Registered Number: 3002661 Charity Number: 1044532
The Actors of Dionysus (A Company limited by guarantee)
TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31[st] December 2024
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
Contents
Legal and administrative information 3 Trustees’ Report Accountant’s Report Statement of financial activities Balance Sheet Notes forming part of the financial statements
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION For the year end 31[st] December 2024
Trustees
Brian Beaton (resigned 15[th] Dec 2024) David G. G. Bullen Helen Barker Caroline Bristow Despoina Christianoudi Steve Cowton (resigned 15[th] Jan 2024) Michael Edwin Dixon (resigned 16[th] Feb 2024) Olga Gekht Fiona Macintosh Shelley Warren Mai Musié Andy Powell (resigned 1[st] Feb 2024)
Secretary Maria Athini (resigned 15[th] Jan 2024)
Company Registered Number 3002661 Charity Registered Number 1044532 Registered Office 25 St Luke’s Road Brighton BN2 9ZD Accountants R Kennedy t/a Brayhaven Limited Lower Ickneild Way, Marsworth, Tring, Herts, HP23 4LN Bankers Lloyds Bank North Street Brighton BN1 1GL
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
TRUSTEES REPORT
For the year end 31[st] December 2024
The Trustees, who are directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act, submit their annual report and the financial statements of Actors of Dionysus ( aod ) Limited (the charitable company) for the year ended 31[st] December 2023 The Trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the charitable company comply with current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company’s governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) ‘Accounting and Reporting by charities’ revised 2019.
Method of appointment or election of trustees
The management of the charitable company is the responsibility of the Trustees who are elected and co-opted under the terms of the Articles of Association.
Charitable Objectives
The continuation of the performance of new adaptations of ancient Greek drama and new writings inspired by myth. The company intends to maintain its strong outreach programme with workshops and talks, published education materials including: free online resources adaptations, DVDS, audioCDs, and books of essays (all available via the company website) and its digital presence via titles available on the platform Digital Theatre Plus, as well as its highly physical, visual and poetic performance style, exploring new pilot projects, including its Magic from Myth coding project. The company continues to expand its community outreach and engagement work, strengthening the profile of its local audience base via its LIONHOUSE venue.
Review of activities and future development
1. Summary of 2024
2024 was a year of change. New trustees. New projects and an exciting new website, with some existing projects ongoing including KCL Greek Play and LIONHOUSE at Brighton Fringe. We started the year with new ideas and a new vision…..
Board Regeneration and Away day
2024 brought with it a concerted effort to reinvigorate our Board. Old members retired and new members joined. With a new vision in mind we held a Board away day in London on 23[rd] Feb to discuss our Shared Vision for the charity. This led to lots of discussion about priorities and our mission going forward including an expansion of the company’s education work, inspired by a strategic education document presented by David Bullen one of our trustees, and plans for a brand-new website, led by one of our one of our most recent and dynamic trustees, Shelley Warren.
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
We also had a new part time Administrator in Izzy Grout who supported us administratively throughout the year as well as contributing to funding applications and helping to run educational workshops.
1. Projects in brief
i) Magic from Myth Coding & Storytelling workshops
We were successful in securing £4903 worth of funding from Brighton & Hove City Council’s Shared Prosperity (Levelling Up) for a new pilot project (in collaboration with local Brighton coding club Coder Dojo) conceived by our Artistic Director, Tamsin Shasha. The project used ancient and local myth to inspire young participants (6-16) computer programming journeys using Scratch and Python. Morning workshops combined drama, performance and storytelling to explore selected ancient myths and then Mentors from Coder Dojo Brighton arrived in the afternoon to help create digital journeys from what had been explored in the morning. We ran a pilot of the workshop at one of Coder Dojo’s fortnightly coding clubs and then ran 2 consecutive weekend workshops in Whitehawk (Crew Club 23[rd] Nov) and Portslade 23[rd] (Blast Theory) 7[th] Dec. The third will complete in Feb 2025. The project prioritises young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and the plan is to secure further funding to expand and develop its scope and reach. The project brought a successful collaboration with Coder Dojo Brighton who remain committed to the project going forward. Sponsorship in kind was also secured from Raspberry Pi who donated 9 MacBooks for use in the Magic from Myth workshops.
Feedback to this new project has been extremely positive with participants and carers keen to come back for more….
The pilot, though time consuming in terms of the initial planning, admin hours, rehearsal and venue communication was very rewarding, but the outcome far exceeded our initial expectations. It also led to lots of useful collaborative connections, including with Penny Daly, Enterprise Coordinator, West Sussex, Brighton & Hove Careers Hub Careers Community and Eric Clack, co-founder of Bright Interactive, a Brighton based consultancy firm. Meetings were also held with Dr Richard Cole, Lecturer in Digital Classics at Bristol University about opportunities to expand the project in the Southwest. Attempts are being made to secure further funding.
ii) LIONHOUSE wins award at Brighton Fringe
Actors of Dionysus opened its doors again to the general public for the 5[th] consecutive year and hosted Doggerland , a solo show created and performed by Helen Tennison. On the back of this and voted by the public LIONHOUSE won an Audience Choice Award for Best Brighton Fringe venue. At the award ceremony aod was presented with a certificate and thereafter a celebratory plaque.
iii) Kings College Greek Play – Lysistrata in the Wings
We continued our association with King’s College London, acting as Executive Directors on the KCL Greek Play for the second year running. We helped to select the creative director, writer and conduct auditions and interviews for the full creative cast and team, mentoring, promoting and supporting their creative process up to the run at London’s
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
Greenwood Theatre in June. This is quite an involved process and for this year we had support from the previous student director/writer Amalia Costa, who we commissioned to produce a KCL Greek Play handbook. This fluid document has already been useful and will be instrumental in supporting the design and delivery of the project going forward. Lysistrata in the Wings was deemed a great success and several of our trustees managed to attend the performance.
iv) Hecuba’s Song
Research and development for a new solo project (by Tamsin Shasha) called Hecuba’s Song took place in October with 2 days’ worth of exploration and creative play with director Helen Tennison. This will help inform an Arts Council England R&D application to be submitted in Spring 2025.
Other projects and events in 2024
1. New logo and website launched
- Working closely with Shelley Warren and inspired by the Shared Vision Day a new website was launched in August. This also involved a stylish new logo designed by Christine Engert. The design and construction of website itself involved a considerable amount of preliminary work from our trustee Shelley in collaboration with Tamsin and Mark and was designed in Wordpress by James Lattimore. The website offers a far more dynamic and ergonomic platform to promote aod ’s projects and is also much easier to update that its predecessor. Featuring a News section we can now keep projects up to date easily with immediate announcements about events and news items.
2. Education Expansion
- During our Shared Vision Board Away day we discussed a document prepared by one of our trustees, David Bullen. The document suggested various ways to expand and develop our education work (subject to funding) including an aod academy to train workshop leaders; leading to a national workshop delivery programme; partnering with schools/HEI’s and their students to create an annual Dionysia in the summer, etc. This area of expansion is being explored.
3. Ongoing Development and Training including CPD
Our Artistic Director attended several workshops and developmental training days for aod throughout the year and these included:
Digital Catapult 31[st] Jan at Brighton Dome, exploring the potential of XR in performance use
Next Steps for the UK’s Video Game Industry (Online webinar) How to produce a Kick ass application – Space online April
Community Building Training all day workshop 30[th] Sep to support organisations inclusivity and access.
Theatre & Creative Funding seminar in Sep
Fantastic for Families award ceremony with a view to applying with Magic from Myth coding workshops in 2025
Creative Professional Development
Separately to aod the Artistic Director took part in Creative Professional Development (CPD) workshops including:
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
Bryony Kimmings Autobiographical theatre workshop (11 March) x 1 week Publishing & Industry Day at New Writing South 23 March Writing workshops with New Writing South Glyndebourne auditions and is selected for Uprising by Jonathan Dove Weekend Bouffon workshop July 18-19 ADHD workshops at Dorothy Stringer School exploring ADHD and neurodivergence Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth Oct for weekend residency exploring Gods and Monsters.
Free Solo theatre masterclass with David William Bryan – online course
4. Other projects of note:
Tamsin was also invited to take part in Mai Musié’s research on Forced Migration and Exile in Northeast African diaspora communities through ancient Greek Stories . and also Reimagining Chariclea on Zoom at ICS (Institute of Classical Studies). This followed on from Mai’s involvement in aod ’s Black Voices in Myth project in 2023.
Tamsin also organised a creative workshop day (with Helen Tennison and Eva Auster) on 11 April developing ideas around Forgive Me and the possibility of it being produced by aod , incorporating an ancient mythical context.
Tamsin also attended the book launch at Senate House of David Bullen’s new book, Greek Tragedy, Education and Theatre Practice in the UK Classics Ecology, in which aod are featured, as well as attending a sharing of David’s Gentle Furies at BAC.
Tamsin has been invited by Prof Lorna Hardwick of the Open University to take part in the series Practitioners’ Voices in Classical Reception Studies (pvcrs) and will be contributing to this in 2025.
5. Change of long term aod storage facility
The move from a large dusty farmhouse in Steyning to a shiny but much smaller facility in Seaford happened in the Autumn and was a considerable undertaking with Tamsin and Mark having to cull some major set items including a large vertical dance wall used for Medea in 2013. The move was necessary because of vastly increased rent in Steyning with Cinch offering us discounted charitable rates. All in all a wise move!
6. New Appointments and Resignations
Staff : Izzy Grout continued her role as part time Administrator and Assistant Education Officer bringing with her a wealth of skills including copyrighting, academic insight and a network of neurodiverse connections.
Trustees: We had several new trustee appointments in 2024 including Shelley Warren, Mai Musié, Helen Tennison, Caroline Bristow and Despoina Christianoudi alongside resignations from Andy Powell, Brian Beaton, Steve Cowton, Mike Dixon and Maria Athini.
Our plan in 2024 to attract fresh skill and new trustees being in part fulfilled.
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
7. Education and ongoing workshops in schools
Education Officer Mark Katz continues to deliver workshops in schools and colleges across the UK including throughout Scotland. His workshops regularly receive 10/10 feedback along with positive comments from teachers and pupils. Our new General Manager Izzy Grout has been helping to deliver occasional workshops in tandem with Mark Katz. We hope that this will increase the number of workshops we are able to deliver.
We once again delivered a full workshop to a Primary School in 2024 and we this continues to be a plan to expand this in 2025. Generally the provision of paid workshops to all age groups continues to be an effective method of generating revenue for the company.
“ "Thank you to the Actors of Dionysus for such a wonderful workshop for our Key Stage 2 children. Their passion and professional approach enthused our children as they were immersed in ancient Greek drama throughout the day." r.”
- Teacher Aldrington Primary School
8. #MiniMyth
Our #MiniMyth series and our social media was given a well needed boost by Lucy Ruddiman but this has suffered somewhat with her departure in 2023 and we have not since had the manpower or time to devote to regular daily postings. The project continues but on a much more ad hoc basis.
9. Funding
Actors of Dionysus received the following pots of funding in 2024:
£27,000 from Arts Council England Black Voices in Myth (granted in 2022, to be paid in 2023); £3000 - D’Oily Carte Charitable Trust, toward Atalanta the Adventurer; £6500 - Fonthill Foundation toward core costs.
We also received ongoing gift aided support from aod ’s Friends and Supporters.
Other meetings of note :
Initial meetings were held with Tani Gill Dance company who approached us about collaboration and have included us in an Arts Council application, the outcome of which would be known in March 2025.
Risk Management
The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Company is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the Company and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate the Company’s exposure to the major risks.
Trustees’ responsibilities
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS (A Company limited by guarantee)
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THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNTS
for the year ended 31 December 2024
| Note INCOME From Generated Funds Voluntary Income 2 Activities for generating funds 3 From Charitable Activity Workshops Other Income Sundry Income/Interest Theatre Tax Relief TOTAL INCOME EXPENDITURE Costs of generating Voluntary Income Cost of Goods Sold and other costs 4 From Charitable Activity Workshops Governance costs 5 TOTAL EXPENDITURE NET INCOME/(DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR FUND BALANCES B/FWDS FUND BALANCES C/FWDS |
Unrestricted Funds £ 4455 7522 11977 13697 189 5561 31424 0 38719 0 487 39206 -7782 32534 24752 |
Restricted 2024 Funds Total £ £ 7654 12109 0 7522 7654 19631 0 13697 0 189 0 5561 7654 39078 0 0 12097 50816 0 0 0 487 12097 51303 -4443 -12225 4443 36977 0 24752 |
2023 Total £ 45432 10651 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 56083 10173 166 14182 |
|||
| 80604 0 65967 0 584 |
|||
| 66551 14053 22924 36977 |
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
BALANCE SHEET
| BALANCE SHEET | |
|---|---|
| At December 31st 2024 £ Note 2024 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS 1 48 CURRENT ASSETS Stock 1 0 Debtors 7 5562 Cash at Bank and in Hand 19542 subtotal 25104 CREDITORS falling due within 1 year 8 (400) NET CURRENT ASSETS 24704 NET ASSETS 24752 Represented By: Restricted Funds 0 Unrestricted Funds 24752 24,752 |
£ 2023 64 0 15570 21693 |
| 37263 (350) 36,913 |
|
| 36,977 | |
| 4443 15550 |
|
| 36,977 |
In preparing these accounts:
(a) For the year ended 31 December 2024 the company is entitled to the exemption from audit under Section 477(2) of the Companies Act 2006;
(b) Members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006, and;
(c)The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
(d) These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.
The financial statements were approved by the Board on …………………………
…………………………….
Director
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
for the year ended 31 December 2024
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Preparation of Financial Statements
The financial statements have been prapared under the historical cost convention.
Company Status
The Charitable Company is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the Trustees named on page l. In the event of the charitable company being wound up the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member of the charitable company.
Fund Acoounting
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charitable Company and which have not been designated for other purposes.
Restricted funds are funds which are to be used accordance with specific instructions imposed by the donors which have been raised by the Trustees for particular purposes.
Income
All incoming resources are included in the Income & Expenditure Account when the Charitable company is legally entitled to the inoome and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.
Expenditure
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been included under expense categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular activities, they have been allocated on a basis consistent With the use of the resources. Overheads have been allocated on the basis of charity expenditure
Cash Flow
The company has taken advantage of the exemption from the requirement to produce a cash flow statement on the grounds that it is a small charitable company.
Turnover
Tumover comprises the invoiced value of the goods and services supplied by the company. The company is not registered for Value Added Tax.
Stocks
Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and market value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow - moving items.
Tangible Fixed Assets
Office Equipment is written off on a 25% reducing balance basis.
| Cost Balance at 1 January 2023 912 Additions during the year 0 Charge during the year Balance at 31 December 2024 912 |
Depreciation 848 16 864 |
2024 Net Book Value |
|---|---|---|
| 64 0 -16 |
||
| 48 |
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
for the year ended 31 December 2024
| INCOME Unrestricted Restricted Funds Funds £ £ 2 - Voluntary Income Membership Fees 2821 0 Donations 1174 0 Grants 460 7654 Gift Aid Tax Repayment 0 0 4455 7654 3 - Activities for Generating Funds Publications 0 0 Workshop Income 13697 0 Venue Income 7522 0 21219 0 EXPENDITURE 4 - Cost of Goods Sold and other costs Production costs and purchases 5227 0 Staff costs 37392 0 Miscellaneous 1411 0 Postage 0 0 Staff Expenses & Travel 2908 0 Stationery 0 0 Computer Costs 0 0 Phone/Internet 544 0 Depreciation 16 0 Publicity 0 0 Repairs & Renewals 0 0 Hire of Space 2492 0 Insurance 826 0 Expenditure Allocated to restricted funds -7654 7654 Training 0 0 43162 0 7654 5 - Governance Accountancy 400 0 Consultancy 0 0 Claiming Theatre Tax Relief 0 0 Bank Charges 87 0 487 0 |
2024 Total £ 2821 1174 8114 0 12109 0 13697 7522 21219 5227 37392 1411 0 2908 0 0 544 16 0 0 2492 826 0 0 50816 400 0 0 87 487 |
2023 Total £ 811 14356 29447 818 |
|---|---|---|
| 45432 0 10173 10651 |
||
| 20824 1445 57825 1372 184 2100 0 0 509 22 168 46 1480 816 0 0 |
||
| 65967 350 150 0 84 |
||
| 584 |
- 6 - Trustees Remuneration & Expenses
No Trustee received any remuneration or reimbursement of expenses during the year. (2023 £nil)
| 7 - Debtors Trading Debtors Gift Aid Repayment Theatre Tax Relief 8 - Creditors Trade Loan Accruals |
0 0 5561 5561 0 0 400 400 |
0 0 15570 |
|---|---|---|
| 15570 0 0 350 |
||
| 350 |
THE ACTORS OF DIONYSUS
Accountant's Report
Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
In accordance with instructions received I have prepared, without carrying out an audit, the accounts set out on pages 1 to 4 from the accounting records of The Actors of Dionysus and from the information and explanations supplied to me.
R Kennedy FCMA Date: 19/05/2024 Brayhaven Ltd Timbers House, Lower Icknield Way, Marsworth, Tring, Herts, HP23 4LN
Restricted Funds Analysis
| 2024 | 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Balance | ||||
| Received During Year | ||||
| The Big Give | 0 | 2996 | ||
| Arts Council England (ACE) | 0 | 29447 | ||
| Foyle Foundation | 0 | 6500 | ||
| Doyly Carte | 0 | 3000 | ||
| University of London | 0 | 1350 | ||
| Chalk Cliff funding | 3211 | 0 | ||
| subtotal | 3211 | 43293 | ||
| Carried Forwards from prior year | ||||
| The Big Give | 1498 | 1719 | ||
| Arts Council England (ACE) | 2945 | 0 | ||
| subtotal | 0 | 4443 | 1719 | |
| Carried Forwards to 2025 | ||||
| The Big Give | 0 | 1498 | ||
| Arts Council England (ACE) | 0 | 2945 | ||
| subtotal | 0 | 4443 | ||
| Used in 2024 | 7654 | 40569 |
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