Who We Are
Studio 404 was born out of a shared frustration and a shared belief.
As high streets hollow out, civic spaces sit empty, and more of life is lived through screens, we’re losing the places that once brought people together.
Founded by Leyya Sattar and Calum Hall, Studio 404 exists to turn those “page not found” spaces into cultural destinations. We reactivate vacant shops, underused buildings and overlooked corners of our towns and cities through culture-led programming, creative production and brand partnerships.
We work with brands, councils, property owners and businesses to design experiences that bring people offline and back into real, human connection. From exhibitions, workshops and live events to retail activations, launches, learning experiences and community-led cultural moments.
At a time when artists and creatives are priced out, audiences are harder to reach, and communities feel increasingly disconnected, Studio 404 offers a new model for placemaking: fast, inclusive, culturally credible and rooted in community. We don’t just fill space, we rebuild it with purpose.
THE TEAM
LEYYA SATTAR
Leyya is an entrepreneur and cultural strategist working across social impact, community building, and purpose-driven ventures. Her work focuses on cultivating equitable workplace cultures and designing programmes that centre lived experience, shift power, and translate values into action.
Alongside venture building, Leyya focuses on financial equity, access, and mental well-being for marginalised communities. She mentors women of colour from working-class backgrounds, advises founders and creatives, and uses storytelling, including her podcast on workplace culture and power, to challenge systemic barriers to funding, visibility, and opportunity.
As the founder of Other Box, an award-winning social impact and media company launched in 2016, she’s educated over 45,000 people across 300+ organisations in 25+ countries, supporting leaders and teams to build more inclusive and equitable cultures through consulting, training, and a jobs board.
Her work has been recognised internationally, including Vogue Business’s 100 Innovators, Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Impact), and honours from Financial Times, WACL, Indiaspora, Ad Age, and WOW UK, to name a few.
At Studio 404, Leyya leads on strategy, community, and equity, focusing on rebuilding in-person cultural infrastructure and creating community-led spaces rooted in care, access, and belonging.
CALUM HALL
Calum is a cultural entrepreneur and producer working across art, events, and brand-led cultural engagement.
He is the founder of Creative Debuts, a platform that has supported hundreds of emerging artists and reshaped how contemporary art is commissioned, collected, and experienced outside traditional gallery spaces. With a background in events and nightlife, Calum brings a deep understanding of how culture, audience, and place intersect, particularly within physical environments.
His work has led to collaborations with global brands and institutions, using art to create meaningful, accessible cultural moments in everyday settings. Through this work, he has championed artist-first models that prioritise fair pay, visibility, and long-term opportunity.
Recognised on Forbes 30 Under 30 (Arts & Culture), Calum is a leading advocate for diversity and inclusion in the arts, and for using culture as a catalyst for social and political conversations and rebuilding connection.
At Studio 404, Calum leads on artist partnerships, cultural programming, and space activation, ensuring that creative work remains central, accessible, and rooted in community experience.
Our Story
Studio 404 is the natural convergence of two complementary backgrounds in cultural placemaking, creative production and community-led strategy, built in the real world, not online.
Our founding team brings together deep experience in cultural production, community-led programming, learning design, brand activation and equity-driven strategy.
Calum Hall is a Creative Director, Curator and Cultural Producer with extensive experience delivering large-scale exhibitions, brand collaborations and cultural activations that champion emerging artists while driving footfall, participation and commercial impact. His background across exhibitions, events, nightlife and artist-led programming shapes Studio 404’s approach to audience, atmosphere and cultural relevance.
Leyya Sattar brings deep expertise in community-led programming, education, equity-led strategy and socially driven projects rooted in trust, care and access. Her work spans learning design, facilitation, workplace culture, and mental well-being, helping teams and communities have the conversations that move them from awareness to action. Through Studio 404, Leyya helps shape learning programmes, leadership offsites, workshops and cultural experiences that support connection, reflection and long-term change.
Together, they bring a shared track record of turning overlooked spaces into places people show up for in towns and cities around the world. This includes exhibitions, workshops, festivals, pop-ups, brand activations, learning programmes and off-sites that prioritise participation over spectacle.
Studio 404 exists because they’ve seen firsthand what happens when culture is designed for people, not social platforms. Vacant spaces come back to life, communities reconnect, teams learn differently, and offline life starts to matter again.
Contact us
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