Play and Imagine Artist Commission

The Play and Imagine programme is one of our main strands of work exploring the question “how does play and imagination impact everyday life?” We commission artists to explore this question through creative workshops, participatory events, exhibitions, and art.

We are interested in how this question relates to your practice and can develop engagement with our local community. The exhibition aims to celebrate and champion play and imagination across the borough, working with partners in the Council and local communities. We believe that everyone from young to old can play, imagine and should have access to play.

We are particularly interested in this commission exploring any of the following:

• Imagination – exploring with children aged 8+ and adults when we “lose” our ability to play and imagine, and provide a creative space for adults and children to be free, imaginative and playful

• Intergenerational work – creating cultural opportunities for families to play and imagine together; for parents/carers to become “level” with children, and remove barriers to playfulness for adults

• Artist research through installations, exhibitions, or playful experiences exploring the importance and benefits of play and imagination in our lives

• Play as art for adults, allowing spaces for play and imagination

• Participation, co-curation or co-creation with community groups

We are interested in how you might interpret the above and add any other starting points for how you might approach a show with us. We aim to be supportive to the intentions and risks being explored by any artist with whom we are working. As a contemporary art gallery, we support artists from all disciplines and have featured shows that utilise all art forms.

Reimagination of previous projects is encouraged to meet our budget and timeline.

There is a fixed fee of £20,000 for this commission.