THERE’S just three weeks to go until Bournemouth’s annual celebration of arts and culture, Arts by the Sea, which will be staged this year with help from local students and visitors.

Around 100,000 people are expected to attend the event, now in its ninth year which runs from Friday, September 27 – Sunday, September 29.

This year's theme is Mind Matters and will bring a colourful mix of carnivalesque celebrations, large-scale installations and a variety of art and dance to the town.

This year visitors are invited to create a colourful beach hut design to be incorporated into the BeachHUTS light installation which will appear at Middle Gardens for the duration of the three-day event. Design templates can be collected from libraries across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and need to be returned to the library by Monday, September 23.

Alternatively templates will also be available at the installation in Middle Gardens on Saturday, September 28 from 12 – 4pm. Each evening’s show will then feature the new content.

Three students studying computer animation at Bournemouth University will see their designs become a reality when projected onto the façade of Bournemouth Town Hall for the Hôtel d’Illusions spectacle.

And children aged between 11-15 years old from The Grange School and Glenmoor & Winton Academy, will be taking part in a two hour workshop with Shademakers, a popular carnivalesque celebration, where they’ll learn about its history and how costumes are made culminating with the Submerge: Carnival SOS procession on Sunday, September 29 through Bournemouth.

Festival director and cultural development manager at BCP Council, Andrea Francis said, “Arts and culture play such an integral part to so many people’s lives, are essential to our wellbeing and help make people feel part of their community, by bringing us all together. It’s our vision at Arts by the Sea to provide quality, free experiences and opportunities to all our audience, and to be able to enjoy a truly unique and joyful experience in the wonderful green spaces of Bournemouth.”

* For more details see the full story online or visit artsbythesea.co.uk. Watch this space for more annoucements.