Annual Report 2023 - 2024
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
1. Introduction
- Activities and Public Benefit
3. Organisation Review
4. Finance
5. Governance and Staff
6. Targets for 2025
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1. Introduction
Transculturalvisions delivers creative projects inspired by the cultural experiences and heritage of Britain's diverse communities. We present safe creative spaces for the public to explore and articulate visions and aspirations for ‘a better world’ built on a ‘common humanity’ .
Since 2016 Transculturalvisions has functioned as a project-based organisation raising funds as individual projects are conceived. All our projects involve a series of workshops combining arts activities, themed discussions and creating new outputs culminating in performance events. Workshop content presents underexplored arts and heritage and invites participants to think critically about their actual experiences as well as ‘possibilities’ for inter- and intra- ethnic relations and a shared sense of belonging.
Over 8 years we have built a track record of delivering high quality interactive projects. To date we have delivered:
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three phases of Singing Cultures with an adult choir inspired by the 200+ year legacy of African Classical Music.
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three blocks of Singing Cultures at School for primary school pupils.
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two online series - Infectious Air and Stranger Fruit - exploring the legacies of jazz and blues on contemporary music and culture.
Across all projects our participants and live audiences have totalled 1.5k, and online audiences proactively engaging through social media channels approximately 170k.
Feedback from project evaluations and audience comments about what people value most about our projects can be grouped in the following themes:
| • | having access to a safe space to navigate long- | “Issues of home and ethnicity |
|---|---|---|
| standing and burdensome experiences. | can be very emotive and | |
| • | each person’s voice and experience is valued. | difficult to discuss. So for me |
| • • |
to feel the empowering agency of marginalised communities. working and performing alongside high-quality artists. |
we struck that balance and produced songs that were quite meaningful and did something beautiful.” Chorister,Singing Cultures |
| • | becoming more confident navigating diverse | |
| cultural influences and relationships across communities in to a coherent experience. |
“X joined the class just 8 months ago and has been very |
|
| • | appreciating the proactive role everyone, | quiet. So it’s great that in the |
| including ‘indigenous British’, can play in creating ‘a better world’. |
project she is so expressive and contributing to group |
|
| • | exploring new concepts and frameworks for processing realities and aspirations for ‘inter’ and |
discussions.” Class Teacher, St. Joseph’s School |
| ‘intra’ group relations. |
Some projects are purposefully shaped to engage specific communities to address historical under-representation, and/or provide a safe space for marginalised voices to be articulated. An aspiration for all our projects, which are designed to be multiphase if funding and interest allows, is to widen the ethnic diversity of participants and audience. This is so that unfolding ideas for a ‘common humanity’ and ‘a better
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world’ are informed by a myriad of voices and experiences which is necessary for a meaningful collective vision to evolve.
In this reporting year we delivered a third block of Singing Cultures at School with new outputs including a children’s podcast on Fela Sowande.
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2. Activities and Public Benefit
2.1 Singing Cultures
Singing Cultures is a creative arts education project inspired by the 200+ year heritage of African Classical Music.
Over two centuries African composers of classical music have received international acclaim producing compositions celebrated by leading figures and institutions of classical music in Britain such as Sir Charles Groves, Sir Malcolm Sergeant, the BBC, and London conservatoires where many studied. The legacy of African composers is doubly inspiring for the way in which their approach to music-making exposes classical music as being open to intercultural expression to symbolize 'a common humanity'. The Singing Cultures project engages people to explore this legacy and share their experiences and aspirations for strengthening relations between and within communities.
2.2 Singing Cultures Choir
An adult choir is central to the Singing Cultures project and breathing life to the hidden history of African Classical Music.
Over three phases the thematic focus of the choir has shifted from the “possibilities” (dreams and aspirations) to the “challenges” (barriers and obstacles) for building meaningful relations across communities. Choristers’ ideas and aspirations have been interwoven into new creative outputs. For example, the choir’s original song “Black, Brown, Red, White and Blue” presents a vision of London where ‘anything is possible’. By contrast “Song for Humanity” describes the obstacles to freedom and positive relationships with lyrics like ‘how do we get out of this tangle, humanity is in a tangle, conflict oppression, ethnic aggression, children are lost in this language division, women’s exploitation, environmental degradation’ .
Singing Cultures was mapped to initially engage African and Caribbean communities to firstly, interact meaningfully with Art Music and secondly, to articulate their agency in new visions for a ‘shared future’. We intentionally recruited a choir of African and Caribbean heritage and respective live events have been attended by approximately 80% audience of African and Caribbean heritage, 15% white British, and 5% other. The next phase of the choir’s journey will be to invite people of diverse backgrounds to join the choir, to further enrich and democratise conversations and performance outputs promoting a ‘common humanity’.
2.3 Singing Cultures at School
In 2022 we adapted and piloted Singing Cultures for primary school children at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Deptford, London. This established the possibilities of African Classical Music heritage inspiring younger audiences to engage in conversations, and create content about strengthening relations across communities.
“We have learnt from African composers that... we need to speak to each other, work together, respect and create an environment of SYNTHESIS.” Year 5 Pupil, Singing Cultures at School
Building on the success of the initial pilot, we returned to St. Joseph’s in 2024. Our unique aims for this phase, funded by Heritage Fund, were to:
- create a children’s podcast on Nigerian composer Fela Sowande.
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involve the class teacher to complete activities with the children in-between workshops. This purpose of this was to begin to identify the possibilities of interweaving project content into curriculum teaching.
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liaise with key agencies to identify a strategy for widening the reach of the school strand of Singing Cultures .
The initial pilot had been delivered to Year 5’s at St. Joseph’s Primary School. We agreed with school to deliver this phase to Year 6s. This was in response to inclusion of more challenging outputs like a podcast, plus that we were able to schedule the project for summer term when SAT exams were complete.
2.3.1 Workshop Content
Nine interactive workshops were developed - including quiz, role-play, expressive skills, creative writing and visual arts exercises – for the children to explore the 200+year heritage of African Classical Music and Nigerian composer Fela Sowande. The pupils:
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explored classical music’s transition from a ‘superior’ artform under British colonialism to symbolising a ‘common humanity’ in the compositions of African composers.
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learned songs by African composers in English and Yoruba, and original songs created by the Singing Cultures adult choir.
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engaged creative writing and art activities to explore the diverse cultural dynamics in experiences of ‘home’, ‘belonging’ and ‘interethnic relations’.
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developed content and recorded a podcast on Fela Sowande.
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performed in two concerts to approx. 220 live audience.
2.3.2 Children’s Creativity
Responding to creative activities the children: i) captured Fela Sowande’s life and achievements Fela Sowande was born in 1905 in Abeokuta and was a
choirboy and student of organ at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos. During his time in London in the 1930’s to 50s, he became an in-demand pianist collaborating with the likes of Adelaide Hall, Paul Robeson, Fats Waller and Dame Vera Lynn.
An encounter with Lord Mountbatten during World War 2 resulted in work for the BBC during which time he collaborated with a teacher, Ted Kirk, from the North West of England. They created two songs that are still sung in schools in Nigeria and archived in the British Library. On returning to Nigeria in the 1960s Fela Sowande composed ‘A Folk Symphony’ for Nigeria’s Independence celebrations which was premiered by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as there was no symphony orchestra in Nigeria. He spent his last years as a Professor of Music in the USA and died in 1984 in Ravenna, Ohio. The children’s podcast gives more insight into Fela Sowande’s life: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2383069/episodes/15412462
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ii) interpreted the legacy of African Classical Music and its message for a ‘common humanity’
Classical Music was introduced to Africa under colonialism. Missionary schools and churches promoted classical music as superior to indigenous African music and culture. Fela Sowande, and many other African composers challenged the superior status of classical music not by rejecting it, but by blending European and African influences into their classical music compositions. The music of African composers has been recognised as ‘symbolising a common humanity’.
The year 6 class re-imagined African composers’ blending of sounds, instruments and cultures, through creation of images such as drums on top of a piano; a rainbow coloured union jack on a drum; African textile design covering a piano; and one child did a comic strip depicting Britain at war with Africa with Fela Sowande inviting both sides to unite through his music.
iii) related key themes to their own experiences and aspirations Reflecting on experiences and themes from Sowande’s life, the children:
a) recounted memories of their early years
For example, one child linked Fela Sowande’s first day at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos to his first day at school describing it as “prickly and a little bit scary”. Learning about Fela Sowande being a heavy smoker led some children to talk about their local streets being full of vapes and cigarette butts which they interwove into a description of London as ‘grey and lonely’.
b) identified their own exposure to diverse cultures
c) developed confidence in asking critical questions about cultural practices and beliefs without denigrating a whole culture or group
For example, alongside sharing their love of African textiles, designs and the communal spirit in their families and community, the children also expressed discomfort at cultural practises like female genital mutilation. Huge credit to the children for making such observations without shame or ridicule.
Many children described life in London as isolating, grey and lonely, but also a place where you can experience different cultures, food, music and fashion. As one child described “magical connections can happen especially when a ‘common humanity’ rules” .
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d) created their own symbols for a common humanity
The children’s creativity was interwoven into the concert, podcast, social media posts and videos.
2.3.3 Outputs
i. Concert
The concert programme combined a) role-play sketches depicting key scenes from Fela Sowande’s life; b) narration of Fela Sowande facts and achievements; c) songs in Yoruba and English; d) powerpoint of children’s artwork; and e) children’s personal reflections taking themes from Fela Sowande’s story to reflect on their time at St. Joseph’s and their aspirations for the future.
Two concerts were performed with a combined total live audience of approx. 220. The captivating impact of the concerts is reflected in the enthusiastic responses of younger children in the audience, and families of non-African heritage.
“I remember this project last time they came. I can’t wait to be in Year 6.” Year 4 pupil
“What a send off for our daughter and her friends. We have two more children in the school and we hope they get to experience this too.” Parents of Polish heritage
ii. Podcast
The experience of creating and recording a podcast was a first for the Singing Cultures team, school and children. All 27 Year 6 pupils had a speaking part in the podcast. Staff commented on the confidence in every child’s voice and an incredible legacy for the children to look back on. The podcast was uploaded to Buzzsprout and launched at the school concert.
There was a certain wow factor at creating something “anyone could listen to” and made a few parents and adults quite emotional:
“Miss is our podcast like going to be available so anyone can listen to it? Like anyone in the world!” Year 6 Pupil
“We are just listening to the podcast. I am very emotional. It’s amazing. Thank you” Headteacher
Beyond the school community the podcast was circulated to ours and school’s networks and mailing lists. Below are a selection of comments:
"Brilliant - the podcast is fabulous material and a great education piece. So inspiring.” School Governor
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"This is marvellous. So good to hear each student providing lots of background on Fela Sowande for listeners of the podcast. Lots of good research was undertaken. It made me wish I could hear more of the great man’s music." Classical Musician
"Love the podcast. I couldn't help but think how thrilled Fela Sowande himself would have been to have been there at the school listening to the children.” Trustee
Not knowing how successful the podcast creation would be we had limited our commitment to uploading the podcast on a free platform which we identified as Buzzsprout. In addition, we created a youtube version of the podcast using the children’s artwork to create a visual narration https://youtu.be/GjfFIU9UaT0 .
2.3.4 Children’s Learning and Development
Feedback from school staff and project personnel highlighted a number of project strengths for children’s learning and development.
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pupils had a high level of engagement in the workshop activities.
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use of creative arts education (visual art, drama, music and creative writing) made the content and process accessible to all children. It was noted that children normally shy, with additional needs, and/or less academically successful, were more ‘vocal’ and engaged in the project. Also, the 5% of nonAfrican heritage children were equally engaged and able to personalise the activities to their own heritage.
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learning songs in English and African languages was a rich performance experience encouraging the children to embrace their diverse heritage and stimulated interaction across generations. One parent commented “I did not think my son would be learning songs I learnt when I was at school in Nigeria. Now we can ‘ko ko ka’ together!”
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the heritage of African Classical Music, in particular it’s relations to colonialism, Britain and specifically London, is an invaluable context for the children to navigate important questions about their exposure to distinct cultures, sense of belonging, and relationships with people of different backgrounds.
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academic skills and personal development were stimulated by the project. For example, one child commented “I don’t normally like to read but I’m really enjoying reading the concert scripts.” The class teacher also observed meaningful interaction between children that previously had not connected with, or avoided, one another.
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the revised workshop 1 worked better than the storytelling (from the pilot which also had positive feedback) in that the children seemed to have retained more information. Possibly the storytelling may be better suited to younger children.
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as a first trial the podcast creation and recording was a success, and gave the children a unique experience and useful skills.
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the input of the class teacher - scheduling additional time in-between workshops and supporting the children to complete activities - was a real strength in achieving the number and quality of outputs.
2.3.5 Possibilities of Interweaving Project Content into Curriculum Teaching
The involvement of the Year 6 class teacher gave school an ‘initial’ insight into the possibilities of staff themselves interweaving the heritage into curriculum learning.
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The Headteacher’s reflections with staff confirm school see lots of potential in particular linking children’s reading, writing and expressive skills.
Staff also identified potential to develop lessons that link to the heritage for other year groups. For example, seeing the children in different national dress at concert inspired the idea of developing a lesson for Year 4s to research textiles from different regions/countries of various composers – targeting maps, geography and art skills.
St. Joseph’s are invested in equipping staff to teach the heritage in future years. Staff feel they need a transition phase which supports them to be familiar with the heritage in detail. Also, a real strength of the project is its use of creative learning activities and staff would value time and support to evolve and interweave these skills into their teaching.
2.3.6 Social Media and Podcast Marketing
The focus of our social media strategy was to promote the children’s podcast to as wide an audience as our resources would allow.
In the lead up to concert we did a series of social media posts using the children’s creative writing and artwork to profile the life and achievements of Fela Sowande. The purpose of these was to build momentum for a focussed promotion of the podcast.
Our podcast promotion included paid Facebook adverts of both the Buzzsprout and youtube versions of the podcast. Additionally, we did a separate paid promotion of the youtube version of the podcast on our youtube Channel. The following is a summary of all 3 promotions.
Impressions’ are counted every time a thumbnail of the promotion is shown on someone’s feed.
‘Clicks/Views’ are counted every time someone clicks to explore content further.
| Impressions Clicks/Views Cost | Impressions Clicks/Views Cost | Impressions Clicks/Views Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FB Ad of Buzzsprout Podcast |
96, 687 | 220 | £30 |
| FB Ad of Youtube Podcast |
69, 233 | 7.1k | £50 |
| Youtube Ad of Youtube Podcast |
78, 801 | 5.1k | £35 |
Collectively the three ads reached 244k feeds, with 12k proactive responses to explore the content further.
The youtube version of the podcast elicited by far the better results on both our Facebook and youtube channels – ie although the FB Buzzsprout ad had the most impressions (96k+) only 220 proactively clicked to explore the content further. By comparison the FB youtube ad had 69k impressions with 7.1k proactive interactions. Similarly, the youtube promotion had 79k impressions with 5.1k proactive views and interactions.
To date there have been 145 unique downloads of the Buzzsprout version of the podcast. The youtube version, at 5.1 k views, has been far more successful.
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In addition to paid adverts we did an email circular to key organisations, broadcast media, London based music education networks and conservatoires. The following responded positively by sharing on their platforms and broadcasts: BBC Radio 3 (Georgia Mann); Africa FM; Outerglobe FM; Africa Centre; Lewisham Education Arts Network; Griots Arts; Hackney Music Service.
We also created four archive videos combining the children’s artwork with vox box interviews from the Headteacher and project personnel. Reflections 1: Children’s Development https://youtu.be/P-u93L9Az4Q Reflections 2: Children’s Engagement https://youtu.be/_WnQaTHT-zg Reflections 3: Teamwork https://youtu.be/Z31irTqPROs Reflections 4: Children’s Creative Response (being completed, link to follow)
2.3.7 Social Media Audience
In the pilot we had notably increased the percentage of young people involved in our workshops and live audience in that 100% of workshop participants and 70% of our pilot live audience were 6-11yrs compared to 1-2% previously and this was replicated in this phase.
An additional outcome in this phase was that the podcast output significantly increased our social media engagement amongst young people, in particular in the 18-34yrs age bracket which totalled 78%. The comparison across age brackets between ‘podcast’ and ‘pre-podcast’ social media audiences is illustrated in the graph below.
‘Singing Cultures’ Social Media Audience by Age Group
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50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
18-24yrs 25-34yrs 35-44yrs 45-54yrs 55-64yrs above 65yrs
Pre 2024 2024
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Profile by sex and geographical location has remained similar to previous phases. The male / female social media audience split was 56% male, 44% female. Re: geographical location - 58% were from UK; 18% from Nigeria: 9% from US; 7% other African (mainly Ghana, South Africa, Algeria); 5% Other European.
2.3.8 Strategy for Promoting ‘Singing Cultures at School’
To develop a strategy for widening the reach of Singing Cultures at School we invited input from key agencies, including creative arts and music education networks, conservatoires, and organisations promoting African Heritage. Given the location of
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the pilot our initial focus was London-based organisations, which recently has extended to Medway, Kent.
We have had positive response and 1:1 meetings with senior personnel (ie Chief Executive / Director level) from Lewisham Education Arts Network, Hackney Music Service, Africa Centre, Sound Connections, St. Joseph’s Primary Deptford, Luton Primary in Chatham (Medway), Ideas Test (Medway), and Medway Heritage Place Team.
This is a summary of observations and recommendations:
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the project’s strength lies as much in its ‘creative arts education model’ and combination of outputs (concert, podcast, singing, visual arts) as its presentation of African Classical Music heritage.
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it’s worth considering trialling ‘the model’ with a different heritage which would increase opportunities to widen the project’s purpose and relevance.
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two options for growing Singing Cultures and both could be actioned: i) marketing existing content offering options for other schools and institutions to buy in (eg one-off workshop promoting the heritage of African Classical Music; or series of workshops leading to project outputs). ii) evolving the project to offer collaborative options, professional development and resources for schools / staff to interweave elements (eg local heritage; creative arts) into their teaching.
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review and develop the project infrastructure to support the transition from ‘a time-limited project’ to ‘offering ongoing resources and service’.
2.3.9 Initial Response and Actions to Take Recommendations Forward
Reflecting on the advice we have identified short and long-term models for growing Singing Cultures at School .
i) Short-term Model and Action to Date
a) to keep momentum and evolve partnership with St. Joseph’s School
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immediate focus is to attract funding to repeat the current Year 6 workshops focussed on another composer and increase staff involvement by linking to professional development targets.
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we’ve had an exploratory meeting with Paul Hamlyn as a potential funder. They confirmed the project is a strong contender for multi-year funding especially if professional development for staff is interwoven into the proposal. They have been forthcoming that school’s location is in an area where they already fund two major projects so we have a stronger chance if we applied to deliver the project in a different location.
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we are currently establishing best funding options to build our partnership with St. Joseph’s.
b) to trial the Singing Cultures model with another heritage delivering to another
school and location
- we’ve established interest from Luton Primary in Medway and adapted the model with a local heritage focus titled ‘Journeying with Aina’ ie Sarah Bonetta who was an African orphan adopted by Queen Victoria and lived/spent her childhood local to Luton school. Having shared progress and outputs from St. Joseph’s school, Luton Primary have registered interest in evolving a collaborative partnership with a view to exploring different local heritage figures (Zandra Rhodes, Asquith Xavier, Will Adams) in subsequent years.
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- we submitted an application to Medway Heritage Place. The panel liked the proposal but were prioritising applicants with no previous funding. They have encouraged us to apply directly to Heritage Fund and introduced us to the local Heritage Fund officer.
c) project specific website
- we are building a separate website for ‘ Singing Cultures ’ as a first step to building a project specific infrastructure.
ii) Long-term Model - Initial Thoughts
A long-term model will require more detailed consultation and planning. Some initial points:
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we envisage Singing Cultures being independent of Transculturalvisions.
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expand the infrastructure with the possibility of St. Joseph’s and / or Luton Primary being central hubs.
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the infrastructure would include a steering group or board of trustees; core staff (eg Manager, Marketing and Resources Co-ordinator, Administrator) and bank of freelance personnel.
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workshops and resources (developed from earlier phases) would be packaged and marketed for purchase by schools and external organisations.
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funding would be a combination of public funding and money raised from services purchased.
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research needs to establish appropriate core-funders – eg. Esmee Fairbairn, Tudor Trust.
2.4 Other Projects
We have invested time in developing new project concepts, some carried over from last year, and are at different stages of readiness for funding applications.
2.4.1 Grief Music and Rituals (initial concept by Deborah Aloba)
To support people of different faiths to share music, customs and rituals for communal grief alongside private expressions of grief. The project’s overall aim is to present a safe creative space bringing together communities and agencies to establish proactive ways for processing grief and loss across all stages of life.
We have identified a partner organisation Subco - a community organisation provding support for South Asian carers in Newham - to pilot the project. To complete the proposal in readiness for funding application(s) we need to identify an artistic team able to respond to the cultural reference points of Subco’s membership.
2.4.2 Sound Vibrations (initial concept by Bilkis Malek)
To explore the proactive role ‘white British’ populations can and must play in the process of decolonisation . The central stimulus for the project is Maya Angelou’s documentary on the Scottish poet Robert Burns .
A proposal has been developed with Edinburgh choir ‘Loud and Proud’ and artists Ronnie McGrath (multidisciplinary), Lillian Allen (dub poet), Charlotte Keefe (trumpet), and Lara de Belder (vocalist). An application to Creative Scotland was unsuccessful. Collaborating partners and artists are invested in bringing the project to fruition, so currently awaiting new funding opportunities.
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2.4.3 Celebrating Caribbean Composers (initial concept by Rowland Sutherland)
To promote the underexplored heritage of Caribbean Composers of Classical Music. The provisional proposal is to invite professional musicians to explore the music and legacy of Caribbean Composers concluding in performance concerts and recordings. The project would also aim to provide opportunities for secondary age school children to perform with professional musicians with a view to laying foundations for a long-term project legacy.
We are in the process of identifying partners and evolving initial ideas into a firm proposal. As such there are project development elements to fulfil before establishing feasibility and options for project funding.
2.4.4 Medway Street Shanties (initial concept by Bilkis Malek)
To celebrate local residents recognised for their ability to promote community spirit and strengthen neighbour relations. The project will involve current residents of a selected street in Medway in a creative process culminating in a street performance combining ‘sea shanties’ style songs and ‘character performances’ of the featured resident(s). The aim of the project is to inspire current residents to have deeper connections with neighbours, houses, streets, venues in their immediate area, thus strengthening their sense of place and belonging.
The invitation to develop this project proposal came from Ideas Test Medway following an introduction from the Medway local authority’s Heritage Culture Team. An application, with Spotlites Youth Theatre as a collaborating partner, has been submitted and awaiting a decision from Ideas Test.
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3. Organisational Review
In the previous reporting year 2022/23 we had paused project activities to focus our limited resources on starting an organisational review. The objective was to appraise Transculturalvisions’ current structure as a project-based organisation and identify a model to support long-term continuity and growth.
We identified a two stage process with our current focus on completing Stage 1.
3.1 Stage 1
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3.1.1 Work to date has included:
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rewording of the organisation’s purpose.
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developing a hybrid organisational model to support future growth. The model combines i) core part time posts to provide organisational infrastructure and work that is currently undertaken voluntarily (including developing project ideas, funding applications, servicing trustee meetings, annual returns); with ii) retaining a project-based structure for delivering projects to maintain fluidity for identifying the most effective project teams, shaping and growing projects in response to external events, delivering projects with external partners where appropriate, and maximising the experience for participants and audiences.
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website review with a new organisational website almost complete and a separate Singing Cultures website to be built.
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marketing and online presence. The current approach, in keeping with our project-based structure and resources, is shaped to be responsive to marketing outputs to as wide an audience as possible within the timeframe of each project. Going forward we have identified ‘marketing’ as a core part-time role to take advantage of more social media platforms, grow audiences inbetween project delivery phases, and evolve niche networks for marketing specific outputs and/or income generating services e.g. school workshops.
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reviewing organisational policies. To date 4 policies – Safeguarding and Child Protection; Grievance; Equality and Diversity; and Disciplinary - have been reviewed and updated.
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3.1.2 Other stage 1 tasks:
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review remaining organisational policies – Code of Conduct; Complaints Policy. Identify any policy gaps
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draft job descriptions and specifications for core posts.
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establish HR Structure for employing core staff (covering recruitment, contracts, payroll, induction etc).
3.2 Stage 2
Stage 2 tasks will include:
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research funding options for core posts and overheads.
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draft additional documents in preparation for core funding applications e.g. business plan.
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apply for core funding.
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(funding permitting) recruit core employees.
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new operational model in action!
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3.3 Timetable
This year work on the organisational review has slowed as our limited resources have been invested in re-starting project activities and exploring new funding opportunities. Our revised timescale for completing the two stages are:
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Stage 1 by end 2025
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Stage 2 by mid 2027
These timescales will be kept under review in response to project funding outcomes and activities being delivered. It may be necessary to consider pausing project activities again to re-establish momentum for completing the review.
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4. Finance
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
Statement of financial activities
| Incoming resources Grants Donations |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total this year Total last year £ £ £ £ - - - 1,380 - - -1,380 |
|---|---|
| - - 2,760 |
Resources expended
| Singing Cultures Fees Marketing & Publicity Transculturalvisions Travel Room hire Resources Refreshments Communications Total funds carried forward |
- - - 1,380 379 - 379 - 235 - 235 363 - - - 90 - - - 178 55 - 55 21 496 - 496 369 |
|---|---|
| 1,165 - 1,165 2,401 |
|
| -1,165 - -1,165 359 |
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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 £ £ - - - - |
|---|---|
| - - - - - - - - 778 1,943 |
|
| 778 1,943 - - |
|
| 778 1,943 778 1,943 |
|
| - - | |
| 778 1,943 |
|
| 778 1,943 - - - - - - |
|
| 778 1,943 |
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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.
Trustees
Deborah Aloba (Chair) Margaret Ling (Secretary) Richard Liston Rowland Sutherland Valerie Brown Ronnie McGrath
Associate Trustees
Kolarele Sonaike Annette Figueiredo
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 AGM 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.
5.3 Staff and Volunteers
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.
5.3.1 Singing Cultures Personnel
The 2024 Project Team were:
Bilkis Malek – Director (Volunteer Training, Workshop Content, Concert & Podcast Scripts, Social Media Content & Videos)
Deborah Aloba – Music Director (Workshop Lead Facilitator, Vocal & Acting Coach) Kevin Elam – Workshop Assistant Patricia James – Volunteer Blossom Cole – Volunteer Oluremi Abati – Volunteer
Across personnel and volunteers there was consensus that the
training and planning had set expectations and prepared the team well. Lead personnel felt they were suitability matched to their roles and the skills sets required to deliver workshop content and achieve quality outputs.
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Volunteers attended three training sessions to prepare them to support the school project. Training content covered workshop plans and creative activities, as well as relevant policies and responsibilities such as safeguarding, data protection, code of conduct.
All three volunteers had contributed to the previous pilot project (2022), thus were familiar with the heritage and overall content. An advantage of this was it was possible to involve them in new elements and activities in a more hands on way. For example, volunteers were supported to act in workshop 1 role-play sketches narrating Fela Sowande’s life. In workshop 3, to encourage the children
to relate to key themes from Fela Sowande’s life, project staff and volunteers contributed a short presentation sharing an example from their personal life that could be linked to an example from Sowande’s life.
Evaluation feedback from the volunteers highlighted the project had given new opportunities and used their skills positively:
“It was great to have used my skills as a musician to create a drum accompaniment for concert with children who had never drummed before. A new experience for me and being non-sighted such opportunities are rare.” Remi
“What I enjoy most about volunteering on this project is being able to contribute in ways I hadn’t imagined. Acting in the Sowande role-play sketches and seeing the children so engaged was amazing.” Pat
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6. Targets for 2025/26
6.1 Governance and Staff
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recruit 1-2 new trustees with priority areas being fundraising and marketing.
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identify artistic team for Grief Music project able to respond to the cultural reference points of South Asian communities.
6.2 Fundraising
For the immediate future our focus will remain on project fundraising to ensure the effective financing and delivery of project activities. Currently, our primary sources of funding are grant-making trusts, public funding bodies and local authorities.
In previous years our strategy was to develop and prioritise projects we wanted to seek funding for. Recent experience has highlighted the need to be more fluid in responding to funding opportunities and shaping ideas to fit funders’ priorities. In sum what this has meant is using our purpose and aims to develop projects celebrating heritage specific to a local area and / or to engage a specified audience. Our most recent project concepts – ‘ Journeying with Aina’ , ‘ Medway Street Shanties’ - have evolved in response to funders’ priorities.
Our current organisational capacity allows us to consider two projects at any one time. A number of projects are ready for funding application stage and funders’ priorities and opportunities will influence the order in which applications are submitted and projects receive funding.
6.3 Projects
Projects ready for funding application stage (see section 2 for outlines) include:
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Medway Street Shanties (application awaiting decision)
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Singing Cultures with adult choir
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Singing Cultures at School
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Sound Vibrations
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Journeying with Aina aka Sarah Bonetta (adopted goddaughter of Queen Victoria)
Two projects in development:
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Grief Music
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Caribbean Composers of Classical Music
6.4 Organisation Review
To conclude Stage 1 tasks:
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complete review of organisational policies and identify gaps.
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draft job descriptions and specifications for core posts.
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establish HR Structure for employing core staff (covering recruitment, contracts, payroll, induction etc).
Signed by Margaret Ling on behalf of trustees
Mt4et Signature
12/2/2025 Date of approval
20
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
Statement of financial activities
| Incoming resources Grants Donations Resources expended Singing Cultures Fees Marketing & Publicity Transculturalvisions Travel Room hire Resources Refreshments Communications Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Endowment funds Total this year Total last year £ £ £ £ £ - 1,380 - 1,380 |
|---|---|
| - - - - 2,760 - 1,380 379 379 - 235 235 363 - - 90 - - 178 55 55 21 496 496 369 |
|
| 1,165 - - 1,165 2,401 |
|
| 1,165 - - - 1,165 - 359 |
Page 1 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
| Balance Sheet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total this | Total last | |
| year | year | |
| £ | £ | |
| Fixed assets | ||
| Tangible assets | - | - |
| Investments | - | - |
| - | - | |
| Current assets | ||
| Stock and work in progress | - | - |
| Debtors | - | - |
| (Short term) investments | - | - |
| Cash at bank and in hand | 778 | 1,943 |
| 778 | 1,943 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | - | - |
| Net current assets/(liabilities) | 778 | 1,943 |
| Total assets less current liabilities | 778 | 1,943 |
| Creditors: amounts falling due after one year | - | - |
| Net assets | 778 | 1,943 |
| Funds of the Charity | ||
| Unrestricted funds | 778 | 1,943 |
| Designated funds | - | - |
| Restricted income funds | - | - |
| Endowment funds | - | - |
| Total funds | 778 | 1,943 |
Signed on behalf of all the trustees.
Signature Date of approval
12-Feb-25
Page 2 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
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:
-
Accounting and Reporting by Charities – Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2005);
-
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
| Incoming resources | |
|---|---|
| Recognition of incoming resources | These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) |
| when: | |
| • the charity becomes entitled to the resources; | |
| • 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. | |
| 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. |
Page 3 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
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 been conditions 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.
Debtors and prepayments
There are no Debtors and prepayments in this year.
Page 4 of 5
Charity No. 1154089
Transculturalvisions
Annual accounts for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024
Creditors and accruals
There are no Creditors and accruals in this year.
Endowment and restricted income funds
There are no Endowment funds in this year.
Additional Disclosures
There are no Additional Disclosures in this year.
Page 5 of 5