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2021-03-31-accounts

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 03272271 (ENGLAND & WALES) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1061522

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

BRINDLEY MILLEN LTD 167 Turners Hill Cheshunt Hertfordshire EN8 9BH

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Year Ended 31 March 2021

For the Year Ended 31 March 2021
Page
Chairs Report 3
Work with young people 6
Estate-based Youth Theatres 6
Interactions 10
Speech Bubbles 11
Stepping Up 11
Work with the Over 50s 13
Theatre Exchange 13
Hackney Social Radio 14
Production Club 15
Employability work 16
Pathways to Employment 16
Peer Facilitators 19
Internships and Placements 19
Marketing and Audience Engagement 21
Plans for Future Periods 22
Financial Review 23
Reserves Policy 24
Board Development 24
Staffing 24
Independent Examiner’s Report 26
Statement of Financial Activities 27
Balance Sheet 28
Notes to the Financial Statements 30-39

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

DIRECTORS' AND TRUSTEES' REPORT

The trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing documents

Immediate Theatre is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

3272271 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1061522

Registered office

The Adiaha Antigha Centre 24-30 Dalston Lane London E8 3AZ

Trustees

M Butcher Chair L Oguntoyinbo Vice Chair P Smith Treasurer S Moss S Scarlett R Harris G Green M Howarth S Summers – also known as S Gorman (appointed 15/12/2020) A Perry (resigned 11/05/21) I Fryer (resigned 27/07/21)

Company Secretary

J Carter

Independent Examiner

Brindley Millen Ltd 167 Turners Hill Cheshunt Hertfordshire EN8 9BH

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Management

The Board of Trustees governs the charity, meeting at least four times a year. The Trustees delegate daily management of the Company to a management team, currently consisting of one Artistic Director and one General Manager.

Appointment and retirement of trustees

Trustees are appointed (or elected) at the AGM and those who have been standing the longest stand down and offer themselves for re-election. Those wishing to retire from the board do so at the time of the AGM.

Objectives and Activities

Immediate Theatre’s charitable objective, as detailed in the Memorandum and Articles of Association is to advance education for the public benefit through the promotion of the arts with particular, but not exclusive, reference to the dramatic arts.

Public benefit

The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and consider that the activities of the charity meet its charitable objectives and provide a benefit to the public.

Risk Management

The directors have examined the major strategic, financial, business and operational risks which the charity faces and confirm that systems have been established to enable regular reporting so that the necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks.

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Chair’s Report

We are extremely proud of what has been achieved in a year that has been one of the most challenging for the country, and indeed the world, in the past 50 years. The staff team responded very quickly to the urgent needs of our service users, moving programmes online and reaching out to our most vulnerable participants with practical and emotional support. Understanding the needs of our most vulnerable young participants, we re-introduced face-to-face work as soon as we were able, taking on the enormous task of ensuring COVID safety. We also created new online programmes – most notably Hackney Social Radio which enabled thousands of older people to stay connected during this very difficult and isolating time.

We would like to thank our staff, freelancers and volunteers who have put in so much additional time this year. The team’s flexibility and imagination meant that we were able to not only avoid furloughing any staff but also to create new jobs and freelance opportunities. We are proud that staff remained fit and healthy and able to engage in our work and contribute to local efforts to support those most in need, forming new networks and partnerships with organisations across the borough. We are pleased to be working with Hackney Council on the Government’s new Kickstart programme, creating four entrylevel positions in the coming year and offering support to other local employers who want to strengthen young people’s futures.

In July 2020 we were delighted to welcome our first Patron Idris Elba to the company. We are incredibly grateful for Idris’ constant support of our organisation and the young people we work with, it is wonderful to have a Patron who truly recognises the importance of community organisations working at the grassroots. Idris’ support has made a tremendous difference during the COVID crisis, providing financial support and donating clothing from his brand 2HR SET, which helped to boost the morale of our young people. We are excited to further develop this very positive new relationship in the coming year.

We would also like to extend our thanks to all of our funders for their new and continued support during such a turbulent year. We appreciate the time and energy that goes into distributing funds and are very grateful for the additional commitment that funders have shown to grassroots organisations such as ourselves.

Finally, we would like to thank our participants, who have made this a year of positivity and enormous creativity despite such challenging circumstances.

PROFESSOR MELISSA BUTCHER, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES .

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Review of activities for the year ended 31st March 2021

Our Vision:

Immediate Theatre remains committed to our vision of a society where questioning, articulate and motivated people create and collaborate to build thriving communities.

Our Purpose:

Our purpose is to involve communities in creative projects that inspire wellbeing, break down barriers and engage people in the process of personal and social change.

Our Objectives:

Our objectives are delivered across our programmes with thorough evaluation processes being used to evidence the impact of our work.

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ACHIEVING OUR OBJECTIVES; HIGHLIGHTS

Inspiring participatory arts programmes enabling people to reach their potential and prevent exclusion and social isolation

Creatively explore social issues, engaging people in the process of change and encouraging and enabling them to influence decision making

Improve health and wellbeing and increase life skills and employability through engagement in the arts

Over 1,000 hours of participatory arts programmes delivered

388 participants over the year including 276 young people , 91 unemployed , and 21 over 50s .

Over 85% of participants from ethnically diverse communities

At least 10% of participants identify as disabled

Participants ranging from ages 5 – 91

Transferred all programmes online in response to COVID-19, ensuring ongoing support and social connection

Delivered 5 projects exploring social issues including a Black History Month project and a social action project focusing on racism and discrimination and the power of protest.

Participants produced original songs and spoken word pieces to voice their experiences of racism

and discrimination which were shared via social media, reaching over 1,000 people .

6 young people spoke to a reporter about institutional racism and the stop and search of young Black men for a feature on TRT World News .

Of those young people who sustained engagement, 73% demonstrated improvements in behaviour, engagement and focus

19 over 50s participating in Theatre Exchange and contributing to Hackney Social Radio , enabling them to make a meaningful contribution, learn new skills and boost wellbeing

Established Hackney Social Radio, a weekly radio programme aimed at digitally and socially isolated older people , producing 41 shows involving over 300 members of the local

community and achieving a total of 25,366 listens

Created Stepping Up, a new programme to support young people with the transition from primary to secondary school

Provided 84 tablets for young people to access online youth theatres and support their school work.

Delivered 4,000 craft packs to 300 young people across Hackney and distributed clothing donated by our Patron to 250 young people

2 young people won 1[st ] and 3[rd] prize at the London Youth Visual Art Competition – both pieces explored mental health

Summer Exposure project produced three performances exploring the impact of lockdown on participants’ relationships

Involved around 300 local people in the production of Hackney Social Radio including local councilors, faith leaders, community groups, and healthcare professionals and enabled older people to have a voice in key local issues.

7 young people were paid the London Living Wage to work as Peer Facilitators , earning over £17,000 between them

4 people entered paid employment and 5 were supported into work experience after participating in our What’s Your Story? programme

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Work with young people

We deliver a range of programmes with young people, including our youth theatres delivered on local estates, work with young people who have been excluded or are at risk of exclusion, and a variety of projects in primary and secondary schools, including a new programme supporting young people with the transition to secondary school.

We know that young people have been particularly impacted by the pandemic – the missed time in education and feelings of anxiety and uncertainty about the future has hugely affected the emotional wellbeing of our participants and their families. This increased the need for our programmes, with an emphasis on supporting participants to process the unfamiliar world around them, building resilience, and trying to maintain a sense of stability and normality for the more vulnerable groups.

Key funders & partners over the year included:

Connecting Young Hackney, Children in Need, Sanctuary Housing, the Jack Petchey Foundation, Zurich Community Trust, The Fore, Three Monkies Trust, Peabody Community Fund, Vanguard Group Foundation, UBS, Youth Endowment Foundation, London Borough of Hackney, Wally Foster Community Centre, Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund, London Youth, London Bubble.

ESTATE-BASED YOUTH THEATRES

Led by Charmain Humphrey, our Estate-based Youth Theatre programme has continued to prove the value of our work with young people across the borough. We were able to provide ongoing support throughout the year, quickly adapting to new ways of delivering and performing, and we maintained regular participation across all our youth theatre groups, with only a 33% reduction in numbers from the previous year. This is thanks to the hard work and creativity of our staff and freelancers, particularly Hannah Drummond, Olivia McDonald and Kyarna Morris. We are grateful to the Wally Foster Community Centre for enabling us to move a number of our groups to the space while our usual venues remained closed, enabling us to support the most vulnerable of our participants in a physical space as soon as it was safe to do so.

Through 35 weeks of after school delivery and 7 additional holiday projects, we engaged: ▪ 101 regular participants plus 72 additional young people in school holiday projects ▪ 8% with registered disabilities; many more with learning support plans

▪ 62% female participants

▪ 84% from ethnically diverse backgrounds

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In March 2020, we unfortunately had to close our Youth Theatre on Woodberry Down. After over 20 years of working in the area we were very sad to lose this group. More positively, we were delighted to open a new Youth Theatre on Pembury Estate, thanks to funding from Peabody and the London Community Foundation. This work began in February 2021 and we have so far welcomed 8 new participants to the group.

Participant data, gathered using the tools and systems approved by the Centre for Youth Impact, evidences the impact of our work on young people’s social, emotional and practical capabilities.

Staff observation data showed that young people had improved or sustained previous levels in the following key areas:

Young people are also asked to rate their quality of life using Cantril’s Ladder, an internationally recognised tool for measuring Overall Life Satisfaction. Participants are asked to rate their overall wellbeing from 0-10. This year data shows that 78% of participants reported an improved quality of life . This is particularly significant when taking into consideration how young people have suffered under COVID restrictions and the variety of social and emotional barriers faced in the past year. Young people participating in our summer programme, our first face-toface project since lockdown began, reported an increase from an average score of 4/10 at the beginning of the project to 7/10 at the end of the project.

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“Lockdown affected my school work and my mental health because I felt really alone and isolated from everyone. My mum would be at work a lot because she’s a nurse, so I’d be alone quite a lot of the time. But Immediate Theatre still ran their sessions, so it felt like there were people there for me and I didn’t feel alone in such a bad time. As soon as we came out of lockdown, Immediate were ready with a project for us to do in person, not many places were doing that.”

Participant, aged 16

School Holiday Programmes

This year we delivered three summer holiday projects and four half-term projects and engaged a total of 112 young people, including 74 young people who were not registered to our regular EbYT sessions. We were delighted to be able to go ahead with our regular summer programmes, Breakout and Exposure, with adjustments made in line with COVID restrictions. We also formed a very positive new partnership with Apex Learning Hub, delivering workshops for the Summer Play Scheme and a Black History Month project at Daubeney Primary School.

This year’s Breakout project was delivered digitally, engaging 19 young people aged 5-10 in daily Zoom sessions. The project explored the idea of creating an ideal planet – each young person designed their own planet, created characters to live on the planet, devised a song and dance and created rules they would enforce if they were the President of their planet. The project proved extremely effective in providing a fun and creative outlet for the young people during such a challenging and confusing time.

Exposure , a fully inclusive project for 12-25 year olds, took place from 3[rd] – 14[th] August at the Wally Foster Community Centre, engaging 17 participants. The project explored lockdown and relationships – participants worked with playwright Justin Marosa to develop three scripts: “Deliver Who”, “Shielding”, and “No New Norm”. The project culminated in three filmed performances which were shared digitally with participants and their families.

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At the end of the project, young people’s goal setting forms showed:

We engaged 23 young people aged 11-25 in a one-off project, Tower Block Tales , from 26[th] – 30[th] October 2020. Young people created a performance of a script produced by participant and Peer Facilitator Ajia Perkins, aged 16. The play explored the lives of various residents within a tower block and the problems they faced. Young people were able to creatively explore issues relevant to their own lives and current events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the Grenfell Tower fire, and bereavement and grief.

At the end of the project, young people’s goal setting forms showed:

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Having displayed a strong talent for script writing, Ajia produced another play for our February half-term social action project. Participants wanted to create a performance which reflected the experiences of young Black people within our society and highlighted the power of activism and creating platforms for people’s stories to be heard.

The project took place from 15[th] – 19[th] February at the Wally Foster Community Centre, welcoming 23 young people aged 11-25 (inclusive of young people with disabilities). Alongside a filmed performance of the play, young people produced an original song, spoken word pieces and performances for an Instagram Live broadcast.

INTERACTIONS

We continued our work in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), thanks to funding from the Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund. Interactions is a film and drama programme led by Charmain Humphrey, working with young people aged 13-19 who have been excluded, or are at risk of exclusion, from mainstream education, providing access to positive creative activities through which they can achieve.

This year we faced many challenges, particularly with forming new relationships with Pupil Referral Units. Due to the national lockdowns, many PRUs did not allow visitors in to deliver workshops, even after schools had reopened. We were however pleased to maintain a very positive relationship with the Inspired Directions School in Dalston throughout the year. Recognising the increased risk for this client group during school closures, we delivered a series of online workshops and provided tablets to all participants to enable them to participate in our sessions and other online sessions with the PRU. We were also able to use resources from the project to engage at-risk young people in our regular youth theatre programme.

Across the year, we engaged 28 participants in the programme, supported 5 young people into paid or voluntary work within our regular youth theatre programme, and provided tablets and clothing donated by our Patron to all participants

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CASE STUDY

Z is 15 years old and joined our Interactions programme in June 2020. Z had been stabbed outside of their house and was experiencing a great deal of trauma relating to the incident. At the point when we first engaged Z, they had not left their house for 5 months and their anxiety was so severe that they found it difficult to even leave their bedroom and this would often result in angry outbursts. Despite this, Z coped really well when we first visited them at home and was able to come out to see us. On our second visit, Z was waiting at the doorstep for us to arrive. We then invited Z to help us with deliveries to other young people on the nearby estate.

Through these visits, we were able to build a positive relationship with Z and they became more comfortable and open with us. We were able to learn more about the incident Z was involved in and better understand their support needs. We have seen huge progress since we began working with Z and are incredibly proud of how far they have come in overcoming their anxiety – they now travel in to the PRU to attend sessions in person.

SPEECH BUBBLES

Speech Bubbles is an evidence-based drama-led intervention aimed at improving speech, language and communication in selected children in Key Stage 1; delivered as a franchise from our long-term partners London Bubble.

Thanks to funding from UBS we were able to introduce the programme to three new schools this year. Our practitioners Olivia McDonald, Abbie Nicholls and Flo Katesmark rose to the challenge of adapting their sessions, delivering in a range of formats including online sessions delivered to participants at home, online sessions to students based in schools, and some face-to-face group sessions with additional measures in place. The team managed to maintain consistently high-quality, fun and engaging sessions. Schools experiencing Speech Bubbles for the first time reported how impressed they were by the project and how it offered the children a muchneeded safety net, support network and outlet to express themselves.

The importance of this programme in helping Key Stage 1 pupils to catch up on time lost during the pandemic and develop key skills has also been recognised by our funders. In the final term of the 2020/21 academic year we will be working in a further three schools and look forward to starting the new academic year with seven local primary schools.

STEPPING UP

Thanks to funding from the Youth Endowment Fund, this year we launched a new Transitions programme, supporting young people with the move from primary to secondary school. The year-long programme, which started in August 2020, consists of weekly Saturday morning online drama sessions and supports participants with settling into their new school environment.

Led by Olivia McDonald we worked closely with local primary and secondary schools for referrals of young people who they felt would struggle with the move to secondary school. Teachers responded very positively to this project as many were concerned about year six pupils who were not receiving the support they needed at this very challenging time.

From August to March, we delivered 32 sessions and engaged a total of 22 participants. All the young people were provided with a free tablet and internet support to access the programme. Sessions explored making friends, bullying, personal safety – both online and at school, wellbeing and identity. The project allowed young people to feel supported during their first year of secondary school, providing a consistent space where they could discuss issues that were relevant to them in a fun, supportive, and creative way. The young people fed back that they ‘enjoyed the journey’ and recognised how much they had grown in confidence.

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The project will culminate in July 2021 when we plan to integrate the young people into our summer programmes and regular youth theatre sessions. We are pleased that funding from Coutts will enable us to repeat the programme in the next academic year and create a new live session specifically for students in years 7 & 8 from February 2022.

CASE STUDY

T was originally referred to the programme because they lacked confidence in group settings and was transferring to Secondary school without close friends. In the first few sessions, T was very quiet and reserved. T rated their confidence as 1 on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the least confident and 10 being the most). Over the course of the programme, T made a significant improvement in confidence and now always puts their hand up and wants to go first when we are sharing work back with the group. T has also made new friends at school. It has been great to see such a positive transformation in such a short space of time.

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Work with the Over 50s

This year we significantly extended our programme for older adults aged 50+, continuing to engage our core group in weekly online sessions as part of our Theatre Exchange programme, launching Hackney Social Radio , and providing training to enable participants to be involved in making content for the broadcasts through a new Production Club . All projects are scheduled to continue through to July 2021, and we are seeking funding to make this a permanent element of our programme.

Key funders & partners over the year included:

Arts Council England, CAF Resilience Fund, Henry Smith Charity, The Fore, London Borough of Hackney, Connect Hackney: Ageing Better, West Hackney Parochial Trust, Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation, Resonance FM

THEATRE EXCHANGE

Despite some initial challenges transferring to the Zoom platform, this has been a remarkably positive and creative year for our core group of over 50s. Over the year, we involved 17 participants in over 70 online weekly workshops and additional sessions to develop and rehearse plays. We were delighted to welcome new participants to our online sessions and maintain a high regular attendance each week, with many participants describing the sessions as a ‘lifeline’ during lockdown.

Radio Plays

We produced three plays, which were recorded digitally and broadcast on Hackney Social Radio . ‘Come in Number 49’, written by group member Janet Evans, was broadcast in September 2020 and was also shared at the London Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’ Annual Carer’s Festival. In December, the group created a festive play, ‘A Curious Christmas’, inspired by the story of Alice in Wonderland and the group’s experiences under lockdown. This was followed by ‘Hackney to Hades’ in the Spring, loosely based on the story of Persephone and exploring the emergence from lockdown restrictions.

“Being able to interact with people in the weekly Zoom sessions was a real lift as I live on my own and could not go out and meet with people as normal. Those sessions, and participating in Hackney Social Radio , is something I can look forward to in an otherwise bleak week”

Theatre Exchange participant

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HACKNEY SOCIAL RADIO

Inspired by our Theatre Exchange core group to find new ways of reaching out to more isolated older people, we launched Hackney Social Radio – a weekly magazine style radio programme, recorded on Zoom and broadcast on Resonance FM. The show aimed to engage isolated older people, promoting wellbeing and connectivity and providing entertainment, up-to-date information about where to access help and support, and key health messages during the pandemic.

We secured emergency funding from Arts Council England for a pilot project and support from Connect Hackney (an Ageing Better National Lottery funded project), the London Borough of Hackney’s Culture Team and the Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group. Between June – September 2020, we successfully broadcast 15 programmes and received very positive feedback from listeners. This enabled us to raise additional funds from the Henry Smith Charity Emergency Fund and the Charities Aid Foundation to launch a second series in November 2020 which runs until July 2021.

By the end of March 2021, we had produced 41 weekly 59-minute radio shows and had a total of 25,366 listens to the series on Resonance, with a total of 9,968 listener hours (source: Piwik) and 3,616 playbacks on Mixcloud. We involved around 300 local people in the production of the show – including the production team, feature makers, contributors, editors and interviewees – and featured diverse content from a range of local groups, including Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian faith groups, community groups such as the Imece Turkish Women’s Group, LGBTQ+ groups and the Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation. We have heard from local experts such as representatives from Local Government and GPs. Programmes have also featured original radio plays from our Theatre Exchange group and from other organisations including Jazanne Arts and Jackson’s Lane.

As well as having a positive impact on our active over 50s, who are able to make a meaningful contribution through their involvement as presenters, Hackney Social Radio has continued to receive a very encouraging response from the local community, and feedback gathered from audience surveys indicates that it has helped to alleviate the sense of isolation felt by many during lockdown.

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“ Hackney Social Radio is a great way to find out more about all the organisations and projects going on around Hackney – especially through lockdown. Programmes have a real sense of community spirit and address diverse issues”

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Hackney Social Radio Listener
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Audience Development Research

Thanks to further funding from the Arts Council, we carried out a research project with The Audience Agency to help us to develop our older audiences. This led to a new marketing plan which will help us to build and maintain a community of listeners, increase awareness of the programme and reach a wider audience, including those who do not have access to the internet. We have already begun implementing new strategies based on our learnings.

PRODUCTION CLUB

In February 2021, we established the Production Club to enable participants to get involved in identifying interesting ideas and making the features. We engaged 14 participants to the group, with 10 of these joining from Theatre Exchange . The sessions were very successful, introducing participants to the basics of interviewing, editing, using sound effects and music. All participants have made features for the show and sessions will continue through to July, giving participants an increasing amount of control over content and ensuring the voices of the over 50s are heard and their contribution to the community celebrated.

“Taking part in Production Club has helped me meet new people and learn new skills and is something to look forward to on a Tuesday. It has helped me to feel more confident about myself and has also developed my imagination in creating and discussing ideas for creative writing. I have made new friends through the group and now listen to the radio more. I have learnt to participate in other groups on Zoom through this project”

Production Club participant

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Employability Work

The pandemic has exacerbated the lack of confidence, feelings of anxiety and uncertainty about the future felt by many of our participants. This increased the need for our provisions, with an emphasis on supporting participants’ physical and mental health, as well as developing their resilience and employability skills. Continued funding from the Henry Smith Charity and new partnerships with Hackney Quest and Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest enabled us to maintain an ongoing support network throughout the COVID restrictions.

Key funders & partners over the year included:

Henry Smith Charity, EQUIP, Sanctuary, Uber Moving Forward Fund, Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest, Job Centre Plus, Hackney CVS, Hackney Quest

PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT

We adjusted our Pathways to Employment programme, working on a more one-to-one basis and creating tailored support plans with participants via phone calls and Zoom sessions. Many of the conversations centred around the emotional wellbeing of the participants, a lot of whom were struggling with anxiety and depression. Thanks to additional funding we were able to increase the capacity of the team, with Michael Bond joining us in December to help develop our relationships with local employers and enable us to make the most of the new Government Kickstart scheme for local unemployed young people. Across the year, we delivered employability skills training to 91 unemployed participants.

Working with Hackney Quest, we established a new voluntary sector-led 16+ network in October 2020. Meeting on a monthly basis, this has been a very important and beneficial network to develop our services and enable a more joined-up approach to supporting young people. The network is now attended by Young Hackney and local mental health services and is enabling us to get the voices of our participants heard.

What’s Your Story?

Using filmmaking and drama techniques, What’s Your Story? enables participants to build confidence and communication skills and begin their journey towards employment. This year we delivered two 4-week programmes for unemployed young people aged 18-25 and one online programme for women from ethnically diverse backgrounds, engaging a total of 21 participants. We also provided ongoing support to 8 participants from our March 2020 programme for young people aged 18-25, which was cancelled due to the first national lockdown.

At the beginning of lockdown, we created a new business plan course which we felt would work online and respond to needs identified by our participants. We engaged 8 participants in the programme, many of whom had previously taken part in our What’s Your Story? programme for women from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Five of the women presented their final ideas to an online panel and were awarded £200 towards their next steps and one participant was invited to deliver paid art sessions to our youth theatre participants.

“ What’s Your Story? gave me the encouragement and confidence to keep working towards my goals, even when I thought all was hopeless. I have a better and more positive outlook on life and I have made some amazing friends from the group, which has really helped improve my social life”

What’s Your Story? Participant

We delivered two programmes for young people aged 18-25 during the year. Three young people completed the course in September 2020, producing an inspiring 3-minute video, ‘Amplify Within’, which combined contemporary dance performed in full body paint with music and spoken word poetry to portray anxiety and the challenges we face within ourselves. All participants were supported into paid work and volunteering opportunities within the company – gaining experience in marketing, youth theatre facilitation and filmmaking. We are delighted that all three participants have now entered permanent paid employment.

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CASE STUDY

R was referred to our What’s Your Story? programme by the Job Centre in September 2020. She had just graduated from London Metropolitan University, where she studied Film Production. R’s mental health had been impacted by the pandemic – she was feeling depressed and isolated and her confidence had been knocked by the lack of job opportunities during the pandemic. Alongside her fellow participants, R created a powerful film which explored anxiety through movement and spoken word poetry.

After the course, R was offered an Assistant Facilitator role on the next What’s Your Story? programme. Although she was shy initially and had expressed she was feeling out of her comfort zone, R soon became a natural and was able to engage participants who lacked confidence, deliver the warm-up activities and lead on setting up the film equipment during the sessions. When the course was abruptly stopped in January 2021 due to the national lockdown, R continued to provide support to the group, co-facilitating online sessions. R sadly lost her grandmother to COVID and was unable to finish the programme, but we maintained communication and supported her through this period.

We referred R for work experience at the Tenthree Film Studio where she provided general support on production sets. They were really impressed with her enthusiasm and commitment, and R was offered a full-time Junior Production Assistant role.

Our second programme engaged 10 young people and ran for two weeks in December 2020, before it was unfortunately put on hold in January due to the third national lockdown. We continued to engage some participants online until we were able to resume in February 2021, and the group produced a short film, ‘Locked Up, Locked In’, which explored depression and anxiety in the context of lockdown. One of the participants has since gained employment as a photographer for an online fashion magazine.

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Additional Support for Young Black Men

Thanks to funding from Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest, we were able to provide additional support for Young Black Men. Weekly sessions commenced on 3[rd] June 2020, with 10 participants. The project provides hot food, a space for participants to discuss challenges and shared experiences – both positive and negative, and to engage in activities to help them prepare to enter employment. It proved difficult to sustain these weekly meetings under COVID restrictions but we continued to support young people through 1-2-1 sessions.

In March 2021, we adapted our agreement with Mind, enabling us to integrate this strand of delivery into the overall Pathways to Employment programme. This will enable us to create a new full-time post for a Positive Pathways Officer, working across both our youth and employability programmes and ensuring that we are providing integrated wellbeing support for young people.

Kickstart Support

We were very pleased with the Government’s Kickstart initiative which offers companies the opportunity to employ young people aged 16-25 on a 6-month paid placement, providing support and training to get started on their careers. Working with the London Borough of Hackney, we will support 4 young people into placements within the organisation as Marketing and Administration Assistant, Youth Drama Assistant, Film and Media Assistant and Radio Production Assistant. These posts will be a great asset to the company and enable us to make a real difference to the lives of young people.

We have also been able to support the influx of young people wanting support and guidance to register and apply for Kickstart posts. Working with the Job Centre Plus, we accepted 106 referrals and supported 52 young people with their applications and interviews on a 1-2-1 basis. We have also identified young people who would benefit from the more intense What’s Your Story? programme which will be running in the coming year.

By March 2021:

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PEER FACILITATORS

We are committed to providing first-time employment opportunities for young people who would otherwise face significant barriers. We regularly train participants as Peer Facilitators, young leaders aged 16-25, paid the London Living Wage and trained in the principles of safeguarding, drama workshop facilitation, and being a positive role model for vulnerable young people. This programme provides invaluable skills and work experience for young people, some of whom continue to be employed on EbYT at the end of the year.

This year we employed 6 young people as Peer Facilitators: Ajia Perkins, Kade Morris Diedrick, Montell Pemberton, Isla Rainforth, Rashane Headley and J’Nai Toney. We created a new full-time post for our regular Peer Facilitator Kyarna Morris in October 2020, who was also able to benefit from accredited Youth Work training with London Youth.

CASE STUDY

Ajia first joined our Estate-based Youth Theatre programme in January 2020, aged 15, as a volunteer at our Huddleston Youth Theatre for young people with SEND. She then joined our Wally Foster Youth Theatre as a participant in February, taking part in our social action project. Ajia really impressed us with a spoken word piece she wrote and performed as part of the group’s performance. She is an incredible poet, writer and performer, and turns up to every season ready and willing to throw herself into any situation.

She soon became one of our paid Peer Facilitators, continuing to support Huddleston as well as working on our new Stepping Up programme for young people moving up to secondary school. Ajia displays a real commitment to supporting the young people and acting as a positive role model in sessions. Ajia collaborated with the staff team to produce scripts for our October and February halfterm projects, bringing with her fresh and creative ideas from a different perspective. She continues to be an advocate and a voice for our young people and has become a valued member of the delivery team. We have seen a massive growth in her confidence since she joined us and are excited to support her artistic development. Ajia has also been accepted into the National Youth Theatre this summer.

“When I first joined Immediate Theatre, I wasn’t confident and I wouldn’t talk to people, but the people here and the other participants are really friendly and really boosted that part of me. I’ve definitely gained more creative skills and my confidence and self-esteem has gone up immensely. They’ve allowed my creativity to have a safe space – I would never have had this experience without them”

Ajia – Peer Facilitator

INTERNSHIPS AND PLACEMENTS

In August 2020, the second round of our Marketing and Administration Internship came to an end. Georgia Gill has remained with us as a permanent and valued member of the team, in the role of Marketing and Administration Officer. We are very grateful to have received another year of funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation to host a new Projects Administration Assistant internship. Lauren Humphries joined the team in April 2021 and has been a great asset, increasing the capacity of the administration team.

We continue to host a number of placement students, who we often go on to employ once they graduate. This year we hosted 4 placements for students from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Goldsmiths, University of London, including one international student from China. We have now welcomed one of these placement students, Sophy Leys-Johnston, to our team of freelancers on our Estate-based Youth Theatre and Stepping Up programmes.

19

Living Wage

Immediate Theatre is proud to be a Living Wage Employer, accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. All employees are paid London Living Wage we use industry guidelines such as JNC and Independent Theatre Council agreements to set fees and wage levels.

Quality Assurance

We are proud to hold the London Youth Silver Quality Mark, having demonstrated our commitment to high quality youth work in 2019. Assessment focused on opportunities for young people, staff and volunteers and included Monitoring and Evaluation; Diversity, Equality and Inclusion; Leadership and Management; and Partnerships. The Quality mark is a badge of excellence recognised by local authorities and funders.

20

Marketing and Audience Engagement

This year we were pleased to be able to create a permanent Marketing and Administration Officer post, which was filled by Georgia Gill following her 12-month internship. This has enabled us to increase our marketing capacity, continue to develop our digital presence and create high-quality marketing materials. Over the year, we have increased audience engagement across our social media channels and grown our following by an average of 37%.

The announcement of our first Patron in July 2020 has helped to raise the profile of the organisation and our work, receiving an extremely positive response online and in local press. Read the Hackney Gazette feature here: https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/idris-elba-becomes-first-patron-of-hackney-arts-organisation-3666480

In November 2020, we began working with The Audience Agency (TAA) to develop our older audiences. We worked with Ashleigh Hibbins and Elise Boileau of TAA to design an audience survey, with input from the London Borough of Hackney’s Culture Team, which was conducted online in January 2021. A report of the findings was created by TAA and this was then used to inform a marketing plan which will enable us to increase audiences for Hackney Social Radio and engage more people in our programmes for Over 50s. This work also supported us to create a company-wide marketing strategy which will enable us to reach more people across all of our programmes.

In January, we were one of 20 charities awarded a place on a free Digital Comms Mentoring Programme with Media Trust, which matched us with an industry mentor to create a digital content strategy. We worked with Katie Garrett for 6 months, concluding in June 2021. In addition to advising on our digital content strategy, Katie has also been very helpful with the overall company marketing strategy, providing feedback and advice throughout the process.

We were supported by a volunteer, Oxoline Bisegna, from October 2020 to January 2021. Oxoline joined us after participating in the September cohort of What’s Your Story? and provided key support with digital communications, creating a lot of content for social media and the blog. Oxoline is now in full-time employment as a Press Assistant within a PR Firm.

We are really pleased with the development of our audience engagement over the year and expect this to continue to rise in the coming year, as we develop our relationship with our Patron Idris Elba and implement our new company marketing strategy. In 21/22 we will focus initially on celebrating 25 years of Immediate Theatre, our impact and the journey of our participants. This will provide a great opportunity to engage new and existing audiences in our journey so far and our plans for the future.

Our new Marketing and Administration Kickstart post will help us to further increase our marketing capacity; Jannah Miah will be with us for six months from May 2021.

21

Plans for Future Periods

Immediate Theatre is looking to the future with hope and the conviction that we have a vital part to play in making the world a better place for our communities. As we enter the new financial year with over £400,000 of confirmed income, we have ambitious plans to reinvigorate our work: establishing an office, resource and workshop space for the organisation; building on our exciting new relationship with our Patron; and generating more opportunities for participants to creatively contribute to society. We are conscious that during the next three years there will be a need for our work to focus on recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted disproportionately on the disadvantaged communities we engage with. We need to support our participants to regain the confidence some have lost and enable them to influence the shaping of a positive future for people of all ethnicities and backgrounds in a climate where we can all thrive.

Immediate Theatre has a part to play in supporting:

In June 2021 we were very excited to announce that we are part of an exciting initiative created by Idris and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba and French fashion designer Christian Louboutin. The #WalkAMileInMyShoes collection was designed to raise awareness of social and racial injustice and will donate 100% of the proceeds to Immediate Theatre and four other grassroots organisations. We are honoured to be part of this project and feel a strong sense of responsibility to address the inequalities present within our own neighbourhoods and communities and to support young people to challenge the injustices they face and create more positive futures.

22

Financial Review

The company improved its financial sustainability over the year, significantly increasing turnover despite the impact of the global pandemic. We increased income from £303,512 to £425,701, with expenditure of only £417,564 and an operating surplus of £18,137. This surplus was substantially more than we had budgeted in February 2020 and was largely due to rent relief provided by Hackney Council via our landlords Hackney CVS. This enabled us to increase our unrestricted reserves to £50,505 from £27,865, bolstering our financial position when we most needed it. This strong position reflects the hard work of the staff team and their commitment to Immediate Theatre, together with the ongoing support of our key funders and partners.

We worked closely with the London Borough of Hackney’s Cultural and Strategic Policy teams during COVID and the borough continued to support us via our Connecting Young Hackney contract, which has been extended to March 2022, as well as funding our holiday programmes and other projects through the Youth Opportunity Fund and Discover Young Hackney, and providing a great deal of in-kind and financial support for Hackney Social Radio . Continued support from HCVS through Connect Hackney; Ageing Better for Theatre Exchange , and from Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest for our Pathways to Employment programme reduced the impact of the loss of our main Hackney grant, however local government income still fell to £91,643 (from £111,227 in 2019/20). This reduction, together with increased funds from other funding sources meant that local government funds made up only 21% of total income (down from 36.6% in 2019/20).

Income from Central and Regional Government grew to £116,319 – 27% of our total income (12.5% in 2019/20) due in part to two grants from the Arts Council to help set up Hackney Social Radio and work with The Audience Agency on developing audiences for our work with older people. A grant from the Youth Endowment Fund enabled us to deliver a new online transitions programme, Stepping Up . We continued to deliver our three-year Interactions programme in Pupil Referral Units, funded by the Young Londoners Fund, and are about to start a new two-year partnership project funded by the GLA Violence Reduction Unit from April 2021 to 2023.

With much appreciated support from our fundraiser Katrina Duncan, we significantly increased income from Trusts and Foundations to £205,412 – 47% of total income (38.7% in 2019/20). We now have multi-year funds in place from Henry Smith Charity for Pathways to Employment and from Children in Need for our Estate-based Youth Theatre (EbYT) programme, as well as ongoing support from Zurich Community Trust. The Vanguard Group supported EbYT as well as employment for a young person, and Peabody Trust funded a new Youth Theatre on the Pembury Estate from February 2021. Funding from UBS enabled us to deliver Speech Bubbles to three schools and a new partnership with Coutts Foundation will provide funding from April 2021 until 2024 to support EbYT and continue our Stepping Up transitions programme.

Project grants from Trusts enabled us to respond to COVID-19, including funding from Henry Smith and the CAF Resilience Emergency Fund to support Hackney Social Radio . CCLORS Power to Change funded us to provide laptops so all staff could work effectively from home as well as additional support to deliver online sessions and improve our employability work for young people. Together with several smaller Trusts, they funded us to deliver tablets and craft packs to our young participants so they could engage with online sessions and their school work.

The pandemic had a major impact on earned income from schools projects and performances, with total sales of only £4,640 (£32,047 in 2019/20), a situation that is likely to continue in 2021/22. Working with our Patron, Idris Elba, we significantly increased income achieved through donations to £17,890 – 4% of total income (£4,671 in 2019/20). We are very excited that, following an announcement in June 2021, we will be the sole UK recipient of funds raised through the launch of a new shoe and accessories collection #walkamileinmyshoes designed by Idris and his wife Sabrina working with their friend Christian Louboutin; this is likely to significantly boost income in the coming year.

We have a robust fundraising strategy in place to ensure we can deliver our ambitious financial plans; continuing to diversify income streams and prioritising multi-year support from trusts and foundations, whilst aiming to increase income from regional and local government sources and corporate supporters. Our reliance on project funding makes us vulnerable to changes in priorities and a prospective decline in public funding, therefore while

23

we are in a strong position, our plans are flexible so that we can respond to opportunities and increase or reduce capacity as appropriate. By the end of the financial year we had secured £489,108 – 72% of our budgeted income for 2021/22 with several applications still pending. Over the coming year we aim to build on this success to meet evident high levels of need and increase our resilience and financial sustainability.

Reserves policy

The total reserves of the company at the close of 20/21 are £64,598 (2019/20: £46,461). This includes an operational reserve of £50,505 (2019/20: £27,865) and restricted funds of £14,093 which must be spent on specific projects.

It is the aim of the trustees to build up sufficient reserves to cover 3 months running costs based on the prior year’s financial statement, currently calculated at £63,000. These reserves will be used to safeguard against a temporary shortfall in income and any additional unforeseen costs. We have been rebuilding our reserves over the past five years and are pleased to have achieved a substantial increase in unrestricted reserves this year. Trustees review the Reserves Policy annually to account for changing circumstances and will determine the amount needed to reflect increased operating costs and staff commitments.

Board Development

Our board of eleven Trustees includes ex-participants and Hackney residents, who bring a range of expertise and lived experience under the leadership of Professor Melissa Butcher. Trustees meet quarterly and hold additional meetings with our User Groups (young people, over 50s and unemployed) and wider staff team to ensure that they are listening to and responding to their needs and ideas. There is a Finance sub-committee which meets at least quarterly, reviewing financial performance, forecasting and reserves with all proceeding reported to the full Board.

This year the Board has played an active part in supporting the development of the organisation and guiding us through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing strong leadership and governance throughout. We were pleased to welcome Suzanne Gorman to the Board in October 2020. Suzanne was the first Associate Director at Immediate Theatre back in 1997 and is now Artistic Director of Maya Productions. Her work, which focuses on promoting the work of artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds, has already helped us to develop a refreshed set of objectives around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. We will be sad to say goodbye to Astrid Perry, who stepped down in April, and we will be seeking new Trustees in the coming year.

Staffing

Our core staff team remained stable over the year and we were joined by several new team members:

Artistic Director Jo Carter
General Manager Suzy Smith
Participation Manager Charmain Humphrey
Training Projects Manager Gbenga Olopade
Projects Manager Nadya Bettioui
Marketing & Administration Officer Georgia Gill
Youth Drama Coordinator (Maternity Cover) Hannah Drummond
Youth Drama Leader (Maternity Cover) Olivia McDonald
Youth Drama Assistant Kyarna Morris
Hackney Social Radio Producer Lucie Regan

24

We were pleased to welcome Nadya Bettioui back from Maternity leave in January in the new role of Projects Manager and were able to continue to employ Hannah Drummond and Olivia McDonald alongside her. Sharon Mitcheson continued to support the company remotely until going on Maternity leave in November 2020. We congratulate her on the birth of her son Broady. In October we were really pleased to welcome Kyarna Morris as Youth Drama Assistant, having been an EbYT participant and Peer Facilitator for many years. Lucie Regan joined us to produce Hackney Social Radio in July in a freelance capacity, but then joined the core team in November.

We also created two new posts to support our Pathways to Employment programme – Michael Bond joined us in November 2020 in the role of Employer Engagement Officer and Yasmin Adamson joined as Employability Support Worker in March 2021. Michael’s post ended in April 2021 but he continues to work in partnership with us in his new role as General Manager at The Playhouse Theatre. In April we will be recruiting for the new post of Positive Pathways officer, a post which will support the employment team and look to improving pathways for participants across our programmes. We will also be reviewing the roles across our youth programmes looking to create new permanent posts to support increased delivery in schools and community settings starting from September.

We would like to thank our freelancers, volunteers and placements for their support over the year:

EbYT Hackney Social Radio & Theatre Christine Taylor Chryssi Tzanetou Exchange Patricia Howlett David Omordia Penny Cliff Judy Frumin Justin Marosa May Robson Barbara Susman Nicky Wilson Sue Elliott-Nichols John Greenwood Gina Theodotou Frank Kaos Polly Symes Hannah Cassidy-Matthews Zahra Awani Donald Hutera Hannah Davies Vicki Carter Luxmi Ghosh Afrah Didi Tamsin Hughes Shirley Murgraff Amanda Mascarenas Justin Marosa Elohay Mishpat Susan Croft Pathways to Employment Imaani Bedel Lucy Rowe Michael Bond Joaquim Fortunato Rob Truscott Yasmin Adamson Lucy Jeffries Beatrice Ni Bhroin Raine Arriel Drakes-Thomas Reetta Kivimaa Ben Dorling Amina Begum Sam Addo Gary Horsman Serap Mustafa Benoit Gouttenoir Fundraising, Marketing & Sophy Leys-Johnston Alicia Graham Administration Unique Spencer Neil McKeown Katrina Duncan Yazmin Belo Jake Reynolds Steve Roberts Zishu Li Liam St Pierre Oxoline Bisegna Ellie Buckingham Sally Ainsworth Janet Evans Speech Bubbles Hilarie Kerr Abbie Nichols David Howells Flo Katesmark Alice Mckenna

This report of the trustees has been approved by order of the board of trustees on ………………………………….. and Nov 15, 2021 signed on its behalf by:

……………………………………………………….. Melissa Butcher (Nov 11, 2021 11:36 EST) M Butcher - Trustee

25

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF IMMEDIATE THEATRE

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Immediate Theatre ('the Company')

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since your charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a listed body. I can confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a registered member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

  4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

mwbrindley

mwbrindley (Nov 15, 2021 15:00 GMT)

Maurice Brindley BSc FCA Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales Brindley Millen Ltd 167 Turners Hill Cheshunt Hertfordshire EN8 9BH

Date: ............................................. Nov 15, 2021

Page 26

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
-
Charitable activities
2
Projects
26,964
Total
26,964
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
3
Projects
4,324
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
22,640
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
27,865
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
50,505		 Restricted
funds
£
-
408,737
408,737
413,240
(4,503)
18,596
14,093		 31.3.21
Total
funds
£
-
435,701
435,701
417,564
18,137
46,461
64,598		 31.3.20
Total
funds
£
-
303,512
303,512
311,644
(8,132)
54,593
46,461

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 27

IMMEDIATE THEATRE (REGISTERED NUMBER: 03272271)

BALANCE SHEET 31 March 2021

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
10
19,233
Cash at bank and in hand
65,951
85,184
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
11
(34,679)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
50,505
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
50,505
NET ASSETS
50,505
FUNDS
12
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
200
44,018
44,218
(30,125)
14,093
14,093
14,093		 31.3.21
Total
funds
£
19,433
109,969
129,402
(64,804)
64,598
64,598
64,598
50,505
14,093
64,598		 31.3.20
Total
funds
£
10,987
52,424
63,411
(16,950)
46,461
46,461
46,461
27,865
18,596
46,461

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2021.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 28

continued...

IMMEDIATE THEATRE (REGISTERED NUMBER: 03272271)

BALANCE SHEET - continued 31 March 2021

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by: Nov 15, 2021

............................................. Melissa Butcher (Nov 11, 2021 11:36 EST) M Butcher - Trustee

Paul W m smith

Paul W m smith (Nov 15, 2021 11:45 GMT)

.............................................

P Smith - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 29

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements and assessment of going concern

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

The financial statements are presented in sterling (£).

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

No significant judgements have been made during the course of preparing these financial statements. There are no sources of estimation uncertainty.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Charitable Trading Income

Income arising from workshops, seminars and courses are included in the period in which the relevant event takes place.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Allocation and apportionment of costs

Costs are allocated and apportioned across funds either according to the actual identifiable expenditure incurred or according to a reasonable estimate of the costs incurred by each fund where resources are shared.

Tangible fixed assets

Equipment had an estimated useful life of two years and has been fully depreciated.

Taxation

No provision has been made for corporation tax or deferred tax as the charity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt,

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cast at bank and in hand comprises cash and monies held in bank current accounts.

Creditors

Creditors are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are recognised at their settlement amount.

Page 30

continued...

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

Fund accounting

Funds held by the charity are either:

Unrestricted general funds - these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees.

Designated funds - these are funds set aside by the trustees which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Trustees.

Restricted funds - these are funds that can only be used for particular purposes within the objects of the Charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular purposes.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charitable company's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Donated goods

Donated goods and services are included in the Statement of Financial Activities as income and expenditure. Items are valued at best estimate of cost incurred.

Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially settled at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

2. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Activity
Grants
Projects
Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:
Project
Central / Regional Government
Arts Council England
Hackney Social Radio
Audience Development HSR
Theatre Exchange
Young Londoners Fund
Interactions
European Social Fund/Bauer
Media
What's Your Story?
Youth Endowment Foundation
Transitions/Stepping Up
Local Government
London Borough of Hackney-
Young Hackney
Connecting Young Hackney Contract
for Estate-based Youth Theatre and
key work
London Borough of Hackney -
Main Grant
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Theatre Exchange
London Borough of Hackney
Dalston Children's Festival & DYH &
Hackney Circle
Youth Opportunity Fund
Hackney Social Radio		 31.3.21
£
435,701
34,938
13,500
-
47,967
-
19,914
116,319
65,000
-
-
-
2,891
3,000		 31.3.20
£
303,512
-
-
23,410
11,992
2,572
-
37,974
65,000
18,000
7,022
1,700
9,505
-

Page 31

continued...

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

2. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES - continued

Discover Young Hackney
Hackney CVS
Hackney Connect: Ageing Better
Mind in the City, Hackney and
Waltham Forest
Pathways to Employment
Trusts and Foundations
Sanctuary Housing Association
Estate-based Youth Theatre
What's Your Story? / Pathways to
Employment
EQUIP Fund (via Paddington
Development Trust)
Pathways to Employment
Henry Smith Charity
Pathways to Employment
Hackney Social Radio
Children in Need
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Jack Petchey
Awards scheme
Internship Grant
Austin Hope Pilkington
Development and sundry
Zurich Community Foundation
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Vanguard Group
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Peabody
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Three Monkies
Estate-based Youth Theatre
The Fore
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Theatre Exchange
CAF Resilience Emergency Fund Hackney Social Radio
Jacobs Charitable Trust
Estate-based Youth Theatre
CCLORS Power to Change
Power to Change
UBS
Speech Bubbles
West Hackney Parochial Trust
Theatre Exchange
Hackney Parochial Trust
Estate-based Youth Theatre
National Vegetarian Week
Estate-based Youth Theatre
London Youth
Estate-based Youth Theatre summer
project
Prize money
East End Community Foundation:
Uber Fund
Pathways to Employment
East End Community Foundation:
Allen & Overy Ben Ogden
Memorial Fund
Pathways to Employment
ANTZ Network
Pathways to Employment
Groundwork
EbYT: Nightingale Community
Garden+2500+12
London Bubble
Speech Bubbles
Charlotte Bonham-Carter
Charitable Trust
Speech Bubbles
Wick Award: Community Chest
Fund
Theatre Exchange
Mbili Charitable Trust
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Woodward Charitable Trust
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Loughborough University
Small Grant for EbYT Summer
Income Generation
Benthal Primary School
Speech Bubbles
London Fields
Speech Bubbles
Queensbridge
Speech Bubbles
Holmleigh Primary School
Speech Bubbles
Apex
Daubeny school holiday project		 2,000
7,500
11,253
91,644
4,000
-
9,282
35,000
32,500
18,236
2,250
8,152
1,000
15,000
12,125
2,000
2,000
2,000
3,000
16,755
50
25,985
10,727
-
-
-
5,000
350
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
205,412
1,000
400
400
-
1,500		 -
10,000
111,227
4,000
4,476
7,595
17,500
-
10,000
3,000
19,772
-
15,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
5,000
200
-
-
5,000
2,500
1,200
5,000
750
2,000
1,000
1,000
1,800
800
117,593
3,000
-
-
160
-

Page 32

continued...

IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued

for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

2. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES - continued

Mind payment by results
Pathways to Employment
Joanne Proctor
Social Media Training
Various Hackney Schools
Meet The Parents
Southern Road Primary School
Continuous Professional Development
training
Creative Schools
Continuous Professional Development
training
Creative Education Trust
Schools workshops
Hackney CVS
Training
PSHE Association
National Police Engagement Project
London Borough of Camden
Now You See me; Now You Don't -
schools tour
Dying to Ride workshops
Department for Work & Pensions Pathways to Employment
National FGM Centre
Training film
London Youth
Estate-based Youth Theatre residential
Big Give Christmas Challenge
Speech Bubbles
The Childhood Trust
Speech Bubbles
Individual Giving
Donations via Givey/Give as you live
Cash donations
Donations via other sources
Donations via other sources (USA,
campaign, other)
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS
Direct
Costs
£
Projects
414,924		 840
300
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
56
17,830
22,326
435,701
Support
costs (see
note 4)
£
2,640		 -
-
825
700
600
200
40
220
9,000
937
9,941
1,650
4,774
3,559
220
618
274
-
-
36,718
303,512
Totals
£
417,564

3. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

4. SUPPORT COSTS

SUPPORT COSTS
Governance
costs
£
Projects 2,640

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IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

5. NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

31.3.21 31.3.20
£ £
Independent examiners fee 2,640 2,640

6. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2021 nor for the year ended 31 March 2020.

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees, the Artistic Director and Participation Manager (2020: and General manager). The total employee benefits of the key management of the charity were £82,211 (2020: £90,516)

Trustees' expenses

Trustees' expenses
31.3.21 31.3.20
£ £
Trustees' expenses - 256

Trustee expenses consist of travel to board meetings, which benefited on trustee and refreshments which all trustees benefit from.

7. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs		 31.3.21
£
226,797
15,991
4,345
247,133		 31.3.20
£
176,306
13,028
3,919
193,253

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

31.3.21 31.3.20
All staff 8 6

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

8. 2019/20 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted
funds
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
-
Charitable activities
Projects
7,107
Total
7,107		 Restricted
funds
£
-
296,405
296,405		 Total
funds
£
-
303,512
303,512

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IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

8. 2019/20 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - continued 2019/20 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - continued 2019/20 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - continued 2019/20 COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - continued
Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds
£ £ £
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
Projects 3,758 307,886 311,644
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) 3,349 (11,481) (8,132)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward 24,514 30,079 54,593
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 27,863 18,598 46,461
9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Fixtures
and
fittings
£
COST
At 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 1,740
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 1,740
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2021 -
At 31 March 2020 -
10. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
31.3.21 31.3.20
£ £
Trade debtors 16,893 8,247
Other debtors 2,540 2,740
19,433 10,987

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

11. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Other creditors
Accrued expenses
Grants in advance		 31.3.21
£
3,021
7,950
1,818
2,640
49,375
64,804		 31.3.20
£
2,654
2,079
658
3,407
8,152
16,950

12. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net
Transfers
movement
between
At 1.4.20
in funds
funds
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
26,065
22,640
1,800
Designated fund
1,800
-
(1,800)
27,865
22,640
-
Restricted funds
Interactions
605
656
-
Estate-based Youth Theatre
4,000
(4,000)
-
Speech Bubbles
1,000
(11)
-
Theatre Exchange
3,300
2,597
-
Pathways to Employment
8,584
(3,250)
-
Development (internship)
1,107
(1,107)
-
Stepping Up
-
612
-
18,596
(4,503)
-
TOTAL FUNDS
46,461
18,137
-		 At
31.3.21
£
50,505
-
50,505
1,261
-
989
5,897
5,334
-
612
14,093
64,598

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Interactions
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Speech Bubbles
Theatre Exchange
Pathways to Employment
Development (internship)
Stepping Up
Power to Change
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
26,964
48,372
113,277
13,527
114,551
64,959
8,152
19,914
25,985
408,737
435,701		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(4,324)
22,640
(47,716)
656
(117,277)
(4,000)
(13,538)
(11)
(111,954)
2,597
(68,209)
(3,250)
(9,259)
(1,107)
(19,302)
612
(25,985)
-
(413,240)
(4,503)
(417,564)
18,137

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

12. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparatives for movement in funds

Net
movement
At 1.4.19
in funds
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
22,714
3,351
Designated fund
1,800
-
24,514
3,351
Restricted funds
Interactions
-
605
Estate-based Youth Theatre
9,605
(5,605)
Speech Bubbles
1,565
(565)
Our Space
2,211
(2,211)
Create Your Future
2,310
(2,310)
What's Your Story?
5,123
(5,123)
Theatre Exchange
9,265
(5,965)
Pathways to Employment
-
8,584
Development (internship)
-
1,107
30,079
(11,483)
TOTAL FUNDS
54,593
(8,132)		 At
31.3.20
£
26,065
1,800
27,865
605
4,000
1,000
-
-
-
3,300
8,584
1,107
18,596
46,461

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Interactions
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Now You See Me, Now You Don't
Speech Bubbles
Our Space
Create Your Future
What's Your Story?
Theatre Exchange
Pathways to Employment
Development (internship)
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
7,107
11,912
143,100
9,000
10,207
-
-
3,772
51,630
47,011
19,773
296,405
303,512		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(3,756)
3,351
(11,307)
605
(148,705)
(5,605)
(9,000)
-
(10,772)
(565)
(2,211)
(2,211)
(2,310)
(2,310)
(8,895)
(5,123)
(57,595)
(5,965)
(38,427)
8,584
(18,666)
1,107
(307,888)
(11,483)
(311,644)
(8,132)

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IMMEDIATE THEATRE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

12. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:

Net
Transfers
movement
between
At 1.4.19
in funds
funds
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
22,714
25,991
1,800
Designated fund
1,800
-
(1,800)
24,514
25,991
-
Restricted funds
Interactions
-
1,261
-
Estate-based Youth Theatre
9,605
(9,605)
-
Speech Bubbles
1,565
(576)
-
Our Space
2,211
(2,211)
-
Create Your Future
2,310
(2,310)
-
What's Your Story?
5,123
(5,123)
-
Theatre Exchange
9,265
(3,368)
-
Pathways to Employment
-
5,334
-
Stepping Up
-
612
-
30,079
(15,986)
-
TOTAL FUNDS
54,593
10,005
-		 At
31.3.21
£
50,505
-
50,505
1,261
-
989
-
-
-
5,897
5,334
612
14,093
64,598

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Interactions
Estate-based Youth Theatre
Now You See Me, Now You Don't
Speech Bubbles
Our Space
Create Your Future
What's Your Story?
Theatre Exchange
Pathways to Employment
Development (internship)
Stepping Up
Power to Change
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
34,071
60,284
256,377
9,000
23,734
-
-
3,772
166,181
111,970
27,925
19,914
25,985
705,142
739,213		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(8,080)
25,991
(59,023)
1,261
(265,982)
(9,605)
(9,000)
-
(24,310)
(576)
(2,211)
(2,211)
(2,310)
(2,310)
(8,895)
(5,123)
(169,549)
(3,368)
(106,636)
5,334
(27,925)
-
(19,302)
612
(25,985)
-
(721,128)
(15,986)
(729,208)
10,005

Estate-based Youth Theatres:

After school and holiday drama projects delivered in areas of high deprivation for young people aged 5-19.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

12. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Speech Bubbles:

Supporting children in KS1 to develop their speaking, listening and attention skills, franchised from London Bubble.

Create Your Future & What's Your Story:

Employability workshops, including 1-to-1 work with BAME women and young people aged 18-25, who face barriers to employment.

Theatre Exchange / Older People:

Drama project with people over the age of 50 delivered to prevent isolation in the community, including intergenerational activities.

Talent Match:

Providing training and support for young people aged 18 - 25 who are facing barriers to employment.

Jack Petchey Foundation:

Awards for young people chosen by their peers to fund a trip or other special activity. Also includes funding for year-long internship programme to employ a young person aged 18-25 full time.

Meet the Parents:

Trains young people to deliver sex, relationships & parenting education workshops in schools and youth settings.

Our Space:

Anti-knife crime project promoting a safer community with young people aged 9-16 years.

Now You See Me; Now You Don't:

Road safety workshops delivered to Year 5 and 6 students across London.

13. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 March 2021.

14. MEMBER'S GUARANTEE

The members' liability is limited by guarantee.

The members guarantee that in the event of a winding up of the company each member will contribute such amounts as may be required, not exceeding £1.

Page 39