The development of an Arts Strategy represents an important milestone for RCSI and the management of their 200-year-old Art Collection. The collection includes 400+ artworks mainly portraits, sculpture, and silverware, and is a significant asset for RCSI, valued at €2m+. Following the successful launch of Women on Walls, RCSI developed a new appreciation for the importance of the Art Collection to their profession, their institution, their staff, students, alumni, Fellows, and Members. The Art Committee was established to oversee and manage the Art Collection; to articulate the role of art in a College and University setting; and to ensure the Art Collection is enjoyed by all. The aim of the Strategy development was to ensure the coherence of the work of the Committee in achieving its goals and in exploring how the Art Collection could be leveraged in support of the broader institutional objectives of the RCSI.
Business to Arts takes a highly collaborative approach to the development of an arts and culture strategy, energised by a design thinking approach and narrowing down the scope as we progress. Cognisant of the wider RCSI corporate strategy and institutional public engagement strategy within which context the new Arts Strategy would sit, we familiarised ourselves with the key objectives of both, ensuring that they were kept front of mind during the strategy development process.
We designed and facilitated a wide-ranging interactive workshop with members of the Art Committee to explore the aspirations, challenges, guiding principles, and existing and prospective activities that could support the emerging focus areas for the strategy. The Art Committee represented a variety of expertise and perspectives across the university. We synthesised the outputs of this workshop into a proposed framework to be validated as an approach.
We designed the first-pass strategic blueprint for feedback from the Art Committee members and key stakeholders. Incorporating this feedback, we redrafted and submitted the final strategy for approval by the Art Committee.
Immediately the launch of the Arts Strategy has raised the profile of RCSI activity in this arena across the spectrum of alumni, student, leadership and community, and monthly lunchtime Art Talks are already underway to introduce the Art Collection to staff and students.
The Art Committee now has a viable plan for a three-year programme of work to achieve the goals laid out in the strategy and to demonstrate that art can enrich the learning environment, and enhance the culture and connectivity of RCSI and their community.
This mission will continue to be embedded across the campus and to be evaluated as the strategy is implemented.
