whose support is invaluable as we strive to reach more people, more deeply, in more diverse ways,” said Kristin Sakoda, Director of the Department of Arts and Culture.

“It is deeply meaningful to me to join a Commission whose members recognize the arts are a catalyst for social and civic change,” Buckley said. “I am grateful to Chair Solis for the opportunity to serve the residents of Los Angeles County, working alongside leaders and colleagues I deeply admire and supporting a Department of Arts and Culture that I deeply respect, as we all continue to advocate for increased accessibility, inclusion, equity and representation in the arts, and more arts resources across the region.”

About the Department of Arts and Culture:

The mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout Los Angeles County. It provides leadership, services, and support in areas including grants and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations, countywide arts education initiatives, commissioning and care for civic art collections, research and evaluation, access to creative career pathways, professional development, free community programs, and cross-sector creative strategies that address civic issues. Visit LACountyArts.org.