PERCEPTION, image and looking at things in a different way are at the centre of Salisbury Arts Centre’s programming for the coming year.

The theme runs through many of the shows, exhibitions and workshops planned for the spring, while the centre will also be providing music to cater for all tastes, comedy shows and hard-hitting drama.

The centre’s deputy director Sara Lock said: “It’s a very broad programme but one of the themes will be really encouraging people to look at things differently and to think about their surroundings.“

The exhibitions at the centre begins with Lya Garcia: Wearing & Bearing, which looks at the relationship between fashion and identity and way that things people wear – or don’t wear – reflect their nature.

“We’re very excited about the exhibitions we have coming up,”

said Lock. “Lya Garcia is looking at what you wear, and also if you can become someone else by putting on their clothes.”

Wearing and Bearing opens on January 8 and runs until February 23, to be followed by Skin Deep, which will bring together four contemporary artists – Harriet White, Heather Wallace, Clare Chapman and Mike Newton – whose painted surfaces play tricks with appearance and reality.

And there will also be Palaces and Cabins, opening in April, which will focus on the intersection of public and private space in Salisbury.

Music at the venue in the early part of the year will range from the big sound of the Bristol Reggae Orchestra to the ever-popular Phil Beer Band and the Salisbury Area Young Musicians to the Hijack Open Mic, which provides an open stage for young up-and-coming performers.

There will also be a solo performance from Patrick Duff, formerly the lead singer of alternative rock band Strangelove.

The Edinburgh Comedy Preview will be giving a sneak peek at the work being developed for the 2014 festival and the centre will play host to the winner of the Best International Comic at the New Zealand Festival, Tom Wrigglesworth, as well as the star of Radio 4’s Calman is Convicted, Susan Calman, who has also appeared on TV shows including QI and Have I got News for You.

Scene Productions will be bringing to the stage a performance of Woyzeck, a darkly comic tale that mixes gothic story-telling with puppetry and a spine-chilling soundtrack.

And Probe theatre company’s Running on Empty will fuse dance, text and song to take the audience on a surreal ride through dreams, fears and memories, and La Navet Bet will bring Once Upon a Time in a Western, which promises a fastpaced journey across the Wild West “complete with a gang of inflatable Mexican bandits”.

The film programme will continue, as will live screenings from the Metropolitan Opera, and for children there will be a range of productions including Half Moon Theatre with A Roo in My Suitcase and Red Table Theatre with The Just So Stories.

For more details go to salisburyartscentre.co.uk, call the box office on 01722 321744 or call in to pick up a brochure.