Community Theatre for young people Livewir8 TrustAnnual Report 2020- 2021 Registered Chanty mu￿be[ 1104838 THE LIVEWIRE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT ## _Contents_ 1. **Front Cover** **2. Contents** **3. Partners and Friends** **6. Letter from the chair** **8. Annual programme 2019 - 2020** _**11.**_ **An Explanation of our work** **13. Objectives** **14.** _**Creative Directors report**_ _**19. Organisation**_ _**15.**_ **Recruitment** _**20.**_ **Recruitment** **21. Child Protection Policy** **34. Basic Practical Measures** _**33.**_ **Charities Commission Accounts Submission** _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _2_ ## Partners and Friends We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank our partners, funders and friends for their support this year. It has been a difficult couple of years for a small charity such as ours and at several moments we felt we were unable to carry on. However, with the support from all the people and organisations below we have survived the storm and now stand steady, ready to continue working with Harlow’s young people and ready to respond to our towns needs. Thank you. - Sam Ashford, Creative Director ## **The Jack Petchey Foundation** Without the support of The Jack Petchey Foundation we would not be here today. We have taken advantage of the excellent achievement awards scheme which has been a very rewarding experience for our young people. We would like to thank Nikki Casey, in particular, for her firm support and encouragement which drove our fundraising efforts forward so we are more able to source funding and eventually be self sufficient. ## **Essex Community Foundation** We regularly deliver work funded through the ‘Essex Community Foundation’. Although in this Academic year we did not apply for funding we continue to value their support and look forward to working with them again this year. _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _3_ Hare Street School continue to be a fantastic supporter of Livewire. Not only promoting our events to their students so they can take part and have been a key part in developing a Livewire project for the Royal Opera House Bridge. The Harlow Playhouse is now our major partner, our big sister. We run workshops each week and holiday sessions all within this wonderful facility that is the heart of our community. Without The Playhouse we would not be able to deliver he programme of work to the levels we are at now, thank you We run our Primary School sessions and our Yr7 and 8 group at Pemberley Academy. Without their donation of space, promotion to parents and all round support and enthusiasm we would not be able to run these sessions and reach 80 young people every week. Incredible school and we look forward to delivering our ROHB project later this year! _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _4_ The National Lottery Community Fund / Reaching Communities Fund have been a major part of our year. The Community Fund funded a project to reach new areas of the town whilst Reaching Communities are a part of the biggest development in Livewire’s existence…..words really don’t do enough to state the impact this support will have on our organisation. _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _5_ ## A letter from our Chair Person Becky Bird Wow, what a year Livewire has had! This year has been something that none of us could’ve predicted but I couldn’t be prouder of Livewire and what we’ve achieved over the last 12 months. Our year started out strong after securing the People’s Choice Award back in April 2019 meaning that our weekly workshops could run to their full potential including Dance and Music being added to the mix full time for the first time ever. Our sessions grew in demand week on week from Primary School all the way through to School Leavers – Livewire has really made a mark on the community. 2020 we started off with big plans for the year ahead, a new decade and our 20[th] birthday, however when Lockdown hit in March, we had to rethink our strategy so we could keep Livewire going. Many charities and community organisations weren’t as lucky as we have been, but through the hard work and dedication of Sam, Becky and Steve as well as our Board of Trustees, we were able to push through and secure emergency funding from the Arts Council England so we could create our first ever, completely digital, feature length movie. ‘Lockdown’ is now engrained in Livewire history and is a true testament of what Livewire can really do. We’ve come a long way from a 2 hour Monday night sessions in Brays Grove to being able to run multiple sessions via Zoom and still keeping our high levels of engagement with the young people of Harlow. I’m exceptionally proud of Livewire for this year, we’ve seen tough times before and we’ve always bounced back stronger. I’m excited for what’s to come – there’s no stopping us now! I’d like to thank Sam, Becky and Steve for their continued hard work and the passion they have to make the Livewire the best ever, and I’d also like to say thank you to all of our trustees for helping keep Livewire doing what it does best. Becky Bird Chair ‘The Livewire Trust’ _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _6_ Annual Programme 2021 - 2022 What do we want to deliver this year? Primary and early secondary age Livewire Sessions at Pemberley Academy every Monday. Yr9 plus Livewire Sessions at The Playhouse every Thursday. HeadSpace Sessions every week. LMC and LDC sessions every Wednesday for secondary age, LDC and LMC each Wednesday for Primary age. Development workshops during every half term holiday Theatre Challenge Workshops during Easter and Summer Holidays. The pilot of ‘In School’ Theatre Challenges The pilot of LVA - Livewire Visual Arts as a regular feature An interactive Theatre Tour of Primary Schools _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _7_ ## **An explanation of our work** ## **Theatre devising** All of livewire’s workshops are based around improvisation and the devising of new and original pieces of theatre. The Livewire ‘Theatre Challenge’, in particular, is a unique and intense programme where the young people are involved in all aspects of putting on a piece of theatre in a theatre for the public. This process allows the young people to: - Explore different points of view around a key issue and turn them into a performance that is relevant and thought provoking. - Be involved in a process, which would not normally be accessible to them. - Be creative in their own way and on their own terms and for their enjoyment. - Make new friends. - Gain confidence in their own ability and learn to trust others. - Improve upon or learn completely new skills. ## **Interactive theatre** Interactive theatre is partially controlled by the audience with the assistance of a facilitator. The audience are presented with a scenario, which ends with four key characters all having opposing objectives. The action stops at a key point of decision and the audience guide the characters through the rest of the play. This is done by separating the audience in to four groups and allocating one character to each group. The audience then have to tell their character what to do and say according to what the character wants. By being responsible for the actions of one character at a time the audience are required to understand how and why people make decisions that affect theirs and other peoples’ lives well beyond the moment of action. The process aims to; - Free young people from the pressure to make ‘knee-jerk’ reactions, - Demonstrate the consequences of different courses of action in a safe environment, - • Help young people to re-assess their views by enabling them to stand in someone else’s shoes, - Give voice to the full range of views in the group rather than predominant, ’cool’ opinions. The interactive model provides young people with a ‘challenging’ but safe environment where they can experiment with and rehearse a wide range of behaviours in response to a multitude of social pressures. The process has to be based on the principle of ‘respect for all’ and the preservation of self-esteem. However, there is no attempt to ‘preach’ a right answer, ‘sloganise’ or even deliver a specific message, rather it allows young people to; _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _8_ - Explore different points of view around a key issue, - Develop discriminatory skills that will allow them to come to informed decisions about their behaviour, - Engage in a constructive dialogue about personal responsibility within a practical context. ## **Music Workshops** The Livewire Music Collective is open to young people who play instruments already and are ready to devise new, original music. Members are given opportunities to explore their own material, record and perform though gigs and as part of our theatre Challenge Projects. ## **Dance Workshops** The Livewire Dance Company is open to young people with zero experience or a lot of experience but who want to devise new, original dances. Members will take part in many performances and will work with Drama and Music closely to devise Dances that tell a story or highlight an important issue rather than commercial dancing (although this is still explored for technique purposes). _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _9_ ## **Livewire Objectives** - Create and sustain interactive educational theatre using young people from Essex in a tour of Harlow primary schools at least once every year. - Bring interactive and other forms of theatre to people who may have had little or no contact with the arts before. - Provide a safe working environment for young people to develop their theatrical, personal and social skills. - Challenge intolerance and prejudice in all its forms. - To always produce the highest quality of work possible, therefore promoting young people as talented, dedicated and engaging members of our community - Use the frequent contact with young people as a basis for regular youth work. - Use interactive theatre as a forum for discussion. - As a charitable organisation, raise its own funds in order to provide a free, high quality service to all young people. - Develop and sustain weekly music and dance workshops. To maintain and care for all young people’s mental wellbeing To run a pilot open session for adults. _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _10_ ## **Creative Director’s Report** A new year, a time to rebuild… This year began with us returning to face to face delivery but to restricted group numbers. We were concerned that, having been locked down for so long and having lost contact with many young people that numbers would be low once we returned. We found quite the opposite! There was a hunger and a new desire for young people to be involved and for parents to get their young people involved. Unfortunately we were unable to continue delivering Song Writing sessions at Harlow Rock School. Although the sessions were popular and generating interest for both organisations Harlow Rock School put on their own Song Writing sessions on the same evening. Although we were never officially uninvited to return and we haven’t had any contact since and so, we would like to wish Harlow Rock School all the very best in the future. We are really pleased that we had that time together and that we have been able to inspire song writing sessions to continue without us. We had a waiting list on sessions and notified people when spaces arose and, although this was a time consuming approach it was the only one viable. We managed to deliver several weeks of workshops before we entered another national Lockdown. There was an opportunity to restart in December but we felt, that with only two weeks available, it would be sensible to wait until January to restart face to face sessions. At Christmas we were able to release several dance videos that were scheduled to be part of a much larger live broadcast from the Playhouse involving LMC and Drama. Although we are back up and running I think this online showcase event is something we should revisit this year and would be a new creative event to add to our annual programme! In January we returned and once more awe saw our numbers sustained and in some areas our group increased in size. We had lots of new members, particularly in the younger groups but we still found that we had ‘lost’ many of the pre lockdown Wednesday night drama group. All had been contacted individually though messages to their parents but I feel we have lost at least 30 drama members through Lockdown. There are a number of factors in this but I think the main one is age and how their age group has responded to the Lockdowns. This particular group would have been going into year 9 and it is at his age that we do see a drop off in numbers. Add to that the lack of continuity, the lack of momentum and increase in social anxiety it was always going to be tough to get that particular group (which contained a lot of boys) back involved on a new evening in a new location after so much time apart. We were successful with a National Lottery Project grant that enabled us to run workshops and to organise taster sessions with new groups across town. Again, restrictions _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _11_ made this impossible but I was able to have several meetings and visit a number of groups in town to try and encourage participation. We worked with Changing Lives to bring new members across and to also send young people their way to arrange for help with holiday activities and food parcels. We were also able to start arranging taster workshops (that will take place this term) for Harlow Young Carers and also for The Beckmead Moundwood Academy (formally Aspire) who we have already been successful recruiting two new members from! ## _Spring Term group size averages_ |Drama 3up|Pemberley Academy|40| |---|---|---| |Drama 7up|Pemberley Academy|40| |Drama 10up|Harlow Playhouse|20| |LDC 3up|Harlow Playhouse|25| |LDC 7up|Harlow Playhouse|20| |LDC 9up|Harlow Playhouse|20| |LMC 9up|Harlow Playhouse|10| |HeadSpace|Harlow Playhouse|10| ## **Total weekly average attendance** ## We were unable to deliver an Easter Theatre Challenges as restrictions were still in place (although they would be lifted immediately afterwards!) which was a real shame but we used this time a bit differently. We devised and recorded a series of interactive sessions designed for broadcast on YouTube. Each day we received comments and messages that influenced each days video. By the end of the week we had an original piece of music with a newly devised dance to go with it! Although the numbers of viewers were not what we are hoping for, we were still happy that we had young people at home, taking part and getting involved! The videos were also sent to primary schools as a learning aid and I know that several classes followed these sessions and enjoyed them a lot. _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _12_ _“My year 3’s loved it! They all got fully involved with the drama which was hilarious and energetic. They all gave the dancing a go (although we had to pause the videos a lot!) and we all had a good sing song and enjoyed seeing the song being made up through the week. I hope the Livewire tutors have the chance to regularly record this kind of content as it was a great activity for the whole class”_ - Karmann Damirall, Yr3 teacher at Hare Street. Workshops continued in the evenings as always and everything went really well, good numbers, great energy and we got that Livewire feeling again. Over Half term the LDC had their dance input from Becky as they explore new styles of dance and the LMC came in a few students at a time to record an original piece of music devised by the whole group. We were really please to involve Harry Howell and Kylan Adams in this process, hiring them and paying for their time to record the LMC. As Steve is not normally available during half terms it gave us a chance to work within our budget to hire Harry and Kylan as they regularly give their time each week to the LMC voluntarily. It’s no understatement to say that harry and Kylan have been integral to the success and development of the LMC. I would officially like to thank them for their time and effort, we really appreciate every minute they give to us. We used this time with Drama to devise and record a short film called “Lads, Lads, Lads”. The hope is to recruit more young men/boys to Livewire and we have a project ready to go off of the back of this. We are applying to The Essex Community Foundation to develop workshops on the issue of “Toxic Masculinity” which we will look to deliver in 2022. With the summer holidays approaching we were excited to be able to plan three theatre Challenges! The first was part of our National Lottery “Reaching Out” project aimed at bringing in new, younger members with the partnership of Changing Lives. We spent a week together (well, nearly, day one was cancelled as Pemberley Academy flooded the night before! Fortunately we were able to move the entire project to The Playhouse) devising a new story based improvisations the the primary group had taken part in earlier in the _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _13_ year. “Fox” was recorded to green screen as we made the decision not to have a live audience as time was short and we wanted our new members to enjoy the experience and not feel too under pressure. The week was fantastic and we all really enjoyed ourselves and we would definitely think about this process again in the future. The second Theatre Challenge was aimed at Year 7, 8 and upcoming year 9’s with the help of older members . During this week the older members “help” by being fully involved as a cast member and leading by example. This is a really important part of the Livewire process and it was a massive part of this particular week. We had a very challenging time, mostly with behaviour and with attitude of some of our members. Although not something we never see it was a surprise during a Theatre Challenge week. These weeks are highly regarded as a lot of fu, hard work with a fantastic show at the end. It became clear during the week that this particular project was more about creating better, more responsible members for the future. The show was still good but the challenges we faced together definitely effected the outcome. But, as we gave said from the beginning of Livewire back in 2001 - it’s all about the process. We left that week tired and emotional but rewarded. They did it, they put on a good show and since returning to regular workshops, this younger members now have a deeper understanding of what it is to be a part of Livewire and have been a joy to work with. This goes down as a win. _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _14_ Our third theatre Challenge was for year 10 and above in partnership with The Playhouse for The Playhouse Summer School. It was important for both the Playhouse and us as an Arts organisation to focus in quality. We really wanted to show what we could do and to give our older members the chance to flourish. We kept the cast small (still 30 members overall) and kept the action all onstage with no blackouts. The challenge being to find creative ways to move through the story without just ‘turning off the lights’. Through Sam and Becky’s training with Complicite (part of the Barbican Box project with The Playhouse) and with the application and skill of the older members we were able to devise a new pierce of theatre with a different style throughout. This fluid action is something we will continue to develop with all of our groups as we aim to have our own distinctive theatrical style that is recognisably “Livewire”. As with “How Do We Start Again” we are putting this performance on the main stage for an evening performance and we are also in discussions with The Barbican to put the play on at their “Pit” theatre. We want our members to have as many positive experiences as possible and so we will be looking to tour “Love Beach” throughout the rest of 2021 and into 2022. So last year my Annual report finished with “Let’s hope we continue to grow and that next year will hold more surprises, but maybe none that involve a global pandemic…” and I am delighted to say that this statement has been supremely upheld. In March we were successful with our bid to The National Lottery reaching Communities grant where received 3 years of funding! The £190k will be used to do what we do, to run our workshops and to keep developing. We are moving to become an incorporated charity and we will move away from being called “The Livewire Trust” and we will be known as “Livewire Theatre”. We will use this time to look long term at the next ten years and to develop new delivery programmes. Our first pilot being a project with the royal Opera House Bridge to deliver Theatre Challenge projects into schools during term times, a fantastically exciting new project to pilot, develop and grow. I would personally like to thank everyone who helped me write the bid and to come up with the answers required and the information asked for. At times its was really hard work, it was a very lengthy and detailed process and I wasn’t sure I had the skills to bring this funding home. But, with the help of our wonderful trustees and the patience of my quite wonderful wife, we did it. We actually did it. Let’s go! Sam Creative Director to The Livewire Trust _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _15_ ## **Organisation** - Livewire’s working address for correspondence and day-to-day management is: Livewire C/O Becky Bird Creative Director Harlow Playhouse Playhouse Square Essex CM20 1LS - Livewire’s contact number is: Sam - 07974 241647 - Livewire has its own email address which is managed by the Creative Director - livewiretheatre@live.com - www.livewiretheatre.co.uk _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _16_ ## **Recruitment** - Livewire have an open door policy allowing for a constant flow of members. - At the beginning of each school term Livewire will advertise to all of Harlow’s Secondary schools with posters and letters to the appropriate members of staff - Livewire will recruit through existing Youth Work organisations such as ‘The Harlow Foyer” - Livewire will recruit through existing Arts Organisations such as ‘The Harlow Playhouse’ - Livewire will recruit through connections within Local Secondary Schools. - • If Required Livewire will recruit through Taster workshops within Local Secondary Schools _In January Livewire will embark on a project called “REACHING OUT”. This will see us hosting more workshops that target the most vulnerable in our town and offer those in need a chance to be involved in the Harlow community and to develop personally and socially._ _Livewire Trust Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Registered Charity Number 1104838_ _17_ CommunityTheatre for young people Child Protectionlsafeguarding Policy Livewir8 TrustAnnual Report 2020- 2021 Registered Chanty mu￿be[ 1104838 18 Financial Report Livewir8 TrustAnnual Report 2020- 2021 Registered Chanty mu￿be[ 1104838 19 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Tho LIvowlr• Triist 1104838 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the perfod frixn OW04Q020 0510412021 To Section A Receipts and payments UnrestrSct•d funds tothè n•tyr•Bt Restrlcted fund• Endowmeni fund8 Total funds Last y•ar to th• n•aro•t e tothe n•arg•tt to th• n•aMt£ A1 Ree¢l GBnl$ Donat￿n$1 Fundrai￿r￿4 Loilery G￿1 Essexcommnty F￿d Harfow C￿nG1￿ HarfN Ra¢ Trusi Art5 cou￿1 Main tsranls ECDP Pmixt Sub tot*l(Gft>ss income for AR) 1,5tyJ 1,600 2XJ10 36.402 7.900 &150 1.250 12SO 7.520 11,270 27,551 27.5Sf 1260 57,501 58,751 A2 Asset and Inv•stnwnt Sales. l*ee tablo). Sub total Total rocelpts 1,250 57.501 51751 66.062 A3Pa •nts Scr￿9 T¢xw, VVork¥W and Thèatre 06J20 Èbste InsurdiKe Hireol ￿nl*S K4aleri8J8 mlnlttiab 172 a1.418 17Z 439 1.000 260 Sub lotal 611 08.320 03AO4 A4 A88•t and Imioskn•nt Urch3￿*. •ee tabl•) Sub total 611 56,320 N•t 0fr￿1P￿/¢p4ym￿tsj AS Trnnsfers bets¥agn fund8 A8 Cash funda I￿1 year •ftd Cash funds thls year•nd 839 1.182 1,821 12,458 8.18S 20. 039 1,182 1.821 c￿ R1 arts￿nts ISSI 1410112022 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unre8trlcted fund$ to neaM6t£ Restricted fund8 ¢0 n0•f•St£ Calegorlè8 Endowment funds Detalls B1 Cash fund8 Total cash funds 639 1,182 urt(J)) Unrestrfctsd fund8 to neorest £ R*ict•d funds to r*are8t£ Endowmonl D8talls to r*ut£ Detalls Fundtowhich 488•t bolo valuo lon•1 ¢o•t lopJon•ll B3 Inv08tment amet• D•tai18 Fund tr4Ythlch aUOt ￿lon CurY•ntV41L on CoBt loptiorwl B4 Assets rotalnod for tho Charlty's own u Detall8 Fund kn whi4h Itabl Afflountd Yh•n du8 85 Llabilltla8 Slgned by one or h¥0 trusl•ès on beh8W of all the trustees Signature Pn"nt Name Date of roval i($ CCKX R2 accounts ISS) 14101r2022 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of '1 LL- T￿￿￿1 On accounts for the year onded 141 &Iy (Ll Charty no (rf any) 1104&39 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of thg accounts of the above charity ltthe Trust'j for the year ended Responslbllltie3 and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you ar& responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in accordanc8 Imth the r8quirements of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Acn. I report in respect of my examination of the Twst's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charty Commission under section 145{5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. l confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') In connection wth the examination ￿1¢h gives me ￿uSe to believe that in. any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or th8 accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no cOn￿rnS and have come across no other matters in connection wtth the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete th8 words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Date: Independent examlnerfs ststement Slgned: L2 Name: Relevant profesglonal qualificatlonls) or body (rfany): S6 Address.. Lf)eoin/S IVA IER O¢tob•r 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brfef details of any Items that the exarniner wlshes to dlsclose. IER October 2018