I would be interested in discussing the archival material held at the House and its relevance to the RSA’s restated mission. Shipley’s original mission statement was to embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve manufactures and extend commerce. This was reworded around the time of the 250th anniversary to become the five manifesto challenges: encouraging enterprise, zero waste, resilient communities, capable population and global citizenship. Now the RSA exists to remove the barriers to social progress. What does this mean 255 years after Shipley?
Posted by Lorella Brocklesby
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As the RSA’s Archivist, I spend quite a lot of time thinking about how our archives relate to what we do today…so I am of course both pleased and interested to see this posting.
It’s a big question! I think part of the answer is that our archives help tell us how we got to where we are. The details may change – we don’t now need to encourage the cultivation of the plant madder, which was needed as a dye, which was one of our concerns at our first meeting back in 1754. But many relatively specific concerns do endure over time and in this sense we are often building upon the work of the past; I and my colleagues in the Archive team have recently been thinking about the environmental issues the RSA has tackled throughout its history as part of the upcoming Arts and Ecology event Respond! (see http://www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/projects/respond/whats_on/rsa-archive)
But to be successful any mission statement needs people to implement it! And here our archives show us to be the distinctive organisation we still are today; the minutes of our first meeting refer to the ‘some Noblemen, Clergy, Gentleman & Merchants’ who founded us. So, not a learned society, not a professional body, but one drawn from a comparatively wide – and soon becoming ever wider – section of society, and one which encompassed not just intellectual contemplation of issues but, in the notion of ‘Encouragement’, initially manifested through the giving of awards or ‘premiums’, of active engagement with them. All this still pertains today.
And beyond this, anyone familiar with the archives, with our history, cannot fail to be struck by the ambition, the variety of ideas and the enthusiasm that is shown there. I don’t feel best placed to comment on the specific barriers to social progress in the 21st century – but I do know that our archives can inform and inspire us as we seek to interpret our mission in those terms today.
I would be most interested to hear the views of others on this!
Shipley in my view did a great job. Is it a mission, a vision or an objective? Let others debate.
Encouragement is positive. The arts embraces all skills that require practice toward never attainable perfection. Manufactures and Commerce ensure our discussions are anchored in reality.
Today’s information technologies enable us to engage one another by many different media that generate buzz and fresh thinking.
Social change is OK but too abstract. Perhaps the manifesto challenges were too restrictive. We need more FOCUS on a few BIG THEMES…..What about EDUCATION. INNOVATION. SUSTAINABILITY????