News in Brief

Participate in the Fellowship Council elections!

A quick reminder that nominations for the RSA Fellowship Council will close at 12 noon on 22 May. Voting will begin in June. Your vote will contribute to shaping the future of the Council and the Fellowship. Please see the RSA website for further details.

 

Innovations from RSA events

The RSA doesn’t just bring together speakers of world renown. It also introduces new ways to share information, to create debate, and encourage participation.

On 22 May, the events team are presenting a discussion between international speakers – on stage and via weblinks. In addition, the event marks the launch of a pioneering film distribution model, “Indie Screenings”, which allows anyone to buy a license to screen selected independent films whenever and wherever they like - and, crucially, to charge for tickets and keep the profits. The new software, which was developed by Torchbox, calculates a bespoke license fee, depending on various factors including who/where/when the user intends to screen. For example, a local campaign group will pay about £60 to screen in their church hall, whereas a multinational oil company screening to 5,000 staff would pay around £10,000.

George Monbiot, Nicholas Stern and Franny Armstrong will take part in a live webcast discussion following ‘The Age of Stupid’ Indie Screenings UK launch event. The evening will also feature an exclusive video broadcast from Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Vice-President of the Maldives, on “Climate and Change and the Art of the Possible”. The Maldives is the first country to commit to going carbon neutral in ten years.

RSA Screens - The Age of Stupid
22 May 2009, 7.30pm


Other highlights from the events team in June:

Internationally acclaimed writer and scholar Reza Aslan argues for a dramatic re-orientation in how we think about the ongoing struggle with Islamic extremism.
RSA Thursday - God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror
4 Jun 2009, 1pm

Join "The Economic Naturalist" Robert Frank as he asks: How can we break out of our current, wasteful consumption pattern? Will a new taxation system solve all of our woes?  And can we have ‘more of everything’ by eliminating economic waste?
Finding New Opportunities Amid the Economic Wreckage
10 Jun 2009, 1pm