Nelson Mandela turned 90 earlier this year; a milestone that has launched a number of initiatives honoring his life, including RISD's own Mandela: Honoring the Legacy.
Our Office has been working together with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of International Affairs to create a campus-wide dialog around the qualities that define Mandela’s life and work, connecting these to the creative practice and social awareness of students and faculty.
This summer, Time Magazine published an article by Mandela's biographer, Richard Stengel entitled Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership. The article focuses on the ways in which Mandela was able to enact deep and lasting change in his country through a nuanced leadership style that equally employed symbolism, strategy, and fearlessness (plus five more tactics!) I am struck by how many of these practices are also at play in a strong collaborative creative process.
This initiative hope to invite opportunities for dialogue through a diverse program which includes: a spring symposium entitled History + Memory: Public Encounters through Public Discourse, films, visiting artist talks, academic course offerings, social gatherings, and more. Themes explored include: Freedom, Reconciliation, Collaboration, Human Rights, Dignity, Integrity, Tradition and Diversity.
Our hope is that this year-long focus will bring together the many facets of the RISD and Providence communities to contextualize the values maintained throughout his legacy to the work we do as artists, academics and neighbors, and understand how those values relate to global, contemporary social justice issues.
Stay tuned for the launch of the new website later this month: www.honoringthelegacy.org.
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