Does it make sense to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts?

October 24, 2019 5:55 AM

Hey Mefites: I'm considering joining as a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, which purports to be a group of 30k people focused on "supporting innovation in creative learning and development, public services and communities and economy, enterprise and manufacturing". Any help in deciding on whether or not the group actually does anything for its members and society would be helpful.

I do not live in the UK.

While the group and their goals sound very appealing to me, does anyone have any first hand experience of the group? It seems that the group is very UK-centric and doesn't really offer much support or meeting opportunities for non-UK based fellows.

Thanks in advance!

posted by JiffyQ to Human Relations (2 answers total)

I've looked into this a bunch of times. It seems to me that being a member from the United States doesn't make a lot of sense. A lot of the good benefits are related to being local.
posted by Jahaza at 12:57 PM on October 24, 2019

Even in the UK the benefits (in my opinion) mostly boil down to:
- being able to put FRSA after your name, if this might impress people you encounter (ie job searching)
- being able to use the Adams Street building as a work space

I think people who are social entrepreneurs probably like the networking aspect, if you are looking for financial backing or professional support but again, this is pretty much all taking place face to face at Adams Street as far as I know.

What do you want to get out of it?
posted by Concordia at 1:23 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]