Company number 07827214 Charity number 1150425
## **Blind Summit Education**
**(Limited by Guarantee)**
**Report and Financial Statements**
**for the year ended 31 March 2021**
**Breckman & Company Ltd Chartered Certified Accountants 49 South Molton Street London W1K 5LH**
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
|**Contents**||
|---|---|
||**Page**|
|Reference and Administrative Details|1|
|Letter from the Chairman|2|
|Trustees' Report|3 - 12|
|Independent Examiner's Report|13|
|Statement of Financial Activities (including Income and Expenditure Account)|14 - 17|
|Balance Sheet|18|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|19 - 25|
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Reference and Administrative Details**
## **Constitution**
The company is a private company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, company number 07827214 and its governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The company is a registered charity, number 1150425.
## **Directors and trustees**
The directors of the charitable company ("the charity") are its trustees for the purpose of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as the trustees.
As set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association the board may appoint trustees provided that the prescribed maximum is not exceeded. Any member appointed shall retain office until the next Annual General Meeting where they will be eligible for re-election. Any person who is not a member of the company will not be eligible to hold office.
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees are ongoing and incorporated indirectly into the regular trustees meetings.
The trustees during the year and since the year end, were :
Henrietta Duckworth Judith Kilvington resigned 8 April 2020 Wojciech Trzcinski resigned 31 March 2021 Jane Morgan Edward Berg (Chair)
## **Secretary**
Woyciech Trzcinski - resigned 31 March 2021
## **Chief executive/day to day management**
Mark Down, Artistic Director
## **Independent examiners**
Breckman & Company Ltd, Chartered Certified Accountants, 49 South Molton Street, London W1K 5LH.
## **Bankers**
Barclays Bank, 40 Wellington Road, St Johns Wood, London NW8 9SQ.
## **Registered office and operation address**
62 Fentiman Road, London SW8 1LF.
1
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Letter from the Chairman - Eddie Berg**
_On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am delighted to introduce you to this year's annual report for Blind Summit, the UK's leading innovator in theatrical puppetry._
_For more than 20 years, Blind Summit has surprised, delighted and challenged audiences around the world, consistently subverting people's expectations of puppetry: from creating giant storybook characters in the opening ceremony of London's 2012 Olympic Games to The Table, a globally successful touring production that completely up-ended audiences' understanding of how puppet and puppeteer communicate._
_Like every other arts organisation in the UK and beyond, our financial year concluded in the most disconcerting and uncertain way, with the global pandemic having taken hold across the entire reporting period and its long-term impact on live performance becoming more and more dramatic. Two planned productions were cancelled due to Covid-19; performances of Caroline Choa and Anthony Minghella's version of Madame Butterfly, featuring Blind Summit's ingenious puppetry, at the English National Opera and in Vienna, and the Welsh National Opera's commission of the company as part of its ambitious production of Stravinsky's The Nightingale._
_Adjusting to the situation, Blind Summit staged a series of online events, workshops and activities during the year which aimed to support and diversify the talent pipeline in puppetry and enable more people from diverse backgrounds to develop careers in live puppet theatre. Highlights of such workshops were the two puppetry technique workshops as part of the London International Mime Festival, and mentoring sessions with British artist Hannah Kumari._
_None of this would be possible with the talents, imagination and flair of Blind Summit's artistic director, Mark Down, and the company of performers and makers who help make Blind Summit one of the distinctive and ambitious theatrical forces working in the UK today._
_Finally, I want to thank my fellow Trustees for their commitment, enthusiasm and critical contributions over the past 12 months, and I would like to particularly thank our former trustees Wojciech Trzcinski and Judith Kilvington, both of whom stepped down from the Board this year. Despite the evident challenges ahead, we look forward to guiding the company through the next chapters of our story._
## _**Eddie Berg Chair of Trustees, Blind Summit**_
2
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
The trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors' report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.
The reference and administrative details set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and 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).
## **Principal activity**
The principal activity of the company was the art of drama and puppetry.
## **Structure, governance and management**
## **Governing document**
The charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 28 October 2011. There are currently four members, each of whom agrees to contribute £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.
## **Appointment of Trustees**
As set out in the Articles of Association, the Board may at any time appoint any member of the company as a member of the Board, subject to a maximum of eight members. Any member so appointed retains his/her office until the next Annual General Meeting and is then eligible for re-election. At each Annual General Meeting one third of the members who have been longest in office retire. All retiring members are eligible for re-election subject to the limits of the terms of office set out in the Articles of Association.
The Trustees have agreed a range of skills and experience required to oversee the work of the charity, and regular skills' audits are carried out to ensure these are met. When recruiting, posts are always advertised through a number of sources, including places that are available at no cost to view to ensure accessibility.
## **Trustee induction and training**
New Trustees are provided with a range of background documents to familiarise themselves with the organisation, including the Memorandum and Articles of Associations, five year strategy, financial performance and stakeholder obligations. They are also provided with charity commission guidance on the responsibility of Trustees and an annual board training budget is provided for those who feel they might benefit from further expertise.
Trustees meet quarterly to make important decisions about the company, approve the annual business plan and budget, monitor quarterly management accounts and cash flow, and advise the management on strategic issues. Three members are required for the meeting to be quorate.
They delegate daily running of the organisation to Artistic Director Mark Down who attends all Trustee meetings and provides reports as required. A representative from the organisation's main stakeholder, Arts Council England, is also invited to all meetings as an observer and aims to attend at least one meeting per year.
3
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## **Risk management**
Risks are reviewed by Trustees regularly and systems, procedures and policies are in place to mitigate these risks as far as possible.
## **Objectives and activities for the public benefit**
## **Our goal**
Blind Summit is a London based, internationally touring, producer of puppet based theatre under the vision of Artistic Director, Mark Down, who is one of the world's leading puppeteers.
Blind Summit's aim is to make puppetry history.
We are puppet innovators: our mission is to expand the definition of a puppet. We ask the question, "What is puppetry for?"
We do that by producing new groundbreaking theatre with puppets, nurturing the puppeteers and makers of tomorrow, and developing new audiences for puppetry.
## **Our backstory**
For 23 years Blind Summit have made shows which have consistently subverted people's expectations of puppetry. We have nurtured puppetry talent who have gone on to perform and set up new puppet companies around the globe. We have built new audiences for puppetry by creating outstanding productions that tour the world. We have helped build new audiences for theatre, opera and dance by collaborating with world-class artists.
_'Blind Summit are the UK's puppet masters, a company whose shows, such as Low Life and the brilliant The Table, have proved that puppetry doesn't have to come either with apologies or strings attached.'_ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian.
To achieve its mission, Blind Summit has four main strands of activity:
**Generating new work Nurturing talent Touring worldwide to reach audiences Building great partnerships**
## **Generating highly original, new work**
Over its 50 productions, Blind Summit's Artistic Director Mark Down has developed his own process which uses the unique challenges of working with puppets to make extraordinary shows. We develop new ideas over long periods, through dreamtime, writing, puppet making and workshopping, all based in our North London building which houses an office, workshop & rehearsal space. Ideas seed from other ideas and develop new puppets and new ways of performing with them.
## **Activities 01.04.2020 - 31.03.2021**
_In 2020-21 we had to make major changes to our original plans, due to the impact the outbreak of Covid-19 had on public life and on the cultural sector in particular. With opportunities of audience-facing and/or in-person activities being largely unavailable, we had to accept cancellations of performances of Madame Butterfly at the ENO, and of the production of 'Le Rossignol' at Welsh Millennium Centre (June 20), Royal Opera House (July 20) and Magdeburg (January 21)._
4
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## _In 2020-21 we worked on five titles:_
Madame Butterfly, A Practical Guide to Puppetry, Lockdown projects (Puppet Tips, Isolation Stories, Puppet Boris), The Table - discussing and sharing, Pop Up.
## _Madame Butterfly_
In September 2020 we rehearsed and performed Madame Butterfly in the Vienna Staatsoper. Mark Down auditioned and trained 7 puppeteers in Austria prior to the rehearsals. Training new puppeteers is one of Blind Summit's core aims. In recent years, puppetry has gained an increased visibility through its use in mainstream theatre and opera productions, and Blind Summit has been part of that trajectory. The process by which Blind Summit creates work is a unique one that is rigorous, experimental and subversive. With this opportunity to train these 7 puppeteers in Austria, we contributed to creating a generation of skilled actor-puppeteers who are able to populate productions of mainstream puppetry.
Madame Butterfly in Vienna was a successful run of 4 performances. We had audiences of 4,337, a broadcast on prime time TV reached 100,000 audiences.
The show is a development of Blind Summit's large-scale work in opera, and events (such as the Olympics).
## _A Practical Guide to Puppetry_
Mark Down was commissioned by Crowood Press to write a book about puppetry. This will be 40,000 words, over 200 pictures, for completion by 30 April 2021. This commission is a manifestation of the central position Blind Summit has been taking over the years in training puppeteers and an opportunity to reflect and refine training methods. It will form a useful handbook for aspiring young puppeteers as well as a source for Blind Summit's future workshops.
At the end of this reporting year, a draft of the first chapters has been delivered.
## _Lockdown projects_
The Lockdown projects consist of 3 online ideas which Littlehouse Media has been promoting through our social channels:
- Puppet Tips videos: we commissioned 6 videos from summeteers Sean Garratt and Tom Espiner. This was a process of experimenting with a range of models for making these videos and conveying puppetry effectively within the media of videography. It was also a way of supporting one of our freelance puppeteers currently out of work due to the impact of the pandemic. The videos were filmed in Blind Summit's workshop.
- Isolation Stories: we promoted Fiona Clift's series of character sketches under the tagline "What Blind Summit puppeteers do in Lockdown". Fiona is an artist (puppeteer, stand-up comedian) we have supported over the years. This current project developed her creative acting and writing skills, and improvisation techniques, and led to an output of 65 videos. The accumulated experiences and skills from this contributed to the creation of her live show 'Identity Thief'.
- Puppet Boris sketches: we created and posted (on social media) 6 short videos of satirical sketches with a Boris character puppet. Blind Summit Artistic Director Mark Down was at the centre of the creative process. This was another opportunity to experiment with the media of videography and how satirical puppetry can be conveyed effectively to audiences/consumers.
5
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## _The Table - discussing and sharing_
The growing popularity of online meetings via Zoom, and the widening of the reach beyond physical presentation this allowed, opened yet another opportunity to connect with audiences and participants around the world. This discussion with our masterpiece The Table in the centre, took part in the Psik Festival in Jerusalem, Israel. Mark Down presented scenes from The Table (pre-recorded in Montreal in 2016) and was in discussion about the making of the show. 100 interested viewers joined and participated in a Q- session.
## _Pop Up_
The R workshops with T42 Dance Company (from Switzerland), planned to take place in the first quarter of the reporting period, were halted due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The development of this project continued, however, in September, and Mark Down wrote and performed the actor/puppeteer role as well as worked with the designer to design the show. Fiona Clift went to Bern, Switzerland, where T42 is based, to direct Mark Down the last weekend of rehearsal. The try-out performance took place in front of a camera crew, the creative team, and a small audience of funders (10 in total). Two funders from the Stanley foundation attended and commented that it was "a masterpiece". This was a significant contribution since this foundation has funded Blind Summit in the past.
## **Nurturing talent**
We develop the skills of emerging artists through a comprehensive training programme. Through Outreach work we introduce people to puppetry for the first time. With open auditions we look for undiscovered, raw puppetry talent, to give opportunities to artists at the beginning of their careers. With workshops and our Associate Artist programme we develop excellence in puppetry which supplies our own work and the wider industry.
Our focus of the year 20-21 was to increase ethnic diversity in the puppetry sector.
The 2020-21 programme included:
## _Workshops in Extreme Puppetry_
We ran technique workshops, an R workshop, and a variety of mentoring by Zoom and live:
2 puppetry technique workshops - 12 participants - as part of the London International Mime Festival by Zoom
1 week (5 sessions) R+D workshop investigating "the puppetry of Zoom" - 12 participants - as part of the London International Mime Festival on Zoom
2 sessions - Mentoring Hannah Kumari on Zoom
- 2 Sessions with student University of Connecticut writing her MA thesis on Blind Summit on Zoom
- 1 Session - Tobi from Wattle and Daub Theatre, interview on diverse casting in Madam Butterfly on Zoom
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## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
4 - 2 sessions at E15, teaching Puppet Directing on the directors' course - 15 students - LIVE
Totals:
114 workshop sessions reaching 51 people
2 subsidised places offered, 1 taken up Black artist who auditioned for us a year ago 5 sessions mentoring to 3 people
## _Training seven new puppeteers for Madame Butterfly in Vienna_
We trained 7 new puppeteers for Blind Summit for Madame Butterfly at the Staatsoper Vienna.
## _Supporting two Associate Artists_
Fiona Clift ran 50% of our workshops and worked as a freelance administrator. She received rehearsal space, mentoring support and direction from Mark Down for her "Identity Thief" show.
Tom Espiner staged a performance with Blind Summit's Henry puppet outside in Covent Garden with the Actor's Centre.
Both Fiona and Tom taught at Fourth Monkey using Blind Summit's puppets.
## _Offering funded puppetry consultancy to two companies_
## Divya Katsuri Company.
We consulted with Divya on integrating puppetry into her production To Varnam with Love. Divya's piece is a South Asian Kathak and Bharatanatyam dance piece, which will perform at the Place and tour the UK.
## Stiltskin Arts, Plymouth
Alex Rose, who worked on the Nightingale puppets, led a consultancy in puppet making for Stiltskin Arts and worked the Ice Dragon mechanisms.
## **Touring worldwide to reach audiences**
We tour to make work, test new shows and reach audiences. We promote our work so that it is experienced by as many people as possible across the UK, Europe and the world. We put puppetry in as many different places as we can: in theatres, opera houses, in the open air, on the internet and on TV.
With the limitations of live audience-facing performances across the globe, due to the impact of the pandemic, we were able to only implement one of the shows of the many planned in 2020-21: Madame Butterfly was revived at the Vienna Staatsoper. This revival resulted in 4 performances, reaching a live audience of 4,337 people. In addition, the first performance of this run was live broadcast on national television (ORF1) reaching an audience of over 100,000 viewers. This revival had a newly trained, back, feet and cover puppeteer, introducing a total of seven new puppeteers into the ensemble of performers. The show and the puppetry continue to get rave reviews and play to sell out audiences "the first appearance of Butterfly's son moves us in the way a flesh-and-blood child rarely does." EVENING STANDARD March 2020.
7
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
We also explored new and alternative ways of reaching audiences, with online (Zoom) workshops, discussions and performances, and with our lockdown videos on social media. As a result of these, we reached a total of 36,145 existing and new audiences.
## **Building great partnerships**
Structuring partnerships in the right way means that Blind Summit can achieve "A lot for a little". Blind Summit's process is costly in research and development time. Smart partnering enables us to apply our process to make work in a variety of venues and platforms and reach new and wider audiences for our work.
In 2020-21 we partnered with:
## _Arts Council England National Portfolio_
Who fund us to pursue experimentation and excellence in puppetry.
## _Wiener Staatsoper_
Who revived Madame Butterfly in Vienna in September 2020 and commissioned us to make a new boy puppet.
## _T42 Dance- Swiss based dance company_
Who came to London for skills sharing in puppetry, and who we will collaborate with on their new show Pop Up.
## _London International Mime Festival_
Who created a platform for discussions about puppetry online.
## _Soho Theatre_
Who continue to be our "home venue" in London.
## _Fourth Monkey_
Who source our puppeteers to teach their acting students and spark the flame for becoming the next generation of puppeteers.
## _Crowwood Press_
Who commissioned Mark Down to write a book about puppetry.
## _Littlehouse Media_
Who promotes our work on social media and through other forms of publicity.
## _Mark Price from Amanda Howard Agency_
Who represents our work to protect our Intellectual property.
8
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
We have complied with our duty under section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the Trustees have considered how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
## **Organisational Development**
We continued to work with our dynamic and responsive new business model. Working with a core part-time team of Artistic Director, Administrator and Bookkeeper. We engaged Paddy Cuthbert a PR consultant from Littlehouse media to raise the profile of the company over the longer term.
This model delivered a pandemic-adjusted programme of work: Paid training with a focus on diversity, viral puppetry videos and discussions on social media, a season of workshops, supporting and mentoring of associated artists, writing and performing with T42 in Switzerland, training of puppeteers and rehearsal for Vienna Staatsoper production for Madame Butterfly.
We gave notice and closed down rehearsal room 11 from the end of August 2020. Fiona Clift and Mark Down used this as an opportunity to rationalise our puppet stock and save money.
We ended our workshop hire in Finsbury Park with effect of 31st March 2021.
We underwent a B+A management consultancy in order to develop our business strategy and plan.
## **Financial Review**
## **Income**
Total income for the company was £125,803.
£48,584 of this was project income from our charitable activities. £44,650, the largest portion, is from touring, puppetry direction, making fees. Remaining £1,908 is divided across education, research and development workshops, and £1,325 came from royalties.
Voluntary income was £76,823 of Arts Council England National Portfolio Funding, which made up 61% of our total income for the year. There was a small amount of sundry income from bank interest and reimbursed expenses.
## **Expenditure**
Total expenditure for the year was £110,011.
The largest amount of expenditure in this financial year was £59,420 on Production / Project fees to freelance makers and performers, developing new work and education projects.
We saved on overheads by cancelling the hire of the rehearsal room, reduced insurance policy and not touring (due to Covid-19 restrictions). We saved on various administration costs due to reduced activity during this pandemic year, and we were also able to reduce the Master puppeteer fee due to SEISS payments. On the other hand, we had additional income from Mark Down's extra week on Madame Butterfly in Vienna. An inflation on our NPO grant brought in another additional £1,388, while the delay in the delivery of Mark Down's book "A Practical Guide to Puppetry" meant that the planned income of £1,500 has also been delayed into the next reporting year. The resulting surplus at year end was £15,792 instead of the budgeted deficit of £5,744.
9
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## **Reserves policy**
The policy agreed by Trustees is that the Charity should hold unrestricted general funds in the region of six months of budgeted overheads for use in times of potential need. Where additional unrestricted funds become available, they shall be designated by the Trustees for use for specific purposes relating to the objectives of the Charity. This policy is reviewed on an annual basis.
At 31 March 2021, unrestricted funds amounted to £291,081. £55,000 of these are maintained as unrestricted general funds in line with the policy. The additional funds, currently standing at £236,081 at year end, are largely resulting from the unexpected success of The Table on tour between 2012 and 2014 and from the new flexible administrative model the company has adopted since 2018. These funds have been designated by the Trustees into two Designated funds: an Organisational Development Fund £21,921 (to support the company in developing a new business model from 2016) and a Generator Fund £214,160 (to support the creation of new large-scale work).
## **Related Parties**
There were no related party transactions during the year.
## **Future plans and activities**
The organisation's strategic goals for the next five years are:
- To lead on new large-scale projects
- To partner with adventurous producers
- To work with more diverse artists
- To enlarge and diversify the cadre of creative collaborators with whom we work
- To reach more diverse audiences and improve our audience development and marketing offer
- To undergo organisational development to achieve the above
Planned activity for the year ahead includes:
(These plans mark the situation on the 31st March 2021)
## **Generating new work**
## _A Soldier's Tale_
We are planning to create a new production of Stravinsky's classic musical story "A Soldier's Tale" in collaboration with and upon invitation by St Magnus Festival in Orkney, Scotland. This will involve 7 musicians of their ensemble in residence, the Assembly Project, and 3 puppeteers operating our "Peter" bunraku puppet. This production promises great touring potential to medium sized arts centres, concerts and theatre stages, and festivals.
## _The Nightingale_
We will investigate into opportunities for the revival of The Nightingale, after our planned performances with WNO for Cardiff Millennium Centre and the Royal Opera House in Summer 2020 were cancelled due to Covid-19.
10
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## _TMAX Anne Frank Trust film_
We will create, in collaboration with TMAX, an 8 min film on Vimeo for the Anne Frank Trust's annual fundraising event in the run-up to Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January 2022). The aim of the film is to inspire young people to fight against prejudice. The film will be based on a collection of stories from children in 3 schools across the country, and have at their core issues of
- Travel
- Alienation
- Strangers
- Future
- Migration
- Integration
- Race
It will involve 3 puppeteers workshopping and creating material around these topics and the stories.
## _A Bunraku Tempest_
We will develop the idea of creating one "big show": A Bunraku Tempest is a modern dress, Bunraku presentation of Shakespeare's final play, with all lines spoken by Prospero, the "puppet master", and all parts played by puppets. The production will tackle the themes of race and post-colonial power structures in the play through the metaphor of Prospero as a puppet master.
This will be our largest and most ambitious show to date with 12 puppeteers, 2 musicians and one "star" actor to speak all the character lines, doing what Blind Summit has become popular for, re-inventing Bunraku puppetry. In addition to just re-inventing Bunraku puppetry, this is a modern interpretation of the Bunraku stage, using the poetry of Shakespeare.
## _Pop Up_
We will perform the newly created production called "Pop Up" with T42 Dance in Bern. Mark will perform a speaking role and direct and perform puppetry in this new devised production inspired by the Japanese phrase - "Mano no aware": "The pathos of things". These performances were originally planned to take place in the previous reporting year, however, they were postponed due to the pandemic.
## **Nurturing talent**
## _A Practical Guide to Puppetry_
We will produce a book on artistic director Mark Down's pioneering puppetry technique. Mark Down was commissioned by Crowood Press in March 2020 to write a book on puppetry performance technique, that will capture his accumulated knowledge of teaching, directing and performing with puppets over the past 25 years. The book will be published in Autumn 2021.
We will continue to programme open access advice and workshops.
We will run puppet making workshops with theatre students at Silpacorn University, Thailand.
We will continue to support our current Associate Artist Hannah Kumari with rehearsal time, mentoring, use of workshop puppets and puppetry directions in Bristol.
We will continue to support our current Associate Artists: Fiona Clift will do a residency in Bridport Arts Centre with director Natasha Nixon, she will do 10 performances of her Theatre Show IDENTITY THIEF and 12 stand up mixed bill appearances on the free Fringe in Edinburgh.
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## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Trustees' Report**
## **Touring worldwide to reach audiences**
## _Pop Up_
Pop Up will be performed in Switzerland (Bern, Basel and Winterthur) in June and October 2021. Meet Fred: continues to tour in the UK and internationally.
## _A Soldier's Tale_
A Soldier's Tale will be performed in Orkney, Scotland, in June 2022 with subsequent performances sought across the UK and internationally.
## **Building great partnerships**
## _T42 Dance_
We will work with T42 dance the production "Pop Up". Mark will perform the speaking role and direct and perform puppetry.
## _St Magnus Festival_
Blind Summit will create the production of A Soldier's Tale for St Magnus Festival, in collaboration with their artistic director Alasdair Nicolson and his ensemble in residence "The Assembly Project".
## **Small company exemptions**
The above report is prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
This report was approved by the board of trustees on 9 December 2021 and signed on its behalf by
**Jane Morgan Trustee**
12
## **Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Blind Summit Education**
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021, which are set out on pages 14 to 25.
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. The charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to an audit under company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
- follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
- state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner's statement**
My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a "true and fair view" and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention
1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 2006; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities
have not been met; or
2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
## **Kevin Beale FCCA Breckman & Company Ltd Chartered Certified Accountants**
49 South Molton Street London W1K 5LH
9 December 2021
13
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Statement of Financial Activities (including Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Notes**
**£**
**Income and endowments from:**
**2**
Donations and legacies - page 15
76,823
Charitable activities:
Theatre - page 15
48,584
Investments
396
Other - Theatre tax credit
-
**Total**
125,803
**Expenditure on:**
Charitable activities:
Theatre - page 16
110,011
**Total**
110,011
**Net income**
**3**
15,792
**Reconciliation of funds:**
**Total funds brought forward**
275,289
**Total funds carried forward**
**10**
291,081|**2021**
**Unrestricted**
**Total**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
76,823
75,435
48,584
221,795
396
1,064
-
10,691
125,803
308,985
110,011
230,795
110,011
230,795
15,792
78,190
275,289
197,099
291,081
275,289|**2020**
**Total**
**£**
75,435
221,795
1,064
10,691|
|---|---|---|
|||308,985|
|||230,795|
|||230,795|
|||78,190
197,099|
|||275,289|
The notes on pages 19 to 25 form an integral part of these financial statements.
derives from continuing activities.
14
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Income from donations and legacies**
Arts Council England
ACE - NPO funding
**Income from charitable activities**
**Theatre income**
Performance fees
Puppetry: making, directing and performance
Management fees
Education/workshops
Royalties
Reimbursed expenses
Sundry
Space hire|**2021**
**£**
76,823
-
14,230
30,420
1,908
1,325
307
394
-|**£**
76,823
76,823
48,584|**2020**
**£**
75,435
112,837
88,526
13,962
2,795
551
2,791
-
333|**£**
75,435|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||75,435|
|||||221,795|
15
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Expenditure on charitable activities**
**Theatre**
**Production/project costs**
Fees
Agents commission
Costumes
Puppetry making/repairs
Set/props/materials
Rehearsal room hire
'Next Door' project
Transport
Production sundry
Touring accommodation/travel/subsistence
Publicity/marketing
Support and governance costs - page 17|**2021**
**£**
17,170
3,042
-
18,529
-
-
2,501
74
10,389
7,715
-
59,420
50,591
110,011|**2020**
**£**
74,285
1,396
2,532
70,131
933
5,716
5,835
157
8,100
6,968
6,928|
|---|---|---|
|||182,981
47,814|
|||230,795|
16
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Year ended 31 March 2021**
|**Support and governance costs**
**Support costs**
**Office overheads**
Rent
Storage
Rates
Light/heat
Telephone/internet
Computer costs
Insurance
Repairs/maintenance
**Administration costs**
Salaries
Freelance
Travel/transport
Gifts/hospitality
Printing/postage/stationery
Company marketing
Subscriptions/licences
Sundries
**Professional/financial**
Bank charges
(Surplus)/deficit on foreign exchange
**Governance costs**
Legal/professional
Accountancy/consultancy
Board expenses|**2021**
**£**
10,070
270
466
1,161
641
415
3,823
154
12,000
16,601
115
101
438
1,200
47
280
99
)
(34
13
2,600
131|**£**
17,000
30,782
65
2,744
50,591|**2020**
**£**
10,206
-
589
2,102
417
402
4,198
64
12,000
10,965
201
265
150
118
-
-
84
2,129
13
3,200
711|**£**
17,978
23,699
2,213
3,924|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||47,814|
17
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
|||**Balance**|**Sheet**|**Sheet**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**31 March**||**2021**||||||
|||||**2021**||||**2020**||
||**Notes**|**£**|||**£**|**£**|||**£**|
|**Current assets:**||||||||||
|Debtors|**7**|3,340||||19,992||||
|Cash at bank and in hand||297,255||||275,577||||
|||300,595||||295,569||||
|**Liabilities:**||||||||||
|Creditors: amounts falling||||||||||
|due within one year|**8**|)
(9,514||||)
(20,280||||
|**Net current assets**|||||291,081||||275,289|
|**Total assets less current**||||||||||
|**liabilities**|||||291,081||||275,289|
|**The funds of the charity:**||||||||||
|**Unrestricted funds**|**10**|||||||||
|- General fund|||||55,000||||55,000|
|- Designated funds|||||236,081||||220,289|
|**Total charity funds**|||||291,081||||275,289|
For the year ending 31 March 2021 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
## Directors' responsibilities:
· The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476;
· The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 9 December 2021 and signed on its behalf by
**Jane Morgan Edward Berg Trustee Trustee**
The notes on pages 19 to 25 form an integral part of these financial statements.
18
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **1.1. Basis of preparing the financial statements**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (issued October 2019) 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) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).
## **1.2. Incoming resources**
All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities when:
- the charity is legally entitled to the funds
- any performance conditions attached to the income have been met or are fully within the control of the charity
- there is sufficient certainty that receipt of the income is considered probable
- the amount can be reliably measured
## **- Donations and legacies**
Grants/donations are recognised in incoming resources in the year in which they are receivable, except as follows:
- when donors specify that grants/donations given to the charity must be used in future accounting periods, the income is deferred until those periods
- when donors impose conditions which have to be fulfilled before the charity becomes entitled to use such income, the income is deferred and not included in incoming resources until the preconditions for use are met.
## **- Charitable activities**
Theatre income - income from box office, performance fees and sundry other theatrical income is included in incoming resources in the period in which the relevant show takes place.
Project specific funding - when donors specify that donations and grants are for particular restricted purposes, which do not amount to pre-conditions regarding entitlement, this income is included in incoming resources of restricted funds when receivable.
19
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **- Donated services and facilities**
Donated services or facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. On receipt, donated services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
## **- Investment income**
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank.
## **1.3. Expenditure**
All expenditure is included on an accruals basis inclusive of any VAT which cannot be recovered and is recognised when:
- there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment
- it is probable that settlement will be required
- the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably
## **- Costs of raising funds**
Costs incurred in attracting donations, and those incurred in trading activities that raise funds.
## **- Charitable activities**
Theatre production costs - costs incurred in production and running of productions toured in the year.
## **- Support costs**
The administrative and overhead costs associated with running the office from which the company operates as well as governance costs. Support are wholly attributable to theatre production costs.
## **- Governance costs**
Costs associated with the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity.
## **1.4. Fund accounting**
Funds held by the charity are either:
- Unrestricted general funds - these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.
- Designated funds - these are funds set aside by the trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.
- Restricted funds - these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.
20
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **1.5. Foreign currencies**
Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the date of the transactions. All gains and losses on exchange are written off in the Income and Expenditure account.
## **1.6. Debtors**
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.
## **1.7. Cash at bank and in hand**
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
## **1.8. Creditors and provisions**
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably 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 and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## **1.9. 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 recognised at transaction value, and subsequently measured at their settlement value.
## **1.10. Significant Accounting Estimates and Judgements**
In determining the carrying amounts of certain assets and liabilities, the charity makes assumptions of the effects of uncertain future events on those assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date. The charity's estimates and assumptions are based on historical experience and expectation of future events and are reviewed annually.
## **2. Incoming resources**
The total incoming resources for the year has been derived from the principal activity undertaken wholly in the UK.
21
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**3.**
**Net income for the year is**
**stated after charging:**
Deficit on foreign exchange
Independent examiner
- independent examination
- other
and after crediting:
(Surplus) on foreign exchange|**2021**
**£**
-
2,600
-
)
(34|**2020**
**£**
2,129
2,600
600|
|---|---|---|
|||-|
## **4. Trustees' emoluments and reimbursed expenses**
The trustees received no remuneration during the year (2020 - £nil).
The aggregated amount reimbursed to trustees during the year was £nil (2020 - £nil).
|**5.**|**Staff costs and numbers**|**2021**|**2020**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|**£**|
||**Staff costs**|||
||Salaries and wages|12,000|12,000|
No employee earned £60,000 or more during the year (2020 - nil).
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees and the Senior Management Team. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £12,000 (2020: £12,000).
## **Staff numbers**
The average numbers of employees (including casual and part time staff) during the year was made up as follows:
|
up as follows:|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2021**||**2020**||
||**Number**||**Number**||
|Support||2||2|
## **6. Corporation taxation**
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
22
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **7. Debtors**
|**7.**
**Debtors**
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
**8.**
**Creditors: amounts falling due**
**within one year**
Trade creditors
Other taxation/social security
Other creditors
Accruals|**2021**
**£**
360
2,480
500
3,340
**2021**
**£**
6,425
-
489
2,600
9,514|**2020**
**£**
8,209
10,783
1,000|
|---|---|---|
|||19,992|
|||**2020**
**£**
1,304
5,310
966
12,700|
|||20,280|
## **9. Limited by guarantee**
The company is limited by guarantee and does not have a share capital. Each member gives a guarantee to contribute a sum, not exceeding £1, to the company should it be wound up. At 31 March 2021 there were 3 members.
23
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
|**10.**
**Unrestricted funds**
**Brought**
**Incoming**
**Outgoing**
**Transfers**
**forward**
**resources**
**resources**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
General fund
55,000
125,803
)
(110,011
)
(15,792
Designated funds:
Generator fund
198,368
-
-
15,792
Organisational development fund 21,921
-
-
-
275,289
125,803
)
(110,011
-|**Carried**
**forward**
**£**
55,000
214,160
21,921|
|---|---|
||291,081|
## **Generator fund**
This fund is to support the creation of new large scale artistic work where Blind Summit is the lead creative force, and where the work is of a scale or ambition which will particularly contribute to the organisation's strategic goals.
## **Organisational development fund**
This fund is to cover one-off projects designed to significantly impact the development of Blind Summit and invest in its future through strategic development (such as consultancy, capital costs, staff training or board development).
## **11. Analysis of net assets between funds**
|**General**
**Designated**
**funds**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
Fund balances at 31 March 2021
are represented by:
Net current assets
55,000
236,081
55,000
236,081|**Total**
**£**
291,081|
|---|---|
||291,081|
## **12. Financial commitments**
At 31 March 2021 the company had total future minimum commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:
|
operating leases as follows:|||
|---|---|---|
||**2021**|**2020**|
||**£**|**£**|
|**Due:**|||
|Within one year|2,527|1,303|
24
## **Blind Summit Education**
## **(Limited by Guarantee)**
**Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **13. Related party transactions**
During the year the company had no related party transactions that required disclosure.
25