What is UNBOXED?

A once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity, UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, took place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and online during 2022.

It aimed to celebrate the power of people coming together to imagine and design better futures and featured 10 awe-inspiring flagship installations as well as an exciting calendar of events and pop-up experiences across the UK.

Our Collective Futures journey

Throughout 2022, in partnership with UNBOXED, we have been working to deliver a global exploration research project called ‘Collective Futures’. It examines the power of collaboration between people from different backgrounds, perspectives and areas of expertise; uncovering ways that collective imagination can help us build better futures for people and planet.

Here at the RSA, we see ‘Collective Futures’ as:

Our process:

Phase one: open call

In March 2022 we held an ‘open call’ inviting anyone who felt our emergent framing of Collective Futures was represented in their work to share their motivation, mission and methods.

We spoke with 14 people, representing a wonderful mix of creatives, anthropologists, futurists, community activists and advocates, who in one form or another, are using creative ways to tackle exclusion.

Phase two: collaboration

Through a series of deeper collaborative global workshops and creative conversations, we discovered a wealth of inspirational stories, case studies and practices that can support us all to work collaboratively and creatively for the benefit of our long-term futures. All of the stories and findings have been woven into a final interactive exploratory space - Collective Futures for People and Planet: Spaces to explore an emerging field.

Phase three: sharing and testing

We will share our final interactive exploratory space widely and hope that it will help support communities and places the world over for years to come. It is our intention that it is a living and constantly evolving resource which we will continue to add to.

Accessible via Miro, a digital whiteboarding tool, users have the opportunity to explore, interact and contribute to our Collective Futures research, in their own time.

Using the space as a jumping-off point, we will continue to stimulate discussion through further global creative conversations, helping to widen out the field of Collective Futures. We welcome anyone with an interest and curiosity to join us to explore how taking a Collective Futures mindset can help enable people and planet to flourish hand in hand.

How can I get involved?

There are many opportunities to get involved with our Collective Futures work whether through engaging with our exploratory space, attending global conversations or events. Email us below.