LAGO's analysis of UK and Schengen short-term visa applications reveals the scale of passport inequality, with full datasets available on rejection rates and the financial costs they impose.

In collaboration with the Cameroonian Pavilion, NZƏNDA: The Path Home, LAGO curated a talk exploring sound, home and what creative practice carries across borders and opened the evening with a DJ set.

A collective reflection from the LAGO team with each of us writing from these places and spaces, offering a different way of seeing. Together, we capture where LAGO’s work stands today and where it is heading.

Together with DJ CocoEm, Marta Foresti joined a panel at Switzerland's leading music industry conference to make the case for mobility as a driver of creativity, innovation and a thriving global creative economy.

What would it take to redesign mobility for the future of African creative leadership? Moderated by Kenji Maghoma, this panel with curators Basma Mansour and Alinta Sara explored exactly that.

Convened by the British High Commission, this summit brought together policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs and creatives from Ghana and the UK to examine how diaspora networks shape trade, investment and innovation.

In collaboration with King's College London, LAGO is supporting a PhD programme launching October 2026, examining how visa regimes shape youth mobility, creative exchange and the cultural economy across Africa and beyond.

Hosted by Marta Foresti, (un)common ground explores movement, borders and everything in between through unusual, unexpected and sometimes controversial conversations that build common ground where none exists.

Hosted at the Whitechapel Gallery, this edition of LAGO's annual flagship event explored the metropolis as a crossroads for ideas, stories and people and what it means to live in a truly moving city.

In collaboration with King's College London, LAGO exhibited data visualisations by Federica Fragapane and sonifications by Tiziana Alocci at Bush House, London, exploring what it means to give shape and sound to visa rejections and their costs.

The GCEC is convened by Creative PEC and the British Council, consisting of 15 leading academics, practitioners, policy professionals. It identifies and discusses emerging trends of international significance in creative economy practice and policy.

An evening of radio documentaries, sound art, music and performance at Oxford House, London, curated by Fatuma Khaireh in association with In The Dark, exploring how we move through the world.

Newly appointed as Chair of the Global Creative Economy Council, Marta Foresti makes the case for creative industries as essential drivers of global economic policy, not a "nice to have" but a necessity.

Featuring Jinan Vyent, Amina Adebisi Odofin, Amanda Boachie, Nate Agbetu and Marta Foresti, this conversation 'Global Cities and Borders' explored visa inequality, diaspora networks and how to build alternative models of mobility.

"Global" too often describes the vantage point of a few. A reflection on why the conversation about the future of creativity remains geographically narrow and why that needs to change.

How much is a €100 visa fee actually worth? Designer Federica Fragapane visualises how the same application fee translates into vastly different financial realities depending on where you live. Data credit: 'Our World in Data'.

Poet Lemn Sissay confronted the racism embedded in global visa systems at LAGO's 2024 Beauty of Movement event, then captured the moment in a quatrain that captures the heart of our flagship project on visa inequality: All Other Passports.

Designer Federica Fragapane visualises the latest data on passport inequality, mapping rejection rates and the real cost of short-term visa applications to Europe from low and middle income countries.

Data artist Tiziana Alocci transforms the latest rejection rates for short-term visas to Europe into sound, making the weight of visa inequality something you don't just see, but hear.

Marta Foresti spoke at Prada Frames during Milan Design Week 2025 exploring borders, routes and resistances as physical and political infrastructures that shape how people move through the world.

Shot in Kumasi and Accra, Ghana, artists speak about the reality of a rejected visa and what unequal visa regimes mean for creative opportunities, locally and globally. Made in collaboration with Oroko Radio.

Marta Foresti appointed Senior Advisor to help ground the Moleskine mission of “Creativity for Social Change” in sound analysis and evidence and collaborating on various initiatives in creative sectors and economic and social change.

Produced with ODI Global as part of the Africa-Europe Mayors' Dialogue, this paper examines how creative sectors drive dynamic urban economies and foster more inclusive growth across global cities.

In collaboration with Moleskine Foundation and Phaidon Press, LAGO's flagship event explored how passports act as gateways to visit, perform and travel - yet not for everyone.

Co-curated with the World Cities Culture Forum, ODI Global and the Moleskine Foundation, this panel brought together city and cultural leaders to explore the global influence of African creative cities.

Arts, design, music and poetry can do what policy arguments often can't: shift how we think about the movement of people. This essay makes the case for an imaginative vocabulary to tell a different migration story.

Published by the London School of Economics Africa Centre, LAGO's analysis finds that unequal visa regimes cost applicants from low and middle-income countries over €100 million in rejected fees every year.

The Schengen non-refundable visa fee is €80. Based on 2023 rejection rates, LAGO estimates €130M lost to rejected applications, 90% borne by low and middle-income countries: a reverse remittance.

Moving across borders is much more than just crossing them. An evening exploring the creativity, ideas and hopes of people making these journeys and why this beauty remains an untold migration story.

The lower your country's income, the more likely your visa will be rejected. This visualisation maps short-term Schengen rejection rates, with African applicants bearing the heaviest burden.

A creative exchange between Freetown and London fashion designers in September 2022 documenting the connections and collaborations that emerge when makers from two cities come together. With ODI and Labrum London.

Europe is placing insurmountable barriers in front of Africans trying to get visas to visit. Marta Foresti and Otho Mantegazza discuss how this policy is denying people opportunities and doing Europe more harm than good - published by LSE.

How do creative minds and talents drive social and economic change in global cities? A public event during Milan Design Week 2023 exploring the relationship between creativity, inclusion and urban life.

What can creative brands do to change the world? LAGO joined Moleskine Foundation and Highsnobiety at Milan Design Week 2023 to explore the power of creative industries to drive meaningful global change.

At ODI Global, Giuseppe Sala shares his vision for Milan and why international cooperation, particularly between African and European cities, sits at the heart of his priorities for the city.

Launched by Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, this platform connects Freetown-based creatives with collaborators and investors across African and European cities, building new pathways for Sierra Leonean creative talent.

Following two Freetown designers Mumini Fashion and Mohammed Barri to Durban Fashion Fair, this project showcases Sierra Leonean creative talent and opens new pathways for African designers on the global stage.

Directed by Julianknxx and shot in Freetown, Sierra Leone, this artistic documentary explores what it truly means to be free to move and the power and potential of the city's creative sectors.

A day of events at Milan Design Week 2022 in collaboration with ODI, IKEA Foundation and IKEA Italy exploring the power of ideas, creativity and talent of people who move whether by choice or necessity.

The mayors of Freetown and Milan, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr and Giuseppe Sala, in conversation at Milan Design Week 2022 on why they collaborate on fashion and design and what a true partnership of equals between African and European cities looks like.

Published by Brookings, Marta Foresti argues that COVID-19 exposed the urgent need for migration reform and that turning gratitude for essential migrant workers into policy change requires an entirely different conversation.

Strategic advisory to the Co-Facilitators of the Global Compact on Migration throughout the negotiations

With the Africa Program, contribution to an edited collection of essays on rethinking Africa-Europe relations

How does information design communicate stories and challenge myths? Marta Foresti, Natalie Kane, Leonardo de Vasconcelos, John Burn-Murdoch and Federica Fragapane explore the power of data to change minds.

How do Europeans really feel about immigration and what shapes those views? This data visualisation project maps individual and societal perceptions across European countries, tracking how attitudes shift over time and why.

An award-winning data visualisation on the contribution of migrant workers to the COVID-19 response, mapping the reforms, initiatives and campaigns that recognised their essential role and fought for better support.

Held at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, this masterclass explored how to read and understand data and how to transform it into data visualisations that are as beautiful as they are impactful.

A platform bringing together African and European mayors to develop practical, innovative solutions for sustainable urban development and build lasting connections between their cities

Moderation of high-level panel with global leaders at EU Development Days 2019

Published by the London School of Economics, this piece introduces the Africa-Europe Mayors' Dialogue and how cross-continental city leadership is making urban spaces more welcoming and connected.