Annual Report 2021 - 2022
Transculturalvisions is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Registration Number 1154089
Address: c/o Medway Voluntary Action, 5a New Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 6BB
Email: admin@transculturalvisions.com Website: www.transculturalvisions.com
CONTENTS
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Purpose and Activities
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Projects
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Singing Cultures
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Stranger Fruit
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Public Benefit
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Finance
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Governance and Staff
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Targets for 2023
1. Our Purpose and Activities
Transculturalvisions delivers creative projects inspired by the cultural experiences and heritage of Britain's diverse communities. Our purpose is to:
- (i) advance public appreciation of diverse cultures.
(ii) further understanding about the dynamics that promote positive interethnic relations and a shared sense of belonging.
Transculturalvisions is a project based organisation raising funds as individual projects are conceived.
In this reporting year we completed Singing Cultures project activities that had been on hold as a result of Covid-19 involving the adult choir and St. Joseph’s School, Deptford. We also raised funding for and delivered a new online series Stranger Fruit exploring the legacies of jazz and blues women on contemporary music and culture.
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2. Projects
2A. Singing Cultures
Singing Cultures is a music education project inspired by the 200+ year heritage of African Classical Music. The projects main protagonists - African composers - are inspiring for the way in which their music-making exposes classical music as being open to intercultural expression to symbolise 'a common humanity'. The Singing Cultures project engages people to explore this legacy and share their experiences and aspirations for interethnic relations.
2A. 1 Phase 3 Completion
This year we completed Phase 3 of Singing Cultures activities which had been interrupted by Covid 19 restrictions. Originally scheduled for May to July 2020 the outstanding Phase 3 activities were delivered between November 2021 to February 2022.
An adult choir remains central to the Singing Cultures project. In this latest phase, the choir focussed on developing content for a new narrative performance to capture their journey as a choir of African Caribbean heritage looking to invite people of other backgrounds to join them in the next phase of their evolving journey. The choir also supported and sang jointly with the children at the school concerts.
We returned to St. Joseph’s School, Deptford to deliver a second block of workshops to Year 5’s. The children explored and reflected on the music and life of Fela Sowande to create new material that was performed in a new concert titled ‘Our Cultural Journeys with Fela Sowande’.
Adult choir workshops and rehearsals have been funded by the Arts Council of England. Expanding the project to primary school Fela Sowande pupils was made possible with Heritage Lottery Funding.
2A.2 Singing Cultures Personnel
Bilkis Malek, Director Transculturalvisions conceived the conceptual framework for Singing Cultures and has evolved it in response to chorister experiences setting new themes and targets for each phase of the choir’s journey. This responsibility is now also extended to shaping Singing Cultures for school children. Bilkis is the lead researcher and facilitator for developing and leading the choir’s themed discussions and school workshops. Related activities are designed to generate content for new performance material which to date have included poems, songs, narrative performance, role-plays, storytelling. Bilkis also project manages Singing Cultures and is responsible for funding applications, evaluations and reporting to funders.
Soprano and vocal coach Victoria Oruwari is the Choir’s Director and Kevin Satizabal piano accompanist. In the second part of Phase 3 ongoing covid disruption and virus
Bilkis Malek
Kevin Satizabal
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concerns required us to recruit a temporary replacement for Victoria and this role was filled by Andrew Tait.
Mezzo-soprano, vocal coach and Chair of Transculturalvisions Deborah Aloba contributed to leading school workshops and performed at concerts. Deborah has also freely filled in for artist absences.
The original proposal included training for four choristers to volunteer and support the school workshops. The four volunteer choristers that were trained to support the first block of school workshops were unable to commit to part 2 for varied reasons - Deborah Aloba being carers, long Covid, underlying health conditions. Four new choristers volunteered thus a total of eight choristers were trained and involved in supporting school workshops. Training and management of choir volunteers was undertaken by Bilkis Malek.
2A.3 Singing Cultures Choir
The main focus for choristers in this phase was to revisit excerpts from themed discussions in earlier phases. Choristers were invited to process and articulate their reflections through expressive tasks including a sensory board of different textures. They considered their spectrum of experiences of ‘home’, ‘belonging’ and ‘interethnic relations’ and began to associate them with different textures, colours and sounds.
Choristers also considered the degree to which their varied experiences could be effectively processed through conceptual frameworks dominating mainstream politics and media. From this they were invited to think about what additional vocabulary and tools might be useful to process their varied and complex experiences of identity, belonging and interethnic relations.
Singing Cultures Choristers
This material will form a new performance piece narrating the journey of this particular formation of the choir of African Caribbean heritage from which to invite people of other backgrounds to join the next phase. Creation of the new performance piece will be a central focus for the next phase of the choir’s journey.
“I am really looking forward to joining in next year as I know it will help in my continuous self-growth. Especially excited to be working on the narrative section.”
“What an inspirational, thought provoking session yesterday. Thanks Bilkis for this continual discovery of how our thoughts and actions promote emotions.”
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“Firstly thank you for your time and efforts what an amazing workshop so informative and inspirational. I am excited about the new things coming our way.”
2A.4 School Workshops
The creative framework established with the adult choir of exploring African Classical Music via ‘singing’, ‘themed discussions’ and ‘creating new material’ was adapted for Year 5 children.
We worked with a new Year 5 class and the children learnt songs in English, Yoruba and Isoko including Fela Sowande’s ‘Come Out and Dance’; African folksongs ‘Batami a Dun Ko Ko Ka’ and ‘Mayerei Owai’; and Singing Cultures Choir’s original song ‘Black Brown Red White and Blue’. The music and life of Nigerian composer Fela Sowande was a central focus across workshop activities and discussions and generated content for creating 3 role-play sketches, a new song, and 6 videos combining performance material with children’s drawings.
Responding to Ojo Maro & Jerusalem - https://youtu.be/mFPvKJ9QF5Q Come Out & Dance - https://youtu.be/-BkkB12uRDs Batami a Dun Ko Ko Ka - https://youtu.be/_vwxtEANBlw Role-Play: Joining a Football Club - https://youtu.be/DP0DZa2qbgs Role-Play: African ‘Sweet’ for Strings! - https://youtu.be/K2LF1ixL1So Role-Play: Jelly Balls ‘v’ Compost - https://youtu.be/I3pQUIivqvM
2A.4 Concert – ‘Our Cultural Journeys with Fela Sowande’
Part 2 concluded with a joint concert with the children and adult choir titled ‘Our Cultural Journeys with Fela Sowande’. The programme included adult solo performances by pianist Andrew Tait ( Yoruba Lament by Fela Sowande), and mezzo-soprano Deborah Aloba ( Porgia Amore and O Don Fatale ) - see page 19 Appendix A for full concert programme.
‘Our Cultural Journeys with Fela Sowande’ was performed twice for the whole school and children’s families with a total live audience of approximately 170 (see also pages 10-11, 3.3.1 Singing Cultures – Audience Engagement and Response).
2A.5 Impact of Covid-19
The original proposal was for two x 8 workshops plus performance outputs for the same Year 5 class. Due to Covid 19 resulting in an 18 month delay in delivering Part 2, the original Year 5 class from Part 1 had left school. Part 2 was delivered to a new year 5 class. This necessitated adjustment to planned outputs - not only due to working with a new class but also due to staff and pupils absences during project delivery - in place of podcast we developed role-play sketches and in place of CD we created 6 youtube videos.
Part 2 concert was originally planned for an external venue with stage but due to Covid 19 had to be presented ‘in school’ and external invitations and guests kept to a minimum.
Covid 19 also impacted on project personnel. The original four volunteer choristers (being carers, long Covid, underlying health conditions) were unable to commit to Part 2. Four new choristers volunteered which required two additional training sessions. The adjustments in project outputs during project delivery required a further training session to prepare choir volunteers re: new outputs.
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The choir director also could not commit to Part 2 due to feeling additionally vulnerable in a school environment. A new choir director was recruited.
Victoria Oruwari, Andrew Tait
2A.6 New Partners and Networks
The success of the school workshops has resulted in St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School inviting us to explore a long-term partnership and to consider expanding the work to other year groups. Currently we are developing plans and funding bids to work with two year groups in summer 2023.
We are in the early stages of building partnerships with Lewisham Education Arts Network, Lewisham Music, and Hackney Music Network with a view to establishing networks and expertise to inform how we develop workshop content at St. Joseph’s and create a package for other music hubs and schools.
2B. Stranger Fruit
Stranger Fruit: Contemporary Reflections on Jazz and Blues Women was an online improvised music and discussion series.
The series title was inspired by the song “Strange Fruit” originally sung by Billie Holiday and written by Abel Meeropol. The song is recognised as a protest against the lynching of black Americans and identifies the victims with the fruit of trees. The aim of the series was to transform perceptions of black women’s impact on contemporary music and culture.
Women have been central to the origins and evolution of jazz and blues. They have inspired some of the most famous musicians. For example, Ma Rainey’s gravelly vocals inspired Louis Armstrong, Janis Joplin & Bonnie Raitt; Victoria Spivey nurtured the musical talent of Bob Dylan; Big Mama Thornton originally recorded ‘Hound Dog’ – one of Elvis Presley’s biggest hits. Many jazz and blues women also advocate female empowerment through independence, sassiness & sexual freedom. Yet the women, their music & social interventions remain unknown.
The few women that are recognised tend to be cast as victims, their life stories turned into one-dimensional tales without agency and self-determination, or as simply accidental adjuncts to the music industry. The central invocation/invitation of the Stranger Fruit series was to imagine what would it be like if strangers were seen as a product or response to a society’s ‘structural relations’, voices highlighting our fault lines and how we might imagine things differently.
2B.1 Project Personnel
Stranger Fruit was envisioned, curated and produced by Bilkis Malek (Transculturalvisions). The series was delivered in partnership with Marva Jackson Lord (Griots Arts) and Debbie Golt (Outerglobe) co-hosts of the series. Additionally,
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Bilkis was responsible for supporting musicians with live session content, project managing and evaluation; Marva for website design and marketing; and Debbie for session edits.
Four contemporary musicians formed a cyberspace band – Sharron McLeod (voice/flute); Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet); RENU (percussion) and Roella Oloro (keys). Each live
Marva Lord, Bilkis Malek, Debbie Golt
session was led by one of the four musicians discussing and leading live music improvisations related to their chosen female figure from jazz and blues.
Clare Marshall did live canvas paintings and tech support was provided by Fez Miah.
2B.2 Live Sessions Content
Four live sessions on Zoom invited four musicians to share personal reflections on an inspirational female figure from jazz and blues. The sessions included archives, dialogue and live improvised music to journey through the empowering legacies of jazz and blues women illustrating how they pioneered new musical styles that challenged race, gender and sexual norms.
Audience members were encouraged to play an active part in the sessions through live chat with the musicians and joining improvisations.
In session 1 Sharron McLeod explored the music and life of Abbey Lincoln recognised as one of the most arresting and uncompromising singers who was also a successful actor, civil rights activist and educator. Sharron presented music and themes centred around Abbey Lincoln’s emphasis on ‘having a point of view’. The session emphasised the essence of jazz and blues as mediums to disrupt norms and empower marginalised voices.
Sharron McLeod
Abbey Lincoln
Sharron’s insights were richly personal informed by her relationship as a student and friend of Abbey Lincoln.
Charlotte Keeffe led session 2 with her partner, vocalist Lara de Belder, celebrating the achievements of Ernestine ‘Tiny’ Carroll Davis once described as the “hottest
Charlotte Keeffe ‘Tiny’ Davis
female trumpeter in the universe”. Charlotte unpacked how Tiny and other female instrumentalists disrupted ideas of female physicality being unsuited to play the trumpet. On the lips of women the trumpet was transformed from an instrument of marching bands taking on a new fun persona at the centre of the Swing movement. Intertwined in this journey were stories that broke race and
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gender conventions – Tiny herself a member of the first all female inter-racial band ‘International Sweethearts of Rhythm’, and a hero of the gay rights movement.
Charlotte connected narratives of ‘freedom’ to jazz improvisation a feeling she translated to the audience inviting them to improvise with her.
For session 3 RENU journeyed with Jeanne Lee described as one of the greatest jazz singers in the avant-garde tradition. In 2018 RENU was commissioned by Ausland Berlin to engage in a musical dialogue with Lee’s ground-breaking ‘Conspiracy’ album. Alongside playing music from that commission RENU aligned her own journey as an artist to Lee’s emphasis on ‘culture and tradition being key to human spirit and sustenance’ and Lee’s distinction between music as ‘pop entertainment’ and music as ‘creative agency for social change’. RENU’s reflections highlighted that patriarchal structures that have suppressed the role of RENU Jeanne Lee women in the evolution of jazz and blues are no less significant today.
RENU shared her own quest for artistic freedom interweaving the principles of ‘Satchidananda’ – a branch of Hindu philosophy - into her music to emphasise the spiritual over the material.
The series concluded with Roella Oloro sharing a ‘real time’ insight as a current student of Harvard Professor Esperanza Spalding, a multi-instrumentalist recognised
Roella Oloro Esperanza Spalding
as one of the most significant jazz practitioners of today. Playing music and drawing from Esperanza’s album ‘Songwrights Apothecary Lab’ Roella drew attention to the role of black improvisational music and dance in the evolution of jazz. She also drew on her learning at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice to highlight the intersectionality of race and gender.
Roella invited the audience to feel the
‘real possibilities of freedom’ reflecting on her development as a jazz musician in a space where marginalised voices can feel empowered to speak.
Clare Marshall’s live canvas paintings provided visual narrations of each session.
All four live session recordings, four promotional videos and live music improvisations can be found on the Stranger Fruit website (www.strangerfruit.net) and youtube channel (www.youtube.com/@strangerfruit7546/videos).
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2B.3 Audience and Media Coverage
Prior to Covid 19 our focus was delivering projects with high quality artists for people who don’t normally access creative opportunities. Our first online series Infectious Air highlighted the pertinence of our organisational aims for creative practitioners. Stranger Fruit has further grounded our relevance for the arts and creative sectors.
The audience were invited to share their own thoughts and ideas on jazz and blues women and themes evoked in contemporary culture – impact of racism and sexism on jazz & blues women, patriarchy, Covid 19, gender fluid identities. This interactive audience element inspired, and at times the audience also joined in, live improvisations (see also pages 11-13, 3.3.2 Stranger Fruit Audience Engagement and Response).
Stranger Fruit received coverage from various London based media including Women in Jazz Media, Resonance FM, Worldwide Radio and SOAS Radio. They promoted sessions via their social media channels as well as attending live sessions.
2B.4 Extending Stranger Fruit
From the evaluation with partners and contributing musicians we envisage Stranger Fruit growing various branches going forward. Key ideas being considered are:
i. Series 2 – a hybrid combining live ‘on stage’ and online sessions with a focus on inviting more contemporary practitioners to present female pioneers of jazz and blues
ii. An online series unpacking improvisation skills (eg deep listening, connection, translating feelings to sound) as a context for identifying tools for navigating challenges of everyday life and relationships across difference.
iii. Podcast Series on Jazz and Blues Women.
iv. Pop-Ups –combining mini-exhibition, panel discussion and live performance with a view various combination of these elements can be presented at different venues and festivals.
2C. New Grief Music Project
We have undertaken preliminary work to identify a suitable location for piloting a new project Grief Music conceived by Deborah Aloba. This provisional work has established links with local authority and faith communities in the London Borough of Newham.
The aim of the Grief Music project will be to bring different faith groups together to share communal and private expressions of grief and the role of music and ritual practices in processing grief.
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3. Public Benefit
3.1 Conceptual Frameworks
We deliver creative projects inspired by the heritage of Britain’s diverse communities to engage challenging questions about identity, belonging and interethnic relations.
Singing Cultures and our first online series Infectious Air have underlined that understanding the dynamics of interethnic relations requires conceptual frameworks responsive to a complex spectrum of experiences rather than being framed by binary opposites (‘them’ & ‘us’; ‘victim’ & ‘perpetrator’).
Stranger Fruit evolved understanding of the dynamics of interethnic relations further, exploring the narratives of jazz & blues women to illustrate the intersectionality of different points of identity. Thus, ethnicity and ethnic identities are shaped by experiences of gender, disability, sexuality and other points of identity and difference. Further, promoting equality also needs to be responsive to this intersectionality ie. you can’t have race equality without gender, disability, intergenerational etc equality.
3.2 Participants and Audience Profile
3.2.1 Singing Cultures
In total 26 choristers have participated in the Singing Cultures journey so far. The choir is amateur with an age range of 18-65yrs, 14 are of African heritage, 10 of Caribbean and 2 mixed heritage. There are 3 non-sighted individuals within the choir and project personnel.
In this phase 14 choristers took part with 2 new choristers joining. With Singing Cultures going into schools additional volunteer opportunities have opened for choristers and eight choristers in total supported the school workshops. This video link captures four volunteer choristers reflecting on the second block of school workshops and concert https://youtu.be/XEE54vVxQxw .
Singing Cultures Personnel
Since its inception Singing Cultures has had an
audience reach of approximately 60k primarily through our online and social media posts and ads. Live audiences over three phases have totalled approximately 800.
Our online statistics indicate our core audience for Singing Cultures is primarily from the UK and overwhelmingly London based with individuals of African and Caribbean heritage being the largest ethnic group at 80%. The project has attracted notable following from Africa (especially Nigeria) and the United States. There is a 55%-45% male-female split and whilst the age of our online audience ranges from 18-65+yrs the largest group is 45-54yrs.
The collaboration with St. Joseph’s school has widened the profile of Singing Cultures and heritage of
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African Classical Music amongst young people. 70% of participants and audiences of our project outputs in this latest phase were 6-11yrs of age. This compares with 1 to 2% in earlier phases of the project.
3.2.2 Stranger Fruit
The majority of the Stranger Fruit live audience were musicians, DJs, commentators (70%). The series
attracted a live audience of 160 across the 4 sessions and an online audience of 25k. More women (75%) attended the live sessions than men and our Facebook page followers were also majority female (60%). By comparison our online post and ads reached more men (59%) than women. The series attracted individuals across the age categories 18-65+yrs with the largest group being 55-64yrs.
The added benefit of an online series was that both live and social media audiences were international from UK (55%), Canada (30%), France (6%), US (5%) with smaller representation from Sweden, Germany, Jamaica, Africa.
3.3 Audience Engagement and Response
3.3.1 Singing Cultures
The achievements of African composers was presented as a context to challenge the children to explore the interrelationship of the different cultures and places they inhabit and to negotiate these into a coherent experience. Through the workshops the children were able to share personal experiences and were challenged to work through empowering solutions to conflict and tension. This was used as original material for new role-play sketches and new song.
There were multiple learning opportunities for the Year 5 class participating in the workshops and concert. They:
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learnt about topics such as classical music, African composers, and British history.
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responded to exercises to explore the multiple cultural influences in their lives and how they feel about them.
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learnt songs in Yoruba, Isoko and English.
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shared experiences of racism and how to respond to them.
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created and performed 3 new pieces including role-plays, new song and narration.
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performed with members of the Singing Cultures adult choir.
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The children explored and developed a more dynamic understanding of culture – beyond different styles of dress, food, language – to include how ideas and attitudes shape responses to different groups and also objects and nature. The latter aptly captured in role-play 3 https://youtu.be/I3pQUIivqvM which was based on the children’s contrasting reactions to ‘jelly balls as yummy’ and ‘compost as muck’! One child was a lone voice challenging the rest of the class to realise the importance of compost to all their favourite food.
Year 5s Pupils exploring their diverse cultural heritage
Virtually all participants and audiences (except for those who had siblings and children involved in Part 1) had never heard of African Classical Music. The children were positively surprised to learn about conservatoires in England where the composers had studied and in particular about Trinity Laban being walking distance from their school! Their faces and reactions felt like a door had been opened.
“My daughter and her friends were so excited to do this concert. It was fabulous.” (Parent)
“Very impressed with the number of learning opportunities this project offers – heritage, music, geography, culture, personal and relationship development”. (Deputy Chair of Governors)
“I really enjoyed doing the role-play and I loved learning about Fela Sowande.” (male, Year 5 pupil)
“Learning about different heritage and cultures was great. I loved singing in different languages and performing in the concert.” (female, Year 5 pupil)
3.3.2 Stranger Fruit
The aim of the Stranger Fruit series was to transform perceptions of black women's impact on contemporary music & culture. The success with which this was achieved is reflected in these quotes:
“Not only is this enjoyable I am also getting a first class education” (male audience member, North America)
“I have two postgraduate degrees in jazz and I’m a Professor of Trumpet but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to explore and appreciate the legacy of black women like Tiny.” (Charlotte Keeffe, Stranger Fruit musician)
Feedback from musicians, partners and audience consistently highlighted that Stranger Fruit was their first exposure to the featured jazz and blues women and their incredible legacies. That this feedback came from many individuals integral to jazz
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and improvisation scenes in UK and North America underscores the importance of the project. Much of the ongoing cycles of ‘race’ conflict and inequalities can be linked to the lack of agency accorded to black communities and their contribution to modern cultures.
----- Start of picture text -----
Stranger Fruit Canvas Paintings
by Clare Marshall
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Stranger Fruit has opened a channel of engaging contemporary jazz and improvisation practitioners to explore and understand the contributions of black – in particular black female – jazz and blues artists and this strand has potential to grow its own niche.
Lillian Allen, Bilkis Malek
The series attracted a notable audience from North America in particular Canada. Many were creative practitioners who have expressed an interest in starting a Stranger Fruit Canada .
A key supporter of the series was Lillian Allen, Professor of Creative Writing and Dub Poetry based in Toronto. She attended the entire series and we accommodated a performance element from her in session 3. She also met with series creator and
curator Bilkis Malek to explore potential for future collaborations with a view to having a more widespread reach of the Stranger Fruit brand/message. Here are two excerpts from the meeting between Bilkis and Lillian:
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curating spaces to empower - https://youtu.be/sdp44G59_3I
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the dynamic space of Stranger Fruit https://youtu.be/StCKW3Mqfbs
3.4 Operational
Prior to Covid-19 our activities required artists, participants, audiences to be in the same physical space. In March 2020 lockdown made us consider alternative ways of working - namely 1. using online platforms, and 2. collaborating / sharing skills sets with other organisations.
Stranger Fruit is our second project structured by this new operational model and was delivered in partnership with Griots Arts and Outerglobe. The primary benefits of partnership working are conceiving and
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delivering projects not possible without substantial organisational growth and allowing respective partners to expand their reach. We will continue to explore this operational model for future projects.
Stranger Fruit also highlighted how online platforms present huge potential for alliances across cultures and continents and going forward we will consider strategies to increase international connections.
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4. Finance
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
Statement of financial activities
| Incoming resources Grants Gnome House Donations Resources expended Singing Cultures Fees Events & Rehearsals Travel expenses Room hire Equipment & Resources Personnel costs Stranger Fruit Fees Travel expenses Equipment & Resources Marketing & Publicity Infectious Air Fees Equipment & Resources Marketing & Publicity Transculturalvisions Travel Postage & Stationery Refreshments Communications Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total this year Total last year £ £ £ £ - 14,650 14,650 12,500 - - - 75 1,500 - 1,500 - |
|---|---|
| 1,500 14,650 16,150 12,575 - 9,515 9,515 1,600 - 78 78 - - 492 492 - - 623 623 - - 174 174 - - 63 63 - - 13,550 13,550 - - 57 57 - - 714 714 - - 782 782 - - - - 10,850 - - - 367 - - - 726 - - - - - - - 23 6 - 6 - 81 - 81 14 |
|
| 87 26,049 26,137 13,579 |
|
| 1,413 -11,399 -9,986 -1,004 |
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Balance Sheet
| Fixed assets Tangible assets Investments Current assets Stock and work in progress Debtors (Short term) investments Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets/(liabilities) Total assets less current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due after one year Net assets Funds of the Charity Unrestricted funds Designated funds Restricted income funds Endowment funds Total funds |
Total this year Total last year £ £ - - - - |
|---|---|
| - - - - 1,465 - - - 13,087 11,570 |
|
| 14,552 11,570 12,967 - |
|
| 1,584 11,570 1,584 11,570 |
|
| - - |
|
| 1,584 11,570 |
|
| 1,584 171 - - - 11,399 - - |
|
| 1,584 11,570 |
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5. Governance and Staff
5.1 Trustees
Thanks to all our trustees for their time, support and input. Trustees meet quarterly. They give their time voluntarily and receive no renumeration or benefits.
Our trustees are: Trustees Associate Trustees Deborah Aloba (Chair) Kolarele Sonaike Margaret Ling (Secretary) Annette Figueiredo Richard Liston Sally Davison (retired Dec 2022) Rowland Sutherland
5.2 Trustee Appointment and Induction
New trustees are appointed at trustee meetings for a period of 3 years. Trustees are considered for re-appointment at the trustee meeting closest to the end of the 3 year term.
Trustees receive an induction with the Director – this includes an overview of Transculturalvisions, our objects and purpose, and how our projects and activities fulfil the charity's commitment to ensure public benefit.
New trustees are provided with a summary of their roles and responsibilities along with copies of relevant Charity Commission publications – including 'The Essential Trustee – What You Need to Know' (CC3); and Public Benefit Guides (PB1, PB2 & PB3). Trustees are also given a copy of the constitution along with the policies and procedures adopted by the charity. These include Safeguarding Policy; Equality & Diversity Policy; Disciplinary & Grievance Policy and Complaints Procedure.
5.3 Staff
Bilkis Malek, is the founding Director of Transculturalvisions. She has overall responsibility for conception, fundraising, marketing and delivery of projects. She also provides administrative support for trustee meetings and ensures the organisation's legal obligations including accounts and reporting to the charity commission are fulfilled. Currently, Bilkis undertakes her role as Director in an unpaid capacity.
In this reporting year Bilkis has also led and managed Singing Cultures completion of Phase 3 and the new online series Stranger Fruit .
Victoria Oruwari, is our Associate Artist leading the music and singing elements of Singing Cultures. Other individuals working in a freelance capacity on Singing Cultures are Kevin Satizabal, Piano Accompanist, and Andrew Tait, pianist and Choir Director.
Stranger Fruit was delivered in partnership with Marva Lord (Griots Arts) and Debbie Golt (Outerglobe). Four contemporary musicians – Sharron McLeod, Charlotte Keeffe, RENU and Roella Orolo – formed the Stranger Fruit cyberspace band. Clare Marshall did live canvas paintings and Fez Miah provided tech support.
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5.4 Volunteers
Four volunteers were trained to support the second block of school workshops. A total of eight choristers have now been trained to assist the delivery of Year 5 school workshops.
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6. Targets for 2023
6.1 Projects
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develop new targets for school and choir strands of Singing Cultures - specifically increasing the school strand to two year groups and opening the choir to individuals of other backgrounds.
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raise funds and deliver Phase 4 of Singing Cultures .
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explore feasibility of a steering group to guide work on packaging school workshops for other music hubs and schools.
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develop new targets and draft plans for Stranger Fruit series 2.
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raise funds and deliver Stranger Fruit series 2.
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explore initial links to firm up partnerships in London Borough of Newham for Grief Music project.
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develop plans and identify funding sources for piloting Grief Music project.
6.2 Organisational Development
As the track record and number of Transculturalvisions projects have grown trustees and Director have begun to review the organisational model to ensure growth, quality and continuity of the charities activities.
An organisational model including 4 p/t time roles – Director, Manager, Marketing and Administrator – has been agreed for further development.
In 2023 the target is to develop a business plan and respective strategies (including funding sources, person specifications etc) to take forward the new organisational model. This work will be done by the volunteer Director and a volunteer Manager.
6.3 Fundraising
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project fundraising to ensure the effective financing and delivery of project
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activities will remain a primary focus for 2023.
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identify sources of core funding for the new organisational model.
6.4 Audience
We will continue to profile and widen the project's reach amongst our target groups of African and Caribbean communities as well as established practitioners, students and audiences of classical music.
Over the next year we want to expand Singing Cultures work in schools. We have already begun to expand our partnership with St. Joseph’s School. We will also develop a strategy and partnerships to package our work at St. Joseph’s for other schools with a view to offering workshops, taster sessions and training for staff.
We will develop new partnerships and networks for Stranger Fruit series 2 with a view to delivering a hybrid (live ‘on stage’ and online) series.
6.5 Governance and Staff
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work has begun on trustee recruitment and the aim is to appoint 2 to 4 new trustees.
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there will be ongoing freelance roles for Singing Cultures and Stranger Fruit partners and series 1 musicians with a likelihood of additional artist roles for both projects.
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identify roles and personnel for Grief Music project.
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finalise plans for core organisational staff roles and identify funding sources.
Signed on behalf of all the trustees.
22/2/2023 Signature Date of approval
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APPENDIX A
“Our Cultural Journey’s with Fela Sowande” on Mon 7th Feb 2022
St. Joseph’s Primary School, Crossfield St, Deptford, SE8 3PH (nearest station Deptford Overground, 3 mins walk to school)
Performance Time: 2.15pm-3pm
Programme
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Intro
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Song: Mayere Owai
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Narration about Fela Sowande (1)
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Role-play Sketch - “Joining a Football Club”
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Song: Black, Brown, Red, White and Blue
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Narration about Fela Sowande (2)
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Role-Play Sketch - “Simile”
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Song: Come Out and Dance
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Adult Solos - Mr. Tait piano, “Yoruba Lament”
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Miss Aloba soprano, “Porgia Amore” & “O Don Fatale”
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Narration about Fela Sowande (3)
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Role-Play Sketch - “Simile”
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Children’s New Song
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Concluding Thoughts Fela Sowande
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Song: Batami a Dun Ko Ko Ka
Finish
20
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
Statement of financial activities
| Restricted | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | income | Endowment | Total this | Total last | |||||
| funds | funds | funds | year | year | |||||
| Incoming resources | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| Grants | - | 14,650 | - | 14,650 | 12,500 | ||||
| Gnome House | - | - | - | - | 75 | ||||
| Donations | 1,500 | - | - | 1,500 | - | ||||
| 1,500 | 14,650 | - | 16,150 | 12,575 | |||||
| Resources expended | |||||||||
| Singing Cultures | |||||||||
| Fees | - | 9,515 | - | 9,515 | 1,600 | ||||
| Events & Rehearsals | - | 78 | - | 78 | - | ||||
| Travel expenses | - | 492 | - | 492 | - | ||||
| Room hire | - | 623 | - | 623 | - | ||||
| Equipment & Resources | - | 174 | - | 174 | - | ||||
| Personnel costs | - | 63 | - | 63 | - | ||||
| Stranger Fruit | |||||||||
| Fees | - | 13,550 | - | 13,550 | - | ||||
| Travel expenses | - | 57 | - | 57 | - | ||||
| Equipment & Resources | - | 714 | - | 714 | - | ||||
| Marketing & Publicity | - | 782 | - | 782 | - | ||||
| Infectious Air | |||||||||
| Fees | - | - | - | - | 10,850 | ||||
| Equipment & Resources | - | - | - | - | 367 | ||||
| Marketing & Publicity | - | - | - | - | 726 | ||||
| Transculturalvisions | |||||||||
| Travel | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Postage & Stationery | - | - | - | - | 23 | ||||
| Refreshments | 6 | - | - | 6 | - | ||||
| Communications | 81 | - | - | 81 | 14 | ||||
| 87 | 26,049 | - | 26,137 | 13,579 | |||||
| Total funds carried forward | 1,413 | - | 11,399 |
- | - | 9,986 |
- | 1,004 |
Page 1 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
| Balance Sheet | Balance Sheet | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total this | Total last | ||
| year | year | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Fixed assets | |||
| Tangible assets | - | - | |
| Investments | - | - | |
| - | - | ||
| Current assets | |||
| Stock and work in progress | - | - | |
| Debtors | 1,465 | - | |
| (Short term) investments | - | - | |
| Cash at bank and in hand | 13,087 | 11,570 | |
| 14,552 | 11,570 | ||
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | 12,967 | - | |
| Net current assets/(liabilities) | 1,584 | 11,570 | |
| Total assets less current liabilities | 1,584 | 11,570 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due after one year | - | - | |
| Net assets | 1,584 | 11,570 | |
| Funds of the Charity | |||
| Unrestricted funds | 1,584 | 171 | |
| Designated funds | - | - | |
| Restricted income funds | - | 11,399 | |
| Endowment funds | - | - | |
| Total funds | 1,584 | 11,570 |
Signed on behalf of all the trustees.
Signature Date of approval 15-Dec-22
Page 2 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
Notes to the accounts
Basis of preparation
Basis of accounting
These accounts have been prepared on the basis of historic cost (except that investments are shown at market value) in accordance with:
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Accounting and Reporting by Charities – Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2005);
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and with Accounting Standards;
-
and with the Charities Act.
Accounting policies
This standard list of accounting policies has been applied by the charity except for those deleted. Where a different or additional policy has been adopted then this is detailed at the end.
Incoming resources
Recognition of incoming resources
These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when:
-
the charity becomes entitled to the resources;
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the trustees are virtually certain they will receive the resources; and
• the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability. Incoming resources with related expenditure Where incoming resources have related expenditure (as with fundraising or contract income) the incoming resources and related expenditure are reported gross in the SoFA. Grants and donations Grants and donations are only included in the SoFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources. Tax reclaims on donations and gifts Incoming resources from tax reclaims are included in the SoFA at the same time as the gift to which they relate. Contractual income and performance related This is only included in the SoFA once the related goods or services grants have been delivered. Gifts in kind Gifts in kind are accounted for at a reasonable estimate of their value to the charity or the amount actually realised. Gifts in kind for sale or distribution are included in the accounts as gifts only when sold or distributed by the charity. Gifts in kind for use by the charity are included in the SoFA as incoming resources when receivable. Donated services and facilities These are only included in incoming resources (with an equivalent amount in resources expended) where the benefit to the charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material. The value placed on these resources is the estimated value to the charity of the service or facility received.
Page 3 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
Volunteer help The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report. Investment income This is included in the accounts when receivable. Investment gains and losses This includes any gain or loss on the sale of investments and any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market value at the end of the year.
| Expenditure and Liabilities | |
|---|---|
| Liability recognition | Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive |
| obligation committing the charity to pay out resources. | |
| Grants with performance conditions | Where the charity gives a grant with conditions for its payment being a |
| specific level of service or output to be provided, such grants are only | |
| recognised in the SoFA once the recipient of the grant has provided the | |
| specified service or output. | |
| Grants payable without performance | These are only recognised in the accounts when a commitment has |
| conditions | been made and there are no conditions to be met relating to the grant |
| which remain in the control of the charity. | |
| Assets | |
| Tangible fixed assets for use by charity | These are capitalised if they can be used for more than one year, and |
| cost at least £500. They are valued at cost or a reasonable value on | |
| receipt. | |
| Investments | Investments quoted on a recognised stock exchange are valued at |
| market value at the year end. Other investment assets are included at | |
| trustees' best estimate of market value. | |
| Stocks and work in progress | These are valued at the lower of cost or market value. |
Trustees expenses
There have been no payments of trustees expenses in this year.
Paid employees
There have been no payments to employed staff in this year.
Tangible fixed assets
There are no Tangible fixed assets in this year.
Investment assets
There are no Investment assets in this year.
Page 4 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022
Debtors and prepayments
| Amounts falling due within | Amounts falling due within | Amounts falling due after | Amounts falling due after | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one year | more than one year | ||||||
| This year | Last year | This year | Last year | ||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| Stranger Fruit | |||||||
| Arts Council | 1,465 | - | - | - | |||
| Total 1,465 | - | - | - | ||||
| Creditors and | accruals | ||||||
| Amounts falling due within | Amounts falling due after | ||||||
| one year | more than one year | ||||||
| This year | Last year | This year | Last year | ||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| Singing Cultures | |||||||
| Fees | 6,950 | - | - | - | |||
| Events & Rehearsals | 23 | - | - | - | |||
| Travel expenses | 20 | - | - | - | |||
| Personnel costs | 12 | - | - | - | |||
| Stranger Fruit | |||||||
| Fees | 5,663 | - | - | - | |||
| Equipment & Resources | 100 | - | - | - | |||
| Marketing & Publicity | 200 | - | - | - | |||
| Total 12,967 | - | - | - |
Endowment and restricted income funds
There are no Endowment funds in this year.
Additional Disclosures
A donation of £1,500.00 was made by B Malek at 31/3/22 from the balance of fees due.
Page 5 of 5