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Arts Lab was founded in 2016 by UK-based abstract artist and educator Sara Downham-Lotto as a consolidation of more than 35 years of exhibiting, curating and facilitating visual art in higher education institutions and communities in the UK and internationally.

With a background spanning Fine Art, Art History, Social Enterprise, and more recently Peace and Conflict Studies, Sara established Arts Lab as an artist-led platform rooted in collaboration, experimentation and social transformation. Her aim was to co-create with artists and participants an organic, practical model for changemakers working across diverse communities and organisations.

 

Arts Lab’s early development coincided with a new era at Dartington Hall, Devon, where the arts were positioned alongside social justice as drivers of social change. With the support of Dartington Hall Trust’s CEO, Rhodri Samuel, Arts Lab was provided with a base at the heart of the estate. A 109-square-metre studio was adapted into a flexible space for workshops, outreach projects, exhibitions, participatory events, artist residencies and training.

This five-year partnership enabled the Lab to establish a successful artist-run social enterprise model, demonstrating how creative practice, public benefit and organisational sustainability could coexist.

Becoming a Social Enterprise

“To become a sustainable organisation, social enterprise was really important to us. We wanted to inspire artists to run their own businesses, doing what they love while making valuable contributions to society.”

— Sara Downham-Lotto

In January 2018, Arts Lab became a fully incorporated Community Interest Company (CIC) — a social enterprise reinvesting its profits and assets for the public good. Support from the Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs and funding from Lloyds Bank were instrumental in strengthening the organisation at this stage.

Between 2018 and 2021, we worked with:

  • 35+ organisations
  • 130 artists, including 60 young artists aged 16–24

Through this period, Arts Lab played a key role as a platform for artists of all levels to develop socially engaged practices alongside sustainable livelihoods.

 

A Collaborative Organisation

Between 2016 and 2022, the Lab was shaped by a dedicated team of socially engaged artists, graduates, interns and volunteers. Their collective expertise supported programmes across education, justice, community development and the arts.

Key contributors included:

  • Programme leads and artist facilitators
  • Non-executive directors and steering group members
  • Mentors in social enterprise and leadership
  • Graduate assistants, interns and volunteers
  • A wide network of artist associates and artists-in-residence

Together, they formed the backbone of the Lab’s collaborative, artist-led approach.

 

Partners and Funders

Arts Lab has worked in partnership with and funded by a wide range of organisations across arts, education, justice and community development, including local, national and international partners. These collaborations enabled experimentation, learning and long-term impact.

A Moment of Pause and Reflection

Following the impact of Covid-19, changes in management at Dartington, and the resulting closure of Arts Lab as a CIC in 2022, Sara took a six-month period of reflection in Senegal. This hiatus marked a significant turning point. Her experiences there — alongside years of socially engaged artistic practice — inspired a deeper shift towards the field of Peace and Conflict, and a renewed focus on the role visual art can play in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

A New Direction: Art and Peacebuilding

Photograph: courtesy of Kazuyuki Sasaki, PSID, Huye, Rwanda 2023

In 2023, Sara enrolled at the University of Bradford, completing a Master’s degree in Peace, Resilience and Social Justice. Her dissertation, Contributions of Contemporary Visual Art to Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation, directly shaped this latest iteration of Arts Lab as a platform more explicitly supporting the peacebuilding field.

A particularly influential experience during this period was a placement in Rwanda, where Sara delivered a multi-disciplinary Visual Arts for Peace programme for students of Peace and Conflict Studies, alongside a workshop for survivors of genocide. These experiences further grounded Arts Lab’s practice in lived realities of conflict, resilience and repair.

 

Sara has recently undergone REF training in Restorative Practice and Restorative Justice, with the aim of integrating elements into her practice as visual-arts-based peacebuilder.

 

Throughout this vocational journey, Sara acknowledges the enduring influence of peacebuilder and scholar John Paul Lederach, whose writings and relational approach to peacebuilding continue to inform Arts Lab’s ethos and methodology.

Supporting Artists and Communities

Across all its iterations, Arts Lab’s core commitment has remained consistent: to support artists and communities to explore connection, dialogue and transformation through visual art.

Arts Lab has provided space, mentorship and opportunity for artists to:

  • Experiment, take risks and challenge preconceptions
  • Collaborate and co-create with communities
  • Develop socially engaged practices alongside social enterprise skills
  • Champion diverse voices and inclusive cultural participation

We believe artists can be powerful catalysts for connection and change — and that supporting their development strengthens communities as a whole.

To learn more about Sara Downham-Lotto, her paintings and installations, and her teaching methodology, visit her website here >>>