Todd Lanier Lester

Todd Lanier Lester is an artist, writer, and cultural producer. He lives and works in São Paulo, where he is developing Lanchonete.org — a project focused on daily life in the city center — with a group of fellow artists and city dwellers. He has worked in leadership, advocacy, and strategic planning roles at Global Arts Corps, Reporters sans frontiers, and Astraea Lesbian Justice Foundation. He founded freeDimensional, a network that helps artists in danger by providing safe haven in participating artist residencies. Todd is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute where he directs the Arts-Policy Nexus, and serves as a board member for arts, rights and literary organizations in India, Mexico, Brazil, and the US.

Visions of resilience: Eighteen artists say or show something in response to the word “resilience”

81 min Read Now

In partnership with The Nature of Cities

Visions of resilience: Eighteen artists say or show something in response to the word “resilience”

By David Maddox Patrick Lydon Juan Carlos Arroyo Katrine Claassens, and 14 more

[roundtable_menu] [contributor]Juan Carlos Arroyo, Bogotá [excerpt]What survives in the act of resistance to a hospital closure is an ideal of human care, a concept of health and selfless humanitarianism that

What Does a Queer Urban Future Look Like?

52 min Read Now

Queer City (3/20)

What Does a Queer Urban Future Look Like?

By Thiago Carrapatoso Michael Roberson Jude Dibia Todd Lanier Lester, and 7 more

[roundtable_menu] [contributor]Ella Boureau, New York City [excerpt]I am mourning a second self, a sibling with ancestral knowledge whose presence I can only verify through absence. [/excerpt] [/contributor] [contributor]Thiago Carrapatoso, São

Creative Place-Making—This is The Nature of Graffiti

15 min Read Now

In partnership with The Nature of Cities

Creative Place-Making—This is The Nature of Graffiti

By David Maddox Pippin Anderson Paul Downtown Emilio Fantin, and 6 more

[TNOC_Note] Nature is all around us. Plants, animals, soil, air and water inhabit and animate our daily lives, whether you live in the country or in the city. We are