Social Network for RSA Fellows

A BIG Fellowship Project: what could we do?

One of the things that formed part of the Fellowship Council's strategy was to experiment with some specialist networks, with the idea of stimulating events, projects and forums.... and these are being developed on a number of fronts through various working groups, the activities for which you can see on this website. There are also three particularly important working groups looking at ways that RSA and Fellows might develop individual projects together and through partnerships.

In addition to these ideas many Fellows are interested in possibly developing a BIG Fellowship project, and I was interested in getting some ideas for this. The idea of a Fellowship project has its roots in some of RSA's historical projects - one in particularly noteworthy was the RSA Trees project. From the 1750's through to the 1820's, the RSA encouraged tree planting across the UK. Well over 50 million trees were planted giving rise to many of the woods we enjoy in Britain today.

From conversations on this to date, Fellows seem less interested in a National 'campaign' .... and more interested in a project which:

- Would help Fellows do something constructive in their local communities e.g make something, connect the community, transform something.....
- Give Fellows the opportunity for *working* together on something which would help Fellows get connected with each other, with other local groups and community members.
- Raise the profile of the RSA nationally and internationally.
- Something which would have cohesion, momentum, support and includes lots of fun!

What novel ideas could we come up with? Could we borrow or adapt existing great ideas?

Here are three existing projects that I love that I think have some potential for scaling up through a Fellowship wide project:

1. Sit Stop

http://sitstop.co.uk/

Sit Stop is an initiative launched in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames by an independent community group, originating from a group of RSA Fellows through the Coffee House Challenge.

At Sit Stop our purpose is to make life just a little bit easier for those in need of somewhere to sit down. These individuals may be elderly, pregnant, disabled or unwell; they may have tired feet or be laden down with shopping or they may just need somewhere to wait for a few minutes. It does not matter what drives the need. If they go into a shop or business displaying the SIT STOP logo then it is absolutely fine to ask for a seat or use one if it is available; they do not have to be a customer of the store or using the services provided there.

2. The Fruit Tree Giveaway

http://lacma.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/fruit-trees-where-are-they-now/
http://www.fallenfruit.org/

Some seriously amazing people in LA started a project called Fallen Fruit a few years ago. The project has mapped fruit trees which fall over onto common land. This has led to mapping walks, collecting 'public fruit' and community jam making sessions. They have started The Fruit Tree Giveaway - Over the course of two days, Fallen Fruit facilitated the distribution of 300 fruit trees to families who filled out adoption forms and promised to plant their tree in a public place or on the perimeter of their property.

3. Men's Sheds

http://www.mensheds.com.au/

A movement in Australia for establishing communal Men's Sheds. Their aims:

- To address the issues of men’s health (physical, emotional, social and spiritual well-being) in the community.
- To engage men of all ages, differently-abled, youth, veterans and other groups of men of the communities in regional, rural, remote and urban areas
- To support the social interaction of men in transitional periods (e.g. Redundancy, Bereavement, Retirement, Ill Health, Relocation, Divorce, Respite Care) in a non-exclusive, non-judgemental way;
- To share, disseminate and preserve the skills, abilities and interests that are relevant to the community.

What ideas do you have for a BIG Fellow's Project?
What sort of project would you be prepared to lead on?
How could the RSA and Fellowship Council help make this happen?
Would you be prepared to present you ideas?
Are you part of an organisation or community that would like to get involved?
What would be practical?
Could a larger solution that is proven to engage people be more time/effort effective that very tailored projects... or could be seen as an idea to kick start community connectivity?

Don't hold back! Tell us what you think!

Comment by Daniel Snell on March 3, 2010 at 12:26: i love this tessy. definitely the way forward. what community could we grow here? how could the different members support each other? how could their be mutual benefits: share best practice, opportunities, joint bids etc...build a network of working and successful practioners of social benefit - love it

Comment by Peter John Mansfield on March 3, 2010 at 12:41: I think we have still to prove that we can make things happen in our localities, before trying to undertake something that's big from the start. Anything worth doing will spread from one locality to others, and become big the right way. Don't let's confuse network messages with action! - they can get in the way.

Comment by Howard Lake on March 3, 2010 at 12:45: Yes, good idea. I'd favour putting the RSA's support and resources behind an existing initiative, like the ones you suggested. There are plenty of well thought out and valuable initiatives around, but they usually lack the expertise, right contacts, sufficient people, and funding required to implement them effectively or on a large enough scale.

Comment by Sue Thomas on March 3, 2010 at 13:00: Tessy, thanks for inviting me to comment. I like the idea of a Big Project, and especially the idea of Fallen Fruit. I visit California fairly regularly and was very inspired by this project when I heard about it there. I've always wondered why more of our public spaces don't feature fruit - I believe Central Park has numerous fruit trees - but someone once told me it's because they leave too much mess. Seems a small price to pay! It also connects nicely with the rather more anarchic idea of Guerilla Gardening

I also like Fallen Fruit because it uses social media and is very flexible, giving it the chance to thrive in all sorts of urban, suburban and rural environments. And of course it's linked to food, health and finance - all important issues.

And actually, these 3 ideas could merge into one. Benches near the fruit trees, and Men's Sheds where viable - although I'd really like to see some women's sheds too. Maybe the benches (and the jams) could be made in the sheds? :)

I agree with Howard that building on an existing idea is a good one and enables us to learn from their mistakes, giving the project a better chance of success.

Comment by Roxanne Persaud on March 3, 2010 at 14:42: After years of flirting, I think I've just fallen in love with the RSA.

(more thoughtful stuff later!)

Comment by Jemima Gibbons on March 3, 2010 at 14:43: Hi Tessy,

Thanks for pushing us to think about this and for setting the tone for this with your illuminating, vibrant examples - spot on as always!

I agree with Howard in that supporting and reinforcing existing initiatives would be a great way forward.

Having a small daughter in London means I think a lot about:

(1) activities we can do together
(2) food - how to get her to experiment and also to be excited by food/ where it comes from
(3) doing something about ugly urban wasteland

So I like the idea of community gardening, especially vegetable/ fruit growing. Where people can come together to work on a useful project and maybe be educated about diet/ lifestyle/ self sufficiency at the same time - especially if we could get the odd celebrity (chef?) in to do a workshop/ masterclass.

There was a great article in the Guardian some time ago about Michelle Obama's vegetable garden at the White House. I wonder if there isn't some way of doing some sort of great mash-up project, linking Fallen Fruit with Guerilla Gardening and also maybe connecting to Channel 4's fantastic Landshare project?

Of course, personally, I would be especially motivated by anything that engaged toddlers, which makes me think that doing something that involves the entire community: old, middle-aged, young and unemployed/ professional etc, would have to be the best thing and something we all should strive for.

Comment by Paddy Deans on March 3, 2010 at 15:15: What would I like to do? Frankly - nothing. I am a latent aspirational couch potato. Unfortunately the demands of working life and life generally requires input and activity from me, so I always have to view requests and initiatives in the most simple and practical way.
Firstly, I'd open up the Big Fellowship Project to all the RSA Encounter groups, City Network groups (they have a variety of names) and I'd ask if all the RSA Area Network Outreach Managers could use this as a brief to help them link with their regional Fellows by means of their local Encounter groups or equivalent. Any worthwhile initiatives or outcomes could be distilled into group projects by the Area Manager requiring at least two project adoptees and posted up for action and development on the local Ning sites. Michael Devlin may have something to say about this suggestion, but I can see some real win/win outcomes for all parties concerned.

Tessy, I'm looking forward to your coming up to the North East regional AGM on the 17th March and can chat with you about this at a convenient moment in the course of the evening. I'll e-mail MD and see if by chance he might be available to attend as well and even if possible, introduce the newly (not quite), appointed Network Manager for our Region.

Comment by David Wilcox on March 3, 2010 at 22:31: Thanks Tessy for this inspiration. I too agree with Howard ... back one or more existing ideas and projects. There's plenty of ideas brainstorming around ... it's making them happen that's difficult. So I see the issue as, how can Fellows individually and/or together support social benefit projects. We could identity a range of projects as testers for what might be needed ... maybe post and vote as we did here for internal developments.

Comment by Michelle Knight on March 4, 2010 at 0:23: Some lovely ambitious thoughts here. Do you know of the Incredible Edibles in Todmorden? Might well be worth exploring in connection with the Fruit Tree Giveaway / Fallen Fruit ideas: http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/ - they are aiming to become a completely self-sustaining town and are planting up roundabouts, grass verges etc throughout their civic spaces with fruit and vegetables for all residents to harvest freely.

A big project idea I've begun thinking about and looking into and would like to throw into the mix for consideration is:

The Arts & Culture Bus

This idea came to me when I heard Dame Liz Forgan make an incidental remark about how hard it was for many schools to get their pupils to arts and cultural events because of the cost and logistical difficulties of transport. I have been toying with how a charity might be set up that tackles this, either through providing the transport directly (leasing agreements with bus companies, drumming up donations of out nof use vehicles and retired voluntary drivers) or by providing funding and logistical support to facilitate schools in arranging visits to cultural events for their pupils.

I have been working on initial thoughts about possible business models, although I'm not sure I could go it alone. It just strikes me as the most incredible shame that the next generation of arts attenders are missing out on influential and transformative experiences in their formative years because coach travel is pricey and full of hassle and bureaucracy. I believe it cannot be beyond the wit of an impassioned and committed sector such as ours to figure this out for the better.

There is a company in San Diego in the USA which offers a similar service to schoolchildren in that particular state (San Diego Arts Bus Express http://www.artsbusxpress.org/) but as far as my initial research shows there isn't anything like this that exists in a permanent, sustainable way around the UK.

Might this be something fellows could put their collective weight and experience behind? Does it excite / fire anyone?