4TheArtsLab™ is a media-education studio where culture, imagination, and creative technology come together. We design immersive learning experiences that blend global folk music, interactive storytelling, ancestral knowledge, and beautiful design. Our work lives at the crossroads of education, art, and innovation inviting learners to explore who they are and where they come from through rhythm, story, and creative expression.
Rooted in the Américas, our studio creates digital and physical experiences for schools, arts organizations, cultural institutions, and curious minds of all ages. From transmedia projects like Bitácora to curriculum systems like Global Folk Music and Global Folk Piano Around the World, we craft experiences that honor heritage, spark imagination, and open pathways for deeper connection with the world.
Our Mission
We fuse the cultural heritage of the Americas with emerging technologies to design transformative artistic and educational experiences. Through music, multimedia, and experience design, we inspire creativity, cultivate cultural diversity, and empower local and global communities.
Our approach bridges the ancestral with the futuristic, creating meaningful connections that honor traditional wisdom while embracing innovative possibilities. We believe that technology serves its highest purpose when it amplifies human creativity and cultural expression.
Our Vision
Becoming a leading intercontinental multimedia laboratory that connects cultures, generations, and worlds
From the ancestral to the futuristic, from Earth to the cosmos, we offer immersive experiences that educate, transform, and generate cultural, social, and economic impact. Our vision encompasses a future where cultural preservation and technological innovation work hand in hand to create unprecedented possibilities for human expression and connection.
We envision a world where the wisdom of indigenous traditions informs cutting-edge digital experiences, where children learn about their heritage through interactive technologies, and where communities across the Americas can share their stories through innovative multimedia platforms.
Origin Story — How 4TheArtsLab Began
4TheArtsLab was born from the crossroads of my two lifelong callings: education and art. For years, I taught music in diverse classrooms, guiding young learners through the rhythms, songs, and stories of the world. Every day, I saw how children lit up when they recognized themselves in the music when a rhythm felt familiar, when a melody carried a piece of their culture, when creativity finally felt like home. Those moments showed me a truth I couldn’t ignore: education becomes powerful when it’s rooted in identity, imagination, and representation.
At the same time, outside the classroom, I worked as a composer, painter, and storyteller crafting music inspired by global traditions, studying ancient civilizations, and exploring immersive ways to blend sound, art, and narrative. Over time, the artist and the educator inside me stopped living in separate worlds. They began speaking to each other, asking for a space big enough to hold both the structure of teaching and the wonder of creation.
That space became 4TheArtsLab.
The studio started as a seed: a vision to combine global arts, multimedia design, and cultural storytelling into learning experiences that feel alive, meaningful, and beautifully human. What began as classroom curriculum evolved into transmedia projects, immersive journeys like Bitácora, and creative systems that honor our ancestral roots while embracing the future.
Today, 4TheArtsLab stands as the home for that vision — a place where technology meets tradition, where education becomes art, and where imagination becomes a bridge between cultures, generations, and new possibilities.
Founder Bio — Sandra M. Granobles
Sandra M. Granobles is a music educator, composer, designer, and creative technologist whose work bridges global folk traditions, immersive media, and culturally responsive education. With over a decade of experience teaching in diverse communities across Washington, D.C., she is known for transforming classrooms into spaces of rhythm, identity, and imagination.
In 2024, Sandra was recognized with two major honors: the Wammie Honory Award for Best Music Educator and the DCPS Music Educator of the Year Award, celebrating her visionary contributions to music education and her leadership in culturally grounded curriculum design.
As both an artist and educator, Sandra works at the intersection of music, storytelling, and technology. Her creative practice includes composition for multimedia projects, immersive narrative design, and paintings inspired by ancestral worlds and feminine cosmic mythology. She is the creator of emerging systems such as the Global Folk Music Curriculum, Piano Around the World, and the transmedia storytelling universe Bitácora.
4TheArtsLab was born from Sandra’s desire to merge her artistic work with her mission as an educator — to create learning experiences where every child, family, and community can see themselves reflected with beauty, dignity, and wonder. Today, she continues to build bridges between ancestral knowledge and future technologies, designing experiences that honor culture, inspire curiosity, and spark creative freedom.
Partners & Impact
Over the years, the work of 4TheArtsLab has grown through collaboration, community, and a shared belief in the power of culture and creativity. Our projects, performances, and educational experiences have reached students, families, and organizations across Washington, D.C., the United States, and Latin America.
We have collaborated with and served communities through:
- Public and charter schools across the Washington, D.C. area
- DC Public Schools (DCPS) arts initiatives and educational programs
- DC Scores and community-based youth arts organizations
- Local cultural centers, senior centers, and family programming organizations
- Arts and music awards institutions, including the Wammie Awards
- Independent artists, storytellers, and creative technologists across the Américas
Where Our Work Has Lived
- Classroom music programs (PreK–5)
- Community performances and multicultural assemblies
- Curriculum design and PD teacher training
- Multimedia creative workshops
- Immersive storytelling prototypes and exhibitions
- Digital platforms featuring global folk music and interactive narratives
Our Growing Impact
4TheArtsLab continues expanding its reach through:
- global folk music pathways for schools
- interactive media projects rooted in embrancing their cultural roots.
- partnerships with educators, creators, and cultural organizations
- community-driven initiatives that celebrate identity, heritage, and imagination
