What Keeps Us Well Open Call

Call for visual art and writing submissions as part of Surrey’s new creative Heritage and Wellbeing project

Surrey-based non-profit, It’s Not Your Birthday But (INYBB), in collaboration with the Surrey History Centre, is delighted to announce an open call for artists, writers, filmmakers, and creatives of all ages to reflect on how they navigate wellbeing in their daily lives.

Inspired by a line from A.F. Freeman’s 1921 poem discovered in a Shalford Women’s Institute scrapbook— “Woven into the days of stress, the golden threads of thankfulness”— this project invites participants to submit visual art and/or writing inspired by this poem.

Creative responses are welcome across two categories, Visual art and Written work.

Entry is free of charge, and submissions are encouraged from artists at any stage in their artistic journey: students, emerging creatives, and established practitioners alike. Multiple entries across categories are permitted.

Submissions are open from 4 December to Sunday, 18 January, 11.59 am. For more information and to enter visit INYBB.

Winners will receive a cash prize up to £750, the opportunity to exhibit in the What Keeps Us Well exhibition, and an exclusive behind-the-scenes invite to explore Surrey History Centre’s extraordinary archive, containing over 800 years of history preserved across millions of documents. Selected works will be showcased in a public exhibition and accompanying events, offering visibility and engagement opportunities for a wide range of creators.

All entrants will be notified by the end of February 2026.

What Keeps Us Well

What Keeps Us Well is a creative heritage project run in collaboration between It’s Not Your Birthday But and Surrey History Centre, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It explores how people have cared for their wellbeing throughout history and how their stories can inspire us to do the same today.

Alongside three community partners, The Halow Project, Surrey Gypsy Traveller Communities Forum, and Surrey Youth Groups, the project explores Surrey History Centre’s rich archive to uncover how communities have stayed well through food, exercise, coming together for shared activities, taking notice of the world around them, nature, creativity, connection, and more.