United by a desire to build a better society

The RSA website describes Fellowship as:

“a network of people from a wide range of backgrounds, united by a desire to build a better society”

This felt apparent today when I met with Naz Koser of MWMMusic and Immy Kaur in Urban Coffee Company’s Church Street emporium. [The places we meet and spend money are important, if we are to put in to practice our aspirations of a better society. Hence the mention.]

Naz has applied for RSA Catalyst support to take her brave and inspiring vision around music making to the next step. Immy and I know little to nothing about making music, however the three of us readily connected in a conversation which was about disruption, system change, and civic entrepreneurialism. We referred a few times to Tessy Britton’s thinking and practical action around system change, and to the Hub Launchpad programme coming to Birmingham in early 2014.

I’m really grateful to Richard Pickford for suggesting that we meet, and pleased that being a Fellow of the RSA facilitates these connections. It feels that, for me, being an active Fellow in the West Midlands is about finding your tribe so that you feel supported and can be challenged to grow and turn ideas in to action. I’m not sure if this is part of the thinking behind the RSA Fellowship SkillsBank, if so, we perhaps need to find a new way to articulate it so that it sounds less functional.