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2022-12-31-accounts

ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE

ARTS

Financial Statements For the year ended 31[st ] December 2022

Registered Charity Number. 1158781 Company limited by guarantee. Registered in England & Wales Number. 08313916

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ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ARTS

Contents for the Financial Statements
For the year ended 31st December 2022
Legal and Administrative Information 3
Trustees'/Directors’ Report 4-22
Statement of Financial Activities 23
Balance Sheet 24
Notes forming part of the financial statements 25-28
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities 29
Independent Examiner’s Report on The Accounts 30-31

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ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ARTS

Legal and Administrative Information for the year ended 31[st] December 2022

Company Number: 08313916 Charity Number: 1158781 Registered Office: 303 The Pill Box 115 Coventry Road, London, E2 6GH Trustees: Miss Sharan Jaswal Mr Federico Bolza Mr James Nicholas Emtage Mrs Anna Corbett (resigned 1[st] May 2021) Ms Collette Philip (appointed 1[st] May 2021)

Secretary: Jennie Cashman Wilson Accountants: Big Star Business Management Ltd 303 The Pill Box 115 Coventry Road, London, E2 6GH Independent Examiner: WIM Consulting Limited 37 New N Rd Hainault Essex IG6 2UE

Bank: Barclays Bank 18 Islington Green London N1 8EH

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Abram Wilson 2022 Annual Report AM WILSON Opening doors to creative potential

About us

Our programmes

What we did in 2022

Future Sound

Career Development Programme

Impact and outcomes

Future Sound Records - London

Future Sound - Manchester

Future Sound Digital - series 4

Career Development Programme

Our 10 year anniversary

Thank you and credits

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Abram Wilson inspires, connects, and opens doors to the music industry so that young people from minoritized backgrounds have an equal chance to realise their creative potential.

Our vision is for a music industry that genuinely reflects the best image of our society, so any young person is able to see it as a place for them and can participate in, and collectively contribute to, the next generation of talent. Inspired by award- winning jazz musician Abram Wilson, we continue his legacy via our programmes of music education and artist career development. Through these:

promoting inclusivity and equity in music

sharing our knowledge, skills and networks with the next generation

to encourage young people to find and use their creative voice

of untapped, undiscovered and unrealised talent.

Our programmes

Future Sound is an aspirational and inspirational music learning programme that pairs young people, who have barriers to accessing music outside of school, with professional musicians.

Future Sound Digital is a programme of practical, accessible and free music education videos, packed with tips and inspiration from up- andcoming, relatable professional artists.

Future Sound outcomes include:

1. Musical

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performing

2. Personal

3. Social

The Abram Wilson Career Development Programme supports emerging professional musicians from diverse and minoritized groups with personalised career strategy, mentoring and coaching, to build sustainable careers and diversify income streams.

Career Development Programme outcomes include:

1. Career and industry

2. Personal

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What we did in 2022

Future Sound Records - London

In early 2022 we piloted Future Sound Records, an additional element to the Future Sound programme where we built towards three days in a professional recording studio, rather than a live performance at a public venue. The project was led by Plumm, a hybrid vocalist, multiinstrumentalist, and producer, who was supported by five musicians and a producer. The project provided students at Mossbourne Community

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Academy (MCA) with a series of after-school workshops with the aim of composing their own tracks and recording the final tracks in a recording studio. This project was a pilot to trial students experiencing the other side of being a musician by composing their own tracks and then recording them in a professional studio to record them. There was no live performance with this project.

Future Sound - London

In October 2022 we launched our fifth instalment of Future Sound. For the first time we embarked upon delivering Future Sound as a two-term project where we would build towards professional studio recording sessions and a live performance at a professional venue in the second (spring 2023) term. The project is led by Jonny Enser, band leader of Matters Unknown, and supported by five other workshop leaders who are all professional musicians. This project will be completed and evaluated in 2023.

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Future Sound - Manchester

In 2022, we expanded our Future Sound programme and partnered with two schools in Manchester: Co-op Academy North Manchester and Co-op Academy Manchester (planned for spring 2023).

A series of digital sessions with inspiring and up-and-coming musicians were carried out at both the new partner schools in Manchester ahead of the in person Future Sound programme. Each session lasted an hour and covered a range of topics.

For the autumn 2022 term we launched a one term Future Sound project with Co-op Academy North Manchester, which culminated in a live

performance at professional venue The Yard. The project was led by Emma Johnson, a Leeds based saxophonist and composer and the bandleader of Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat. Emma was supported by five other workshop leaders who are all professional musicians. The six musicians carried out workshops at Co-op Academy North Manchester and The Yard, Manchester.

Future Sound Digital - series 4

Bassist, composer and singer Amy Gadiaga recorded three Future Sound Digital mini tutorials for 11–18-year-olds, packed with tips on getting into music and freely available to watch on our YouTube channel.

Career Development Programme

Our Career Development Programme runs for up-and-coming artists at the start or the middle of their career who lack the expertise and network to create a sustainable career. The programme is also open to individuals who support the UK music scene such as promoters and managers.

The programme identifies individuals and supports them to get ahead in the industry by providing:

Monthly coaching and mentoring sessions with Jennie Cashman Wilson, an experienced certified coach, strategist for people working in music, and member of the Association of Coaching and strategist for people working in music.

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Quarterly strategy sessions with Fred Bolza, Abram Wilson trustee, Founder of New Soil, Music Industry Consultant and former Sony Music VP Strategy.

A one-to-one marketing strategy session

Industry expert sessions/ masterclasses including song writing, selling

music, music and law and diversifying a music career

Networking and close collaboration with like-minded peers Opportunities to train and deliver workshops for our music education programmes.

12 individuals received strategy and coaching support throughout 2022 as part of an 18-month programme which started late 2020.

Impact and outcomes

Future Sound Records - London

In numbers

6 face-to-face sessions with 18 students

1 performance at MCA by Plumm and workshop leaders, attended by students and teachers. Over 100 students from years 7, 10 and 11 attended and attendees included both GCSE and BTEC students A composition day at The Premises recording studio

2 days at Strongroom Recording Studios to record final compositions developed during the project

Tracks uploaded to Bandcamp: abramwilsonfuturesound.bandcamp.com.

Project evaluations

Assessments showed all students had improved playing as part of a group and playing music by ear. Nearly all students had improved writing their own tunes and music (97%), confidence in music (97%), performing in front of other people (94%) and improvisation (91%)

Similarly, transferable skills improved with around nine in ten students improving their teamwork (97%), creativity (94%), communication (86%) and social skills (85%)

Half the students said they were more confident in themselves (56%) and now felt more positive about life (50%), whilst workshop leaders and the teacher felt nearly all students (97%) improved their self-confidence.

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Future Sound Records - London impact highlights

Changes for young people as a result of taking part in Future Sound Records with Plumm at Mossbourne Community Academy in London

Future Sound - Manchester

In numbers

A series of digital sessions with inspiring and up-and-coming musicians Plumm, Oscar Jerome and Arji Manuelpillai were carried out at both Manchester schools.

Each session lasted 1 hour and covered a range of topics.

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8 face-to- face sessions with 20 students (65% from ethnically diverse backgrounds and 53% in receipt of pupil premium), at Co-op Academy North Manchester, including 1 full ‘Composition Day’ at The Yard for the students to experience the working life of a musician.

1 performance at Co-op Academy North Manchester by Emma Johnson and workshop leaders.

Final performance at The Yard, by students and workshop leaders.

Future Sound - Manchester

Project evaluations

All students rated the Plumm and Oscar digital sessions as excellent, very good or good and 93% of students rated the session run by Arji as excellent, very good or good.

All students improved their musical skills with particular improvements in playing as part of a group (96% improved) composition skills (95%) and their ability to perform in front of others (93%).

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Furthermore 84% showed an improvement in their improvisation skills and 71% improved their ability to play complex rhythms. 100% of students improved their music performance self-efficacy, which is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in performing music and has been found to be the most important predictor of achievement in music performance. This change was shown to be statistically significant.

Non-music transferable skills also dramatically improved with 95% improving their teamwork skills, 91% improving their communication skills, 84% improving their social skills and 91% improving their creativity skills.

Future Sound - Manchester impact highlights

Changes for young people because of taking part in Future Sound - Manchester at Co-op Academy North Manchester

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"Jane really developed as a composer and lyricist over the 6 weeks. At the beginning she was reticent about volunteering ideas, and shy about her singing. By the performance week, she was writing lyrics without support...and improvising with melody and rhythm.”

- workshop leader

“I can actually write songs." - student

Future Sound Digital - series 4 with Amy Gadiaga

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Bassist, composer and singer Amy Gadiaga recorded three Future Sound Digital mini tutorials for 11–18-year-olds, packed with tips on getting into music.

In total 18 minutes of video content was created and released, with a social media reach of 4,700 and 431 views.

Career Development Programme

In numbers

30 hours strategy sessions were delivered by Fred Bolza

36 hours coaching and mentoring sessions were delivered by Jennie Cashman Wilson

2 mentees received paid work on our music education programme Jamie Hartman song writing session for singer songwriters, attended by 6 musicians

Collette Philip - personal branding session, attended by 12 musicians Nana-Efua Lawson - strengths finder -workshop, attended by 10 musicians Red10 - influencing workshops - attended by 9 musicians.

Project evaluations

Mentees were asked to rate how useful they found each of the 4 masterclasses. 85% of the 20 ratings were 'extremely useful' or 'very useful" 90% said the programme helped them to improve their brand 90% said the programme helped them to improve their online presence

28% increase in the number of followers on social media channels.

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Career Development Programme impact highlights

How artists felt the Career Development Programme helped them to progress their career

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Collaboration with Spitfire Audio

Eight of the mentees took part in an exciting collaboration with Spitfire Audio’s in-house production team, to develop a collection of software instruments called ‘Astral Forms,’ released in Spitfire’s LABS series - providing sounds as a free plugin for composers anywhere in the world to use.

Big Top Takeover at We Out Here festival

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Three Career Development mentees showcased their music in front of a live audience at the We Out Here festival, August 2022

Wellbeing

On our programme the pastoral support for wellbeing is equally valued alongside the technical advice and professional connections.

of mentees said the programme helped them to improve their wellbeing

"Coaching helped me understand and manage my anxiety."

"Definitely made me feel more hopeful and navigating my feelings and emotions! But also not to be too hard on myself!"

"I have gained more confidence in making decisions based on what aligns with my core values/happiness."

"The coaching and strategy sessions have definitely helped me to identify and develop some tools for coping with high work volume, pressure, multi-tasking and low mood/reduced energy."

"What I valued the most was the emotional support and the opportunity to have conversations and be vulnerable with people I trusted."

"The coaching and strategy sessions have been particularly useful in terms of helping me identify which areas of music to focus on and helping me create a strategy to maximise and manage things effectively. I feel as though I have a clearer plan for releasing an album and a better idea about how to manage my time effectively to focus on my music making and achieve the desired results."

- David Austin Grey

Case study: Emma Johnson

Emma first picked up the sax at her secondary school in Lancashire as there were “too many clarinets in the school band” and she hasn’t looked back since. She knew she wanted to pursue music but was told at a careers fair that the only way she could make a living through it was by joining the armed forces! She went on to do A-levels, where thankfully her

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teachers encouraged her to apply for music at university. However, it wasn’t quite what she expected.

‘‘With the power of hindsight, I felt like I lost a bit about what I liked about music. There were a lot of men, 90% men, which looking back, there was a huge imbalance and that creates a weird environment. There were six women on our course and only two of us graduated.”

However, in 2020 Emma came across the Abram Wilson Career Development Programme on Instagram and saw that saxophonist, bandleader and composer Cassie Kinoshi was an alumni.

“I looked up to Cassie and was interested in how her career has really developed, she's one of the few people that I could see doing amazing things both as a saxophonist and a composer, not just for her own bands, but for a really wide range of commissions and projects, and I found that really inspiring. It's great how jazz music has grown and is becoming more popular in the UK and she's a part of that. She had been on this programme, so that was one of the main reasons I applied.”

Emma joined the 2020-22 cohort, along with nine other musicians, receiving personalised coaching and strategy sessions and group masterclasses. She found the programme empowering and transformational - both for her career and personally.

“Through the coaching process I think that’s led me to feeling a lot more confident in being able to do a variety of things, future planning, more long-term goals, being a little bit bolder and confident with what to do next and how to go about that. It’s made a huge difference to my day to day and how I think about what I do and how that’s going to develop across my career.”

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Our 10-year anniversary

We celebrated our 10th anniversary year with an inspiring live event and an exciting announcement.

Our 10 Year Anniversary gig at Church of Sound paid tribute to Abram’s music. It was performed by an outstanding ensemble of talented jazz musicians who knew and worked with Abram, led by saxophonist Binker Golding. The performance was then featured on BBC Radio 3's 'J to Z'.

"The work of a musician lives on long after they do and so for me it feels quite natural to take part in this, especially since I actually knew Abram.

"This is what we as musicians do. We keep the memory of our friends alive by playing their work. Nothing could seem more natural to me. It is not a solemn affair. It is part of the after-life of an artist." -Binker Golding

We were also thrilled to announce that renowned musician, bandleader, composer and broadcaster Jools Holland became our newest patron.

“I’m delighted to become a patron of the Abram Wilson charity. I’m proud to lend my support to its vital work in providing visibility, access and opportunity for young musicians and emerging artists in the UK music industry.” - Jools Holland

Thank you and credits Thank you to all the amazing people and organisations who have given generous support in 2022. Please see a full list of all the individuals and funders on our website: abramwilson.com/thank-you/

Photo credits:

Future Sound - Manchester: Clive Hunte

Future Sound - London, Future Sound Records: Felipe Pagani Future Sound Digital: Jon Bilbrough

Jools Holland: Felix TW

10-year anniversary gig at Church of Sound: Joe Hart Individual artist photos credited on our website.

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Charitable objects

To advance the education and training of the public by promoting, fostering, and encouraging the knowledge, understanding, performance and appreciation of the arts and in particular the art of music in all its forms.

Public benefit

The trustees have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit, including the guidance 'public benefit: running a charity (PB2)'.

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ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ARTS

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING SUMMARY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

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ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ARTS

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

As at 31[st] December 2022

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ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ART

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

Unrestricted funds

Abram Wilson Foundation gratefully acknowledges a donation of £15,000 from the Foyle Foundation in 2022 to support the core costs of the organisation

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The Abfam Wilson Foundation For Creative Arts Detailed Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 December 2022 2022 INCO￿ AND E14LM)MEMT 30.422 187.3DJ 199.042 217.7 Fund mi5ing vonts 11.n5 11.29J 15.725 Tdal incom￿9 rE50uvce5 259,369 EXPEll￿uRE ChitstAe aetivibp5 Cost ofdirect ac*wty (92.3431 13.4841 1131.357) I95.￿•7> Fund r8ising events costs 14.OB11 (2.725) 146811 12,7Z51 Rat5￿ dcffjation5 and le0￿5 130.232) 14 (0.274) (1.0401 15.K151 146M81 16.8451 gJPPORT COSTS 134.2701 152.5WI 11.7481 11.4001 146.80)) 11.7281 148.5281 18.7881 19261 lQ.0301 11.1fj21 Leg81 fees 118.7T61 P55,7T6 1191,085

ABRAM WILSON FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE ARTS

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS (CHARITY COMMISSION)

For the year ended 31[st] December 2022

Report to the trustees/
members of
On accounts for the year
ended
Set out on pages
Responsibilities and
basis of report
Independent examiner's
statement		 Charity Name
Abram Wilson Foundation for Creative Arts		 Charity Name
Abram Wilson Foundation for Creative Arts		 Charity Name
Abram Wilson Foundation for Creative Arts
31stDecember 2022 Charity
no		 1158781
23-29
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of
the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended31 / 12 / 22.
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the
preparation of the accounts in accordance with the
requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts
carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying
out my independent examination, I have followed all the
applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no
material matters have come to my attention in connection
with the examination (other than that disclosed below *)

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which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

Signed:
Name and address:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
(if any):		 •
the accounts did not comply with the applicable
requirements concerning the form and content of
accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports)
Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the
accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters
in connection with the examination to which attention
should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper
understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Date:
19/09/2023		 •
the accounts did not comply with the applicable
requirements concerning the form and content of
accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports)
Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the
accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters
in connection with the examination to which attention
should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper
understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Date:
19/09/2023
19/09/2023
Naveed Ikhlaq FCCA
WIM Consulting Limited
37 New North Road
Hainault
Ilford Essex
England
IG6 2UE
Association of CharteredCertifiedAccountants (ACCA)

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