How to stay relevant and have more friends [call for submissions]

Join the next creative revolution

[UPDATE 28 FEB 2025: THIS CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS IS NOW CLOSED, SO PLEASE DON’T SUBIT ANYTHING IN THE FORM]

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MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE artwork of all time is a fine example of thematic prompting: a nine-hole crazy golf course where each hole is designed by a different artist. I bet the very idea of this artwork pleases you without even seeing it¹ ⛳🧑‍🎨

Another good example is an online zine I saw recently that gives prompts to bloggers and publishes their responses together. Spoiler: if you stay till the end, I’m gonna do the same thing for you.

Part-process and part-artwork, a thematic prompt is a creative brief that invites individuals to produce distinct works united by a shared theme. Thematic prompting has some amazing benefits, truly, both for the giver of prompts, and the receiver of them.

For instance, I was in the role of giver during my masters when I thought it would be fun to give ten artists the following prompt, an obscure proverb I’d found in an old book: A briefcase may contain but sandwiches (it’s a weird one, I know, don’t ask me what it means). But I laser-printed it on brown paper cards and gave one to each of the ten artists².

Not only did I end up the proud owner of ten totally distinct artworks³, not only did the artists tell me the prompt had gotten them “unstuck,” but I built a nice circle of new friends around me AND came out appreciating the curation side of art making.

As for the benefits of receiving prompts, an example that stands out to me is the Write of Passage bootcamp where they gave us prompts like “What’s something people ask you often?” and, together with my fellow writers, I felt that same degree of purpose and creative freedom that I saw in those artists at uni.

Thematic prompting has many qualities. But its sickest quality has to be its ability to let the artist meet two fundamental needs that are usually at odds with each other: the need to stand out, and the need to fit in.

Standing out whilst also fitting in is a difficult thing to pull off, as you know. The sharpest distillation of this dilemma comes from the 19th-century British philosopher Bertrand Russell, who asked, “How can we combine that degree of individual initiative necessary for progress with that degree of social cohesion necessary for survival?”

In a thematic prompting exercise, that’s exactly what artists get to do! They get to make something as unapologetically individualistic as they like, whilst knowing all the while that it (they) will still belong in a group. That’s a pretty cool thing to do if you think about it. What else lets you honour both those needs so completely?

Whenever thematic prompting has been involved, I’ve never found myself worrying about my work becoming irrelevant. And I’ve never felt lonely either. And right now, with AI encroaching, and with loneliness on the rise, I’m starting to think that thematic prompts are not just an answer to loneliness and irrelevance, but potentially a new creative paradigm in their own right.

If the great artistic movements of the past rejected the follies that were bothering artists at the time (Impressionists rejected the rigid rules of classic painting, Dadaists rejected rationalism), then thematic prompting rejects being outskilled by AI. It rejects all of us continuing to be atomised and alone.

The talk around town is that it won’t be AI itself that steals the pen from our hand, it’ll be those who know how to prompt it, because the most coveted skills will no longer be those needed to complete tasks, but those needed to envision, network, direct and curate projects.

Similarly, levelling-up from creator to curator is, I think, a fantastic opportunity for artists. For all of the reasons mentioned here, giving out thematic prompts is one of the most impactful and socially cohesive acts you could possible do today.

Who knows, in a hundred years’ time, alongside the Dadaists and the Impressionists, students might study the Promptists who rescued themselves from irrelevance, loneliness and the distrust of audiences by outsmarting AI, banding together, and making interesting, interdependent, real human art.

So, if you fancy making some new friends, and making all of the moves that AI cannot make, then join me for a thematic prompt writing exercise!

Here is your prompt: write your life’s story in six words. Not five. Not seven. Just six words only. You can submit your story here and I’ll promise to do two things:

(1) I’ll publish all of your submissions together on 28 February 2025 and

(2) I’ll host a social Zoom call so anyone who participates can meet and get to know each other.

Take part! It’ll be fun. And share this post if you feel like it.

Any questions, let me know.

Happy writing!

Harrison 🙋‍♂️

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Thank you Claire at

Knots by Claire Coley

for suggesting edits.

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1. Believe it or not, I haven’t seen this crazy golf artwork myself. Someone told me about it when I was at art school and I loved it immediately, but I’ve never felt like seeing it IRL would beat the image I have in my mind.

2. I also gave each artist a sketchbook and an embarrassingly formal contract outlining the terms of the arrangement. If you’re curious, you can see it here. It’s jokes.

3. I can’t show you these thematically prompted artworks because they’re all in storage and (school boy error) I didn’t take any photos of them.