The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

is used more frequently than the full legal name (The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The RSA's mission expressed in the founding charter was to "embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve our manufacturers and extend our commerce", but also of the need to alleviate poverty and secure full employment. On its website, the RSA characterises itself as "an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today's social challenges". Notable past fellows (before 1914, members) include

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, Stephen Hawking,

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...

, and Tim Berners-Lee. Today, the RSA has fellows elected from 80 countries worldwide.

History

The Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi

Founded in 1754 by

William Shipley William Shipley (baptised: 2 June 1715 – 28 December 1803) was an English drawing master, social reformer and inventor who, in 1754, founded an arts society in London that became The Royal Society of Arts, or Royal Society for the Encourage ...

as the

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, founded in 1754, was the precursor of The ''Royal'' Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce now more usually known as the RSA. The original Society gaine ...

, it was granted a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

in 1847, and the right to use the term "Royal" in its name by

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

in 1908. Members of the society became known as "fellows" from 1914 onwards. In the nineteenth century,

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

of the Works of Industry of All Nations was organised by Prince Albert,

Henry Cole Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of ...

, Francis Henry,

George Wallis George Wallis (1811–1891) was an artist, museum curator and art educator. He was the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection at South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria & Albert Museum) in London. Early years George Wallis, son of John Wal ...

, Charles Dilke and other members of the society as a celebration of modern

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

technology and design.

Leadership

The RSA's Patron was

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. The RSA's president is

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

(who replaced her father, The Duke of Edinburgh, in 2011), its Chairman is Tim Eyles, and its Chief Executive since September 2021 is former

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Chief Economist

Andy Haldane Andrew G. Haldane, (; born 18 August 1967) is a British economist who worked at the Bank of England between 1989 and 2021 as the chief economist and executive director of monetary analysis and statistics. He resigned from the Bank of England i ...

Presidents

Fellowship

Fellowship is granted to applicants "who are aligned with the RSA's vision and share in our values." Some prospective fellows are approached by the RSA and invited to join in recognition of their work; some are nominated by existing fellows and RSA staff, or by partner organisations; others make their own applications. Prospective fellows can apply for membership (which is reviewed by a formal admissions panel); others are recommended to the Fellowship. There have been nearly 28,000 Fellows since 1754. Fellows of the RSA are entitled to use the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"FRSA" after their name. As of 2022, Fellows pay a one-off registration fee of £75, and an annual subscription of £182. Fellows of the RSA gain access to the RSA Library and to other premises in central London.

Prizes

Originally modelled on the Dublin Society for improving Husbandry, Manufacturers and other Useful Arts, the RSA, from its foundation, offered ''prizes'' through a Premium Award Scheme that continued for 100 years. Medals and, in some cases, money were awarded to individuals who achieved success in published challenges within the categories of Agriculture, Polite Arts, Manufacture, Colonies and Trade, Chemistry and Mechanics. Successful submission included agricultural improvements in the cultivation of crops and reforestation, devising new forms of machinery, including an extendable ladder to aid firefighting that has remained in use relatively unchanged, and artistic skill, through submissions by young students, many of whom developed into famous artists e.g.

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

who at the age of 10 was awarded a silver medal for his drawing of a dog. The RSA originally specifically precluded premiums for

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed solutions. Today the RSA continues to offer premiums. The RSA awards three medals – the Albert Medal, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, and the Bicentenary Medal. Medal winners have included

Sir Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for ...

, and Professor Stephen Hawking.

Royal Designers for Industry

In 1936, the RSA awarded the first distinctions of

Royal Designers for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustaine ...

(RDI or HonRDI), reserved for "those very few who in the judgment of their peers have achieved 'sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry'". In 1937, "The Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry" was established as an association with the object of "furthering excellence in design and its application to industrial purposes": membership of the Faculty is automatic for (and exclusive to) all RDIs and HonRDIs. The Faculty currently has 120 Royal Designers (RDI) and 45 Honorary Royal Designers (non-British citizens who are awarded the accolade of HonRDI): the number of designers who may hold the distinction of RDI at any one time is strictly limited. The Faculty consists of practitioners from fields as disparate as engineering, graphics, interaction, product, furniture, fashion, interiors, landscape, and urban design. Past and present members include

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

Enid Marx Enid Crystal Dorothy Marx, RDI (20 October 1902 – 18 May 1998), was an English painter and designer, best known for her industrial textile designs for the London Transport Board and the Utility furniture Scheme. Marx was the first female eng ...

, Sir

Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 fo ...

, Sir

Jonathan Ive Sir Jonathan Paul Ive (born 27 February 1967) is a British industrial and product designer, as well as businessman. Ive was the chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 until 2019 (known as senior vice principal of industrial design ...

, Dame

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

, Sir

James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princip ...

, Sir Tim Berners-Lee,

Manolo Blahnik Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez (; born 27 November 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands (Spain), to a Czech father ...

Naoto Fukasawa Naoto Fukasawa (; born 1956) is a Japanese designer, author, and educator, working in the fields of product and furniture design. He is known for his product design work with the Japanese retail company Muji, as well as collaborations with compa ...

Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. She is the founder of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market. In recognition of the notable design contributions of Kawakubo, an exhibition of her designs entitled '' Rei ...

Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as '' L'eau d'Issey'', which became his best-known product. Life and career Miyake was born on 22 April 1938 in Hiroshi ...

Dieter Rams Dieter Rams (born 20 May 1932) is a German industrial designer and retired academic who is closely associated with the consumer products company Braun, the furniture company Vitsœ, and the functionalist school of industrial design. His unobtru ...

Sergio Pininfarina Sergio Pininfarina, born Sergio Farina, (8 September 1926
. – 3 July 2012) was an Italian

, Alvar Aalto,

Vico Magistretti Vico Magistretti (October 6, 1920 – September 19, 2006) was an Italian architect who was also active as an industrial designer, furniture designer, and academic. As a collaborator of humanist architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, one of Magistretti ...

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

, Charles Eames,

Richard Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American people, American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, ...

Saul Bass Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career, Bass wor ...

, Raymond Loewy, George Nelson,

Paul Rand Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum; August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American art director and graphic designer, best known for his corporate Logotype, logo designs, including the logos for IBM, United Parcel Service, UPS, Enron, Morn ...

Carlo Scarpa Carlo Scarpa (2 June 1906 – 28 November 1978) was an Italian architect, influenced by the materials, landscape and the history of Venetian culture, and by Japan. Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the tec ...

Vuokko Nurmesniemi Vuokko Hillevi Lilian Eskolin-Nurmesniemi (born 12 February 1930 in Helsinki) is a Finnish textile designer. She is best known for her work as one of the two leading designers of the Marimekko company. Her signature striped ''Jokapoika'' shirt he ...

Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...

Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics. Yamamoto has won notable awards f ...

Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal. E ...

, and more.

Activities

In Great Britain and Ireland, the RSA offers regional activities to encourage Fellows to address local topics of interest and to connect with other Fellows in their locality. The British Regions are: London, Central, North, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales and, Ireland. The RSA has a presence around the world under its RSA Global scheme with a notable presence in Australia, New Zealand and the USA."Fellowship"
RSA. Retrieved 16 March 2017.

Events

The RSA's public events programme is a key part of its charitable mission to make world-changing ideas and debate freely available to all. Over 100 keynote lectures, panel discussions, debates, and documentary screenings are held each year, many of which are live-streamed over the web. Events are free and open to the public, and mp3 audio files and videos are made available on the RSA's website and YouTube page. Recent speakers on the RSA's stage have included

Sir Ken Robinson Sir Ken Robinson (4 March 1950 – 21 August 2020) was a British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was director of the Arts in Schools Project (1985 ...

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

Sir David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and philosopher. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993) ...

Michael Sandel Michael Joseph Sandel (; born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosopher and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School, where his course Justice was the university's first course t ...

, Nassim Nicholas Taleb,

Martha Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...

, Desmond Tutu,

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. P ...

, Susan Cain, Dan Pink,

Dan Ariely Dan Ariely ( he, דן אריאלי; born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. Ariely is the founder of the research instit ...

, Brene Brown,

Slavoj Zizek Slavoj may refer to: * Karel Slavoj Amerling (1807–1884), Czech teacher, writer, and philosopher * Slavoj Černý (born 1937), Czech former cyclist *Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultu ...

, David Cameron, and

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

. The choice of speaker for the recent annual Presidential lecture has been a matter of interest in the press. Danish professor Björn Lomborg, was chosen; his latest book, ''Cool It'', suggests that the imminent demise of polar bears is a myth. As president of the RSA, Prince Philip's first choice of speaker was Ian Plimer, professor of mineral geology at Adelaide University, but this was rejected as too controversial, as Plimer argues that the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming is unproven. On 14 January 2010, the RSA in partnership with Arts Council England hosted a one-day conference in London called "State of the Arts". A number of speakers from various disciplines from art to government gathered to talk about the state of the arts industry in the United Kingdom. Notable speakers included

Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ...

MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport and his counterpart Ben Bradshaw MP, who was then the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.

RSA Animate (animation series)

Excerpts from the events programme form the basis for the 10-minute

whiteboard animation Whiteboard animation is the process of which an author physically draws and records an illustrated story using a whiteboard, or whiteboard-like surface, and marker pens. The animations frequently are aided with narration by script. The authors co ...

s as shown on the theRSAorg YouTube channel. The series was created as a way of making important, socially-beneficial ideas as accessible, clear, engaging and universal as possible. The series is produced and audio-edited at the RSA, and the animations are created by RSA Fellow Andrew Park at Cognitive. The first 14 of these had gained 46 million views as of 2011, making it the no.1 nonprofit YouTube channel worldwide. The first animation in the RSA Animate series was based on

Renata Salecl Renata Salecl (born 1962) is a Slovene philosopher, sociologist and legal theorist. She is a senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, and holds a professorship at Birkbeck College, Univ ...

's speech delivered for RSA on her book about choice.

Projects

The Society offered the first national public examinations in 1882 that led to the formation of the RSA Examinations Board now included in the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations Board. In 1876, a predecessor of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, the ''National Training School for Music'', was founded by the RSA. The RSA devised a scheme for commemorating the links between famous people and buildings, by placing plaques on the walls – these continue today as "

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

s" which have been administered by a range of government bodies. The first of these plaques was, in fact, of red terracotta erected outside a former residence of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

(since demolished). The Society erected 36 plaques until, in 1901, responsibility for them was transferred to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(which changed the colour of the plaques to the current blue) and, later, the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

(the G.L.C.) and, most recently, English Heritage. Similar schemes are now operated in all the

constituent countries of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), since 1922, comprises three constituent countries and a region: England, Scotland, and Wales (which collectively make up the region of Great Britain), as well as Northern Ireland, a ...

. In 1929, The Society purchased the entire village of

West Wycombe West Wycombe is a small village famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is three miles west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx of touri ...

. After extensive repairs, the village was legally conveyed by deed to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. During the 1980s, the RSA worked with the

Comino Foundation The Comino Foundation is a United Kingdom-based educational charitable organization. It was founded in 1971 by, and takes its name, from Australia-born engineer and inventor Demetrius Comino and his daughter Anna.Darbyshire, Anthony, and Duckwo ...

and established a Comino Fellowship Committee 'to change the cultural attitude to industry from one of lack of interest or dislike to one of concern and esteem'. This eventually led to a joint government/industry initiative to promote 1986 as "Industry Year", with the RSA and the Comino Foundation providing core funding of £250,000 – which persuaded the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

to raise £1 million and government departments to provide £3 million.Darbyshire, Anthony, and Duckworth, Eric (2011)
''Demetrius Comino: A life and legacy of achievement''
, Comino Foundation. Retrieved 22 February 2012. In July 2008, the RSA became a sponsor of an

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

, The

RSA Academy Gospel Oak School (formerly The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Academy and Willingsworth High School) is one of the new academies opened in England. The school's history dates back to September 1958, when Willingsworth Secondary Modern School to ser ...

, which opened in September 2008. A New building for the school was completed in September 2010. In 2021 it was announced that the school would no longer be associated with the RSA. Projects include Arts and Ecology, Citizen Power, Connected Communities, Design and Society, Education, Public Services, Social Brain, and Technology in a Cold Climate. There are six schools in the RSA Family of Academies, all in the West Midlands, including

Whitley Academy Whitley Academy (formerly Whitley Abbey Community School) was a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Whitley, Coventry, England. The school was rebuilt and opened on 13 October 2000, replacing the former Whitley Abbey Compre ...

. The former RSA Academy in Tipton was also a member, until its disassociation in 2021. Past projects include delivering fresh drinking water to the developing world, rethinking intellectual property from first principles to produce a Charter (published as the Adelphi Charter), investigating schemes to manage international migration and exploring the feasibility of a UK-wide

personal carbon trading Carbon rationing, as a means of reducing CO2 emissions to contain climate change, could take any of several forms. One of them, personal carbon trading, is the generic term for a number of proposed emissions trading schemes under which emissions ...

system. It still promotes the practice of inclusive design, and is working with artists to communicate ideas about environmental sustainability (for example, through one of the RSA's past projects,

WEEE Man The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is the European Community Directive 2012/19/EU on electronic waste, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) which, together with the Restriction of Hazardous Subs ...

, and currently through the Arts and Ecology project). The RSA has been home to TEDxLambeth, a TEDx conference based in Lambeth, since October 2019.

RSA House

The RSA moved to its current home in 1774. The House, situated in John Adam Street, near the Strand in central London, had been purpose-designed by the Adam Brothers ( James Adam and

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

) as part of their innovative Adelphi scheme. The original building (6–8 John Adam Street) includes the Great Room, which features a magnificent sequence of paintings by Irish artist James Barry titled ''The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture'' and portraits of the Society's first and second presidents, painted by

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

and

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

respectively. On the RSA building's rear

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, the words "The Royal Society of Arts" are displayed (see photograph at right), although its full name is "The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce". The RSA has expanded into adjacent buildings, and now includes 2 and 4 John Adam Street and 18 Adam Street. The first occupant of 18 Adam Street was the Adelphi Tavern, which is mentioned in Dickens's ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...

''. The former private dining room of the Tavern contains a magnificent Adam ceiling with painted roundels by the school of Kauffman and Zucchi. A major refurbishment in 2012 by Matthew Lloyd Architects won a

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

London Award in 2013, and a RIBA

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

Award for Sustaining the Historic Environment, also in 2013.

Associated organisations

The origin of London's

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

lies in an attempt in 1755 by members of the RSA (then simply known as the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), principally the sculptor

Henry Cheere Sir Henry Cheere, 1st Baronet (1703 – 15 January 1781) was a renowned English sculptor and monumental mason.George Edward Cokayne, ed., ''The Complete Baronetage'', 5 volumes (no date, c.1900); reprint, (Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), ...

, to found an autonomous academy of arts to teach painting and sculpture. Prior to this a number of artists were members of the RSA, including Cheere and

, or were involved in small-scale private art academies, such as the

St Martin's Lane Academy The St Martin's Lane Academy, a precursor of the Royal Academy, was organised in 1735 by William Hogarth, from the circle of artists and designers who gathered at Slaughter's Coffee House at the upper end of St Martin's Lane, London. The artisti ...

. Although Cheere's attempt failed, the eventual

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

, called an 'Instrument', used to establish the Royal Academy of Arts over a decade later was almost identical to that drawn up by Cheere and the RSA in 1755.Gordon Sutton, ''Artisan or Artist?: A History of the Teaching of Art and Crafts in English Schools'' (London: Pergamon Press, 2014) p.297 The RSA also hosted the first ''exhibition of contemporary art'' in 1760. Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds were among those who exhibited at this first exhibition, and were subsequently founder members of The

in 1768. An 1852 photography exhibition led to the creation of the Photographic Society of London in 1853.

References

External links

*
Journal of the Society of Arts (1783–1843)Journal of the Society of Arts (1852–1908)Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (1908–1987)RSA Journal (1987–2019)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Society For The Encouragement Of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Cultural organisations based in the United Kingdom Arts in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1754 Grade I listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade I listed institutional headquarters Learned societies of the United Kingdom 1754 establishments in Great Britain

History

Leadership

Presidents

Fellowship

Prizes

Royal Designers for Industry

Activities

Events

RSA Animate (animation series)

Projects

RSA House

Associated organisations

See also

References

Further reading

External links