Donate RSA Journal+
Become a Fellow today
Donate

Arts and culture

results
Arts In The Spotlight

Where art meets access

Riya Mahajan explains how The Whale reimagines the classic American novel, Moby-Dick, placing accessibility at the centre of immersive theatre.
23 Jul 2026 Riya Mahajan
Five silhouetted people stand in front of a large projection of an animal’s face and the text, “And as if a bolt of lightning had struck me, I realised something.” The scene’s dramatic lighting and reflective mood evoke the raw intensity found in immersive theatre productions like The Whale Moby-Dick.
Feature

Loosening canons

Pawlet Brookes, FRSA, MBE challenges the assumption that Black presence in classical music is recent or peripheral, tracing a lineage of composers, performers and cultural leaders whose contributions shaped the form over centuries. From Ignatius Sancho to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Brookes shows that Black artistry has long been central to classical innovation.
23 Jul 2026 Pawlet Brookes, MBE, FRSA
Black-and-white portrait of Ignatius Sancho, FRSA, a distinguished figure among black classical musicians, seated in a carved wooden chair and looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.
Feature

History in runes

Historian, writer and broadcaster Eleanor Barraclough, FRSA reveals a Viking world shaped not only by warfare, gods and exploration, but by poetry, riddles and storytelling.
23 Jul 2026 Eleanor Barraclough, FRSA
Six people in fur clothing sit and stand around a campfire in a village with huts and trees, talking together. The sky is dark and swirling, and the mood appears calm and communal.
Feature

The work of art

Professor Hasan Bakhshi examines the changing relationship between the arts and economics, arguing that culture is no longer simply required to prove its value through economic measures.
23 Jul 2026 Professor Hasan Bakhshi, MBE
A colourful illustration showing people working, painting, studying charts, dining at a café, viewing art, and constructing a building in a lively cityscape with various urban and creative activities depicted.
RSArchive

Our mutual friend

Charles Dickens is one of our most famous Fellows, but an examination of archival documents shows just how much the work of the Society influenced the daily life of this lion of English literature.
23 Jul 2026 Susan Bennett, HonFRSA
A sepia-toned portrait of an older man with a moustache, bushy sideburns, and a pointed beard, wearing a dark suit and looking directly at the camera, set against a pink background—evoking the dignified presence of Charles Dickens RSA and his enduring influence on literature.
Lead Feature

Art at heart

From children’s books to theatre, hospitals to prisons, Quentin Blake’s vision of illustration as a universal language has finally found a permanent home – at London’s historic New River Head.
23 Jul 2026 Nicholas Wroe
An elderly Quentin Blake in a wheelchair smiles and gestures with one arm outstretched, holding a straw hat. Behind him is a large, blue-and-white painting of people on a bridge. The setting is bright with a white wall.
Comment

The creative act

The Director of Strategy and Creative at the Royal Society of Arts introduces this special issue of the Journal, which explores the arts in all their forms.
23 Jul 2026 Charlotte Thomson
Charlotte Thomson with long red hair stands smiling in front of a column with the text "RSA The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.
event

Ben Oakley FRSA Opening

Join us for an in-conversation and woodblock printing workshop with artist Ben Oakley, to celebrate his recent exhibition ‘RSA got soul…sisters.’
22 Jul 2026 At the House
Two green silhouettes of a woman with an afro, facing each other. Each afro has a small fairy seated on top. The women have serene expressions and gracefully posed hands.
Artist interview

Artist interview – Omid Jahankhani

As part of his Preserved exhibition at the House, Omid Jahankhani had a conversation with our in-house Curator, Laure Barthelemy, about the process and inspiration behind his works.
15 Jun 2026 Laure Barthelemy
Black and white photo of two tall, rectangular wooden sculptures with rectangular cut-outs, standing in front of a dark wooden door, with some blurred branches in the foreground.