Laura Nova is an artist, educator, and activist who lives and works on New York’s Lower East Side, creating festive, absurdist spectacles that unite generations and diverse communities. The first Public Artist in Residence to be embedded in New York City’s Department for the Aging, Nova brings expertise and empathy to her projects and actions, designing each element to enhance social wellness and decrease social isolation. Working in festivals, public monuments, and the city street, Nova delivers spiels to homebound New Yorkers, organizes an older adult cheerleading squad and designs crafting kits, guides, and costumes that help nurture emerging activists of all ages. Nova received a B.F.A. and B.A. from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently a visiting professor in the CareLab at The New School and a fellow at the Urban Design Forum, advocating for the creation of a Commissioner of Caring.
Nova's work has been featured at the New Museum, the Museum at Eldridge Street, the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Real Art Ways and many galleries including The Hole in NYC, the Substation Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa and the National Arts Center in Tokyo, Japan. She has participated in festivals like IDEA City, Art in Odd Places, River to River, and ISEA and received grants from the MAP Fund, National Endowment of the Arts, New York Foundation of the Arts, New York State Council of the Arts, PBS/POV, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Wave Farm. She has been published in MIT Docubase, DNAinfo, New York Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vice, WNET, and WNYC. Her residencies include Abrons Art Center, CEC ArtsLink, Center for Book Arts, SU CASA, the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island National Monument, Governors Island, Vermont Studio Center, Women’s Studio Workshop, Marble House Project, and LMCC Workspace.