Latest thinking

Could public procurement reduce excessive pay?

Blog

28 Apr 2014

Joe Hallgarten

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation today published a useful report on tackling poverty through public procurement. The ideas, building on the methodology created back in 2002 for including social and community benefits in public procurement. are practical and sensible. With public procurement as a percentage of GDP barely declining at all during or since the recession, the impact of taking up these recommendations could be significant. Public procurement has already been affected in London and elsewhere by the Living Wage campaign.   Building commitments to local training and employment into contracts and enabling smaller tender 'lots' to give smaller local enterprises a chance of successful bidding could create maximum value for the taxpayer by reducing welfare dependency and keeping the financial fruits of procurement within communities.

The Big Idea: a directory for media companies to access more diverse voices

Blog

22 Apr 2014

The Big Idea: a directory, advice and contacts for writers of colour to help media companies access voices that better reflect our diverse society.

The acceptable face of creativity: how Media Diversified creatively challenges the "ubiquity of whiteness" in the media

Blog

15 Apr 2014

A couple of months ago, I was watching music videos with friends when a band made up of Cambridge graduates came on the TV. As images of the musicians flashed in front of our eyes, someone made a “joke” about one of the non-white band members: ‘he can’t have gone to Cambridge, he’s black’. While it’s easy for some to dismiss this as a harmless aside, this one comment tells us a lot about British society. Even if a minority ethnic person succeeds at their creative endeavour (whether academic or musical), the focus is not on their talent, but the colour of their skin.<!--more-->

Developing through social enterprise

Blog

10 Apr 2014

Jonathan Schifferes

This is a guest blog by Kate Swade of Shared Assets, reflecting on the Developing Socially Productive Places conference at the RSA, 2nd April 2014.

Reflections on 'Developing Socially Productive Places'

Blog

09 Apr 2014

Brhmie Balaram

This is a guest blog by Alison Seabrooke, Chief Executive of Community Development Foundation. Alison spoke at our recent conference at the RSA on developing socially productive places.

The Big Idea - unleashing the power of talking in London

Blog

07 Apr 2014

The Big Idea: reducing loneliness and isolation through launching an annual Talk to me London Day to encourage people to speak to complete strangers.

Developing Socially Productive Places

Blog

31 Mar 2014

Public and private investors seeking to create socially and economically successful places have historically focussed on the economic aspect of that equation.  In keeping with our commitment to finding practical solutions for today’s challenges, the RSA is seeking to redress this imbalance: our current open innovation Premium is focussed on boosting investment in people, and we are now pleased to announce a conference this Wednesday in conjunction with British Land, focussing on the place aspect of this tripartite.

The Big Idea… More than just coffee!

Blog

24 Mar 2014

Hello! I’m Mark Ashmore FRSA and I founded Future Artists where we work under the motto “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible”. I wanted to introduce you to a project that RSA Catalyst is helping me to crowdfund which I think totally epitomises this phrase, so hang on to your hats while I take you on a journey to a wet and windy city in the North West of England…

Chatting to the neighbours: makes us happier, saves lives, comes to the rescue when we lose our keys

Blog

20 Mar 2014

Matthew Parsfield

At about 7.30am last Thursday I heard a tentative knock on my front door.