When did you stop playing? Play is serious business for artist André Anderson. He’s not talking about ‘nostalgic’ play, but rather ‘aspirational play’. André shares how he and his neighbours used aspirational play to turn their ‘super deprived’ public housing estate into a publishing house. Together, they played, they told stories and then they self-published a collection of conversations, essays, poems, and manifestos, in a book called ‘Authors of the Estate’. Aspirational play, André explains, is a powerful tool that can help you change the world around you and play your way into a future that does not exist - yet. André is the Headmaster and Founder of Freedom & Balance, an Art College for the artist in everyone. He designs and leads creative programmes for communities and organisations of all kinds, helping them to playfully grow into the type of leaders their world looks for. His most notable programme, Authors of the Estate, resulted in dozens of local residents of Chalkhill and St.Raphael’s estate in London becoming confident, self-published authors. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx