It's Not Your Birthday But...

 At It’s Not Your Birthday But… we’re all about the power of connecting with others through letters, words and visual arts. Why wait for people's birthdays to communicate by post? If we let people know what they mean to us on the normal days, it can mean so much more. 

We work in a range of community settings from care homes to schools, hospitals to hospices, prisons to wellbeing groups. We place artists in each setting to inspire others to share what’s important or helpful to them through letters, words and visual arts. 

We aim to ensure everyone we work with is given a platform to be well and truly heard in the wider community.  We join up different parts of a community who would not otherwise meet. We hope this leads to greater understanding, empathy and continued engagement between people or groups who may otherwise walk past each other on the street or assume they have nothing in common.

We give people space and support to engage with their own creativity, imaginations and words and share the results with others. Words that enable them to share what’s important or helpful to them, words that allow them to connect with others, words that build other, imaginary worlds and words that help them explore alternative pathways. In many settings we also share words as part of an artwork. We run stand-alone workshops as well as programmes of work in single or linked settings. It's important for our work that it is artist-led, as we believe that arts and creativity can be a liberating and enriching experience for everyone. We work with writers, poets, visual artists, designers and theatre practitioners who share, not just their work, but aspects of themselves and their lives to inspire others to do the same. We draw out what we have in common and highlight positive human connections.

At a time when human beings are tweeting, refreshing, scrolling, uploading and searching for connection and engagement through digital devices more than ever before, we celebrate the power of the handwritten word to truly connect people in meaningful and positive ways, open doors and challenge assumptions. Whatever we’re searching for on our devices (connection, acceptance, attention?)  we don’t always find it. Some words, a letter, an artwork or a small act of kindness can sometimes be a much better way to understand others and connect with them.