SARA DOWLING

Resident March 2024

Sara Dowling is arts manager and programming curator. For 9 years, she has held a range of curatorial, marketing, inclusion and public social engagement roles for arts organisations and institutions in Ireland and abroad, including: The University of Limerick (UL), Esker Arts Tullamore, Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA), EVA International, Creative Europe's Magic Carpets project led by Kaunas Biennial Lithuania, Douglas Hyde Gallery Forum, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Athena Standards Residency. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice, several certifications from recognised international institutions in areas of creative project management, equality and inclusion training, women in arts visibility, social justice, and cultural strategy, and has delivered guest lectures in professional development and creative advocacy. Sara also maintains an independent curatorial practice, including co-founding the emerging artist platform project PeakShow Exhibitions, involvement with the Irish Women’s Collective Mná na nEalaín, and curating exhibitions for members at Limerick Printmakers & MART Gallery Dublin, Print Network Ireland & BlackChurch Studios Temple Bar. She has received Arts Council Agility Awards, and the Belfast Exposed Future Curators Award, among others. 

Since 2020, Sara has led the EDI-informed Test Space Residency Programme at LCGA, and now manages a new women-in-arts publication project with the Visual Arts Dept Collection at UL, in partnership with the Hooker O’Malley Collection Trust between Ireland and Connecticut, US. Sara’s work with the DOMUS eco-feminist residency in Galatina will focus on the historic effects of the Tarantism phenomenon on the cultural and social conditions of women local to the area, and is supported by Culture Moves Europe Mobility funding, awarded by the Goethe Institute.