Manifesto
The Salon de la Sagesse is a group of creative minds, visionaries, pioneers and change makers. Our members are the builders of the future in their respective fields, countries and fields of interests. We are a community of young individuals, thinkers, entrepreneurs, and leaders who are willing to forge a path into an intellectual, sustainable and better future. Our aim is to bring together the brightest minds of our generation and nurture ideas, connections, dreams, and acts that will make a difference. We strive to become a global community, a non-profit organisation and an intellectual members-only club, with members so far from 13 different countries.
The Salon’s centre is in Vienna, Austria and was inspired by the French eighteenth-century gatherings known as ‘Salons littéraires’, its participants being connoisseurs, philosophers, aristocrats and members of the intellectual elite. They would freely discuss current topics of literary, cultural, political and economic interest. Indeed, the Salon’s name and the title of its Sessions is symbolic of the Age of Enlightenment that was brought about in eighteenth-century Europe.
The Salon’s overall purpose, motto (Communitas et Incrementum Sapientiae, or Community and Growth in Wisdom) and its members are backed by the Chatham House Rules: in other words, everything that happens in the Salon, including the identity of its members, stays within the confines of its Sessions and gatherings.
The Salon de la Sagesse recruits new Members and Honorary Members every year based either on a formal interview process or by invitation. Furthermore, the committee and members participate in advocating for causes they care about. For more information, visit our ‘Causes we Care about’ page. If you wish to get in touch, please see our ‘Contact’ page.
Causes We
Care About
This year at the Salon we aim to focus on three Causes: the Environment, the LGBTQ+ Community and Homelessness. We aim to spread awareness and take part in various projects through which we wish to make the world a better place. Our motto is at the centre of all our causes: ‘Communitas et incrementum sapientiae’, ‘Community and Growth in Wisdom’, for indeed, without addressing the relevant issues of our generation, we have no way of moving forward in the right direction.
LGBTQIA+
Read More on
Journal d'Ambroisie:
Ell Welsford, Stuck in the Cis-tem: How Outdated Health Systems Harm
Environment
Read More on
Journal d'Ambroisie:
Hannah Kloft, Colonia Mundus: The role of ants in the Anthropocene
Read Causes we Care About
on Journal d'Ambroisie
Our Actions
Sessions
Each month, our Members meet to discuss one specific topic chosen by one of our members. This particular member presents their topic in twenty minutes, to be followed by a discussion amongst everyone. The purpose of these gatherings is to provoke forth people’s disagreements, agreements, questions and questionings and to view one topic from multiple points of views. Our members, following/having followed fourteen different paths of studies with differing beliefs are pinned against one another in a friendly, familiar environment in order to grow as individuals and to experience different subjects, challenges, solutions and thereby generate intellectual synergy.
Mentorship Program
Our Mentorship Program is built in order to develop friendships and relationships between our Honorary Members and our Members. Each Honorary Member receives one Mentee for an eleven month period, during which they meet minimum once a month for an hour to help the Mentee in their professional and personal endeavors. However, our Mentorship Program is a two way relationship: we want our Honorary Members to benefit from it as well and therefore, we strongly encourage a friendship-oriented Program, where both parties can meet as equals and grow as individuals, by learning from one another. The Program further encourages non-traditional relationships, whereby one Member’s field and interests strongly differ from that of the Honorary Member’s. This way, differences and potential challenges may turn into a mutual understanding and respect, to then create fascinating collaborations. Indeed, bringing together different generations and diverse people creates intellectual debates, questions and eventually, synergy and growth: ‘Communitas et incrementum sapientiae’.
Speaker and Workshop Series
Bi-monthly, one of our Honorary Members or a Visiting Speaker holds a presentation about a specific topic, structured like our Sessions. After a twenty minute presentation, the members and attendants gather and discuss the topic and its surrounding implications and important issues. This Series is strongly tied to our Workshop Series, which is designed for our Members to learn from the best in the fields represented by the Workshop Leader, also made up of our Honorary Members or Visiting Presenters.