Play

Play opens at the Coda Music and Arts Trust gallery in Bournemouth on 1 November, an exhibition that brings together work by young people from across Dorset and the New Forest. The whole thing is built around a single theme: play. It's the result of an open call that invited young artists from the region to respond to that idea, so what you'll see on the walls is a collection of their interpretations rather than a single, curated vision.

For Coda, play isn't just a theme for a show; it's how they describe their own creative practice. They talk about it as being curious, exploring ideas, experimenting with materials and making new discoveries. That's the same spirit they're asking the young people who entered the open call to bring to their work, so the exhibition is as much about the process of making as it is about the finished pieces.

It's also worth knowing who's behind it. Coda Music and Arts Trust is a Dorset-based organisation that uses music and the arts as tools for personal and social change and for tackling inequality through creativity. They run inclusive arts, music and wellbeing programmes for all ages and abilities, support local education, health and wellbeing, and offer free access to a year-round exhibition programme, artist residencies and music tuition in piano, strings, woodwind, guitar, drums and vocals.

If you're visiting, there's more to see than just the exhibition. You can explore the studios of resident artists alongside workshops in printmaking, textiles, clay sculpting and silversmithing. Play opens on 1 November at the Coda Music and Arts Trust gallery in Bournemouth, part of their free year-round exhibition programme.