RSA London Fellow-led networks

London Fellows run a range of local and thematic networks across the capital. Both Fellows and non-Fellows of the RSA are welcome to take part in discussions and activities. Contact the RSA London Area Team to find out more, or get in touch with the Network Leads directly using the links below.

If you'd like to join the mailing list for any of the following London-based networks, please let us know by emailing the team at networks@rsa.org.uk.

 

ARTIsts' NEtwork

The Fellow Artists’ Network (FAN), was started to give working artists the opportunity to network, discuss issues important to them and to show their (and others) work. Core members are Andrew Darke, Chair and environmental artist; Mark Power, Secretary and architect; Hazel Chandler, Creative Director and film maker and Philip Emery, Treasurer and musician. The group was founded by Ann Kristin Glenster FRSA.

Artists are often working alone in their studio or at their computer and we wanted to break that isolation and come together. We organised a visit to the Jubiloo at South Bank, designed by Mark Power; an evening of short films; a concert by ex-prisoners who then talked about how music helps them; a guided tour around the Saw Swee Hock student centre and so on. Discussions range from Arts Council funding to ethics and editorial control. We are currently developing the project "What's On Your Walls?" about what people put on their walls and what art means to them.  Look out for events advertised on the RSA website and join us - you don't have to be an artist, just interested in the arts and we welcome suggestions for events.

Find out more on the FAN website. 

Network Lead: Andrew Darke

 

Coaching Network

The RSA's Coaching Network mission is to turn coaching into a social contribution. It aims to engage Fellows in personal and social development by improving awareness and understanding of what coaching is; as well as increase access to cutting edge coaching methodologies across the RSA Fellowship and beyond. Specific goals include:

• Offering a resource for the RSA community to support Fellows and their projects including through pro bono coaching.
• Increasing access to coaching for social impact.
• Providing opportunities to learn about coaching and raise awareness of coaching across the Fellowship.
• Creating a forum for coaches to refine their own coaching approach.
• Running events that enable these goals.

Network Lead: Amina Aitsi-Selmi

 

Conscious Living Network

The Conscious Living Network engages fellows in “The Power to Create” through a series of thought provoking and interactive workshops, sharing wise and practical tools for daily living. The network aims for Fellows to engage more fully in a purposeful, creative, inspired and balanced personal & professional life.

Sessions in 2017 sessions are set for Wonder, Resilience, Wellbeing, Giving and Wisdom. The series is facilitated by Fellows César Gamio and Kirsten van Eckert with contributions from other Fellows and subject matter experts. The real value of the network lies in the powerful, transformative conversations and the connection & sense of community.

Network Lead: Cesar Gamio

 

Creativity in Public Services Network

The Creativity in Public Services Network exists to enable Fellows to explore how to make the design and operation of public policy and services (defined broadly) more open to creative approaches, and to do so through events which are themselves creative in their format.  Our normal format is to co-design each meeting with an invited partner who is interested in a mutually informative dialogue with members of the network.  Our meetings last year used creative methods to explore new approaches to the disposal of human remains after death, the use of structured methods to promote creativity in public service management, and, as input to the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission, how to promote social justice alongside economic growth.  We also hold occasional more informal networking meetings.

Network Lead: Martin Wheatley

 

Greenwich Network

The Greenwich Network draws Fellows from all over south-east London; although we don’t have to live or work in Greenwich, it is a convenient place to visit with many transport links. We met quarterly in 2015 and 2016 for informal networking and sharing of ideas.  Topics for discussion and calls to action come from Fellows; we have contributed ideas and resources to a number of local projects across different themes including education, transport, and arts & heritage, because we are a geographic network. In 2017 we plan to meet around eight times, with the intention of achieving some continuity of action on local projects or national projects in a local context, as well as inviting new pitches and discussions. Watch out for meeting announcements in the London Newsletter, and sign up for stimulating and rewarding evenings.

Network Lead: Nic Vine

 

Inequality in Education Network

The Inequality in Education Network aims to provide high quality presenters from the education or political worlds and use them to lead discussion on an aspect of the drivers of unequal outcomes in education in England.

Network Lead: John Bayley

 

International Development Network

With the launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it is now more than ever that a more connected and coordinated approach to solving the world's biggest challenges is needed. In the true spirit of SDG 17 the International Development Network is about fostering collaboration. Collaboration through discussion, ideation, and practice.

The network is open to anyone with an interest, vested or otherwise, in the development of our global neighbours and communities.

The primary aim is to create a supportive environment for the sharing of ideas, best practice, and outside-the-box thoughts on how best to create sustainable positive impact. The secondary focus is to foster cross-sector relationships and transfers of knowledge.

If you have a suggestion for a topic that the network can explore or a project we might work on collaboratively, and/or are interested in leading activity please get in touch. 

Network Lead: Adam Boxer

 

Islington Network

Did you know there are about 1000 Fellows living or working in an Islington postcode? Many are brimming with energy, expertise and ideas, so Islington Network evenings are an opportunity to connect with a wide range of opportunities and skills, and also a chance to think about how Islington can be a better place for the fact that it hosts so many Fellows.

The network meets 4-5 times a year, sometimes with a discussion topic, sometimes focusing on bringing people together. There is an underlying theme of ‘The Islington I see’ in that we encourage people to describe what Islington looks like through their special interest lens, highlighting aspects of interest, concern or opportunity. Members also offer guided walks around parts of Islington they know best.

Network Lead: Valerie Iles

 

LGBT Creative Cultures Network

Leading cultural change and enriching society around diverse and inclusive LGBT+ issues via lecture series, creative interventions and networking events while reducing stigma and stereotyping of LGBT+ people.

We will aim to work towards conditions for change: working with education, arts, culture, as well as sports bodies and other workplaces (corporate, statutory and public bodies) to enhance engagement of LGBT people and bring LGBT cultural issues to the forefront.

We will aim to work towards creating a resource base of LGBT practitioners for educational, statutory bodies and media for the future use. It is a great opportunity for people who acted as informal ambassadors to work towards ‘Creating LGBT Ambassadorships structures’.

Network Lead: Niranjan Kamatkar

 

Mindfulness Network

The aim of the RSA’s Fellow-led Mindfulness Network is to engage, educate, and inspire Fellows to practise mindfulness and empower them to mainstream mindfulness in their lives and communities. The Network enables Fellows to access research, practice mindfulness together, and work with a network of practitioners, teachers and Fellows to share practical interventions. An important goal of mindfulness is to create the conditions for the enlightened thinking and collaborative action needed to address today's most pressing challenges.

Network Lead: Henry Ford

 

Performing Arts Network

The RSA Performing Arts Network is for the widest range of performing arts professionals in the RSA - working in drama, dance, music, live art, opera, circus, and more.  The aim is to consider the current role of the performing arts in the RSA, how we can contribute to there being more, and how we can increase awareness of the many ways in which work in the performing arts sector dovetails with the RSA's mission to enrich society through ideas and action.  Meetings of the network have considered such topics as Verbatim Theatre projects, drama in schools, commissioning in the health sector, and community focus and funding. We believe that the performing arts sector is not just about entertainment, it empowers audiences with knowledge and new perceptions, and many practitioners’ work ties in closely with the ambitions of the Power to Create.

Network Lead: Jackie Elliman

 

Reinventing Work Network

Inspired by Frederic Laloux’s book Reinventing Organisations, The Reinventing Work Network is about distributed leadership, a focus on purpose and an invitation to wholeness at work. They are exploring the developing organisational forms that support these goals (called “teal” by Laloux), learning about what’s being done, and inviting the practical adoption of these approaches by RSA Fellows, their organisations, and the RSA. You might have heard RSA talks by Laloux or by Jos de Blok, whose Dutch home-nursing group Buurtzorg is a standard-bearer for the movement. Buurtzorg is structured so that nurses organise themselves. They have no “managers”, and have cut costs to the health service by 40 per cent, while improving quality of care and employee satisfaction. The Reinventing Work network is a gathering-place for people who are leading their organisations towards “teal”, supporting change as consultants, or seeking to inspire change within their own organisations.

Take a look at the Network's Starter Pack for more context and information. 

Network Lead: François Moscovici

 

Street Wisdom

Street Wisdom is a global social enterprise with a mission to bring inspiration to every street on earth. It’s a technology that allows anyone, anywhere to get unusual inspiration from their everyday surroundings. Led by volunteer facilitators on city streets across the world, free Street Wisdom workshops give participants the skills to access the ‘invisible university’ that’s all around them and find fresh answers to personal or work-related questions – with profound results. Each event lasts three hours and can be set up and managed by anyone with free resources and support available at www.streetwisdom.org. Street Wisdom is growing around the world thanks to the support of the RSA and its Street Wizard Fellows.

Network Lead: Mark Brown

 

Sustainability network

This network provides an opportunity for Fellows and others who work within, or have an interest in, the sustainability sphere to get together, share ideas and help the RSA take forward its sustainability agenda.

We meet quarterly and take an action-focused approach, aiming to not only provide an opportunity for those from across the diverse sector to meet and network but also to work together to take action on key areas of interest.

If you work in sustainability or have an interest in the field, we'd love to hear from you. Get involved! Learn more about the Network and its sub-groups here. 

Network Lead:  Susan Harris

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Join the mailing lists to be the first to find out about upcoming activity from each of these networks. In your email, please state which lists you would like to join, from the above networks.