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← Ricnic

2024-12-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

From Period start date To Period end date ~~ai~~ 01 JANUARY 2024 31 DECEMBER 2024 Section A Reference and administration details ~~a~~ Charity name RicNic ~~Po~~ Other names charity is known by ~~PO~~ Registered charity number (if any) 1158837 ~~[~~ Charity's principal address 72 Mill Road

Walsall

West Midlands

Postcode WS4 1BU

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office (if any)

Dates acted if not for whole year

Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)

19

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20

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Jennifer Holyhead – Executive Director

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) CIO How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed by resolution of the trustees Trustee selection methods

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

RicNic is run under the Constitution signed in 2014 as part of the You may choose to include incorporation of RicNic as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) additional information, where relevant, about: ● policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

Section C Objectives and activities

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  1. To improve access to the creative arts for young people especially and for society more generally. 2. To help and educate young people in order that they develop their Summary of the objects of the capabilities and skills, and grow to increased maturity. charity set out in its governing document 3. Where appropriate, to work with and support the work of other organisations to further the charitable objects and mission central to RicNic. RicNic seeks to fulfil its objects for the public benefit by: (a) Facilitating courses, projects and workshops: this principally involves organising annual musical theatre productions in the summer holidays for young people to run as actors, musicians, producers, directors, technicians, set designers and other company members to work together as part of a team to produce high-quality performances open to the public. (b) Delivering outreach programmes: working with schools, colleges and community groups throughout the year to deliver workshops and support sessions helping young people to develop their creative skills. In facilitating these programmes the Trustees have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main Organisational Development achievements of the charity The first half of 2024 saw a lot of strategic rethinking, planning and during the year improving of our internal systems and processes. Having temporarily paused our activities in late 2023 to focus on rebuilding our finances, RicNic’s trustees and staff team were able to reflect on the future focus of the organisation, where it would locate its work and capacity. Although RicNic was originally founded and had run established projects in the South East region since 2004, it had become increasingly apparent that the levels of competition in that area and the lack of staff capacity on the ground was not sustainable. Our work in the Midlands region was growing steadily and with all of the current staff team based there, partnership conversations had been enabled to flourish. Recruitment and engagement levels in the South East had been a struggle since Covid-19 and with resources limited, the decision was taken to bring our activity in the South East to an end. The focus for RicNic in 2024 and beyond would be to build its home and network in the Walsall area of the West Midlands, with satellite projects running in Staffordshire and Cheshire East also remaining a focus. Staff Development In 2022, RicNic was the recipient of a Weston Charity Award which afforded the opportunity for mentoring in Pilotlight’s 360 Programme. The maternity leave of our Executive Director saw this mentoring postponed to late 2024. The 360 Programme is a 10 month programme of development exploring strategy and governance, with charity leaders matched to corporate sector leaders for guidance and coaching. This programme began in September 2024 and will run until May 2025. Trustee Recruitment In line with this geographic redirection and with some board members coming to the end of their trustee tenure, a broad recruitment campaign for new trustees was delivered in summer 2024. This campaign generated a number of interesting conversations with individuals from all backgrounds. We were particularly excited to see applications from previous RicNic participants, staff and other younger individuals looking for their first trusteeship. Aligning with RicNic’s ethos of providing development opportunities for young people at all levels, this potential to have youth voice at board level ensured that ethos persisted throughout the organisation. 5 new trustees were recruited from this campaign, all with lived experience of the Midlands region and working in different areas of the creative sector. Project Activity RicNic Foundry Thanks to funding via the Inclusive Communities Fund, RicNic established its first regular provision for young people this year. ‘RicNic Foundry’ offered an after-school creative club for young people on a weekly term-time basis. Starting with 1 group for primary school children in April 2024, this project grew to include a holiday club in August 2024 and then to 3 weekly sessions catering for ages 5-18 from September 2024. By December 2024, approximately 25 young people attended on a regular weekly basis free of charge. This project enabled us to start building a community of parental support for wider events and projects, leading to some regular donations.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Generation Music

A tender project through Crewe Town Council, enabled RicNic to work with young people as Young Producers for their own music and art festival day in Crewe. This project supported teenagers in the local area to programme and deliver their own community event. The event brought together local performers with professional artists, offered family drop-in activities and engaged with local SEND and adult community groups.

Travelling Tales

Funded by Avanti West Coast Trains Community Fund, Travelling Tales was an ambitious project exploring creative writing, art and performance with young people living along the Avanti train line between the Black Country and Cheshire.

This was a project that continued into 2025, with the first half running in 2024 seeing groups of students in Crewe, Sandwell and Stoke on Trent taking inspiration from ‘travel and journeys’ to create their own cabaret performances for their local communities. Work created in those sessions would provide the inspiration for creating new work for a digital library in 2025.

Show In A Week

Having stepped back from our traditional summer programme of producing full-scale musicals, we implemented ‘Show In A Week’ projects for ages 16-21 in Staffordshire and Cheshire, where our musicals had run previously. This format was much less intensive for participants, who cited that they still enjoyed the process and felt less pressured to commit to a longer rehearsal period, did not need to move other commitments and found the ticket sale expectations much less stressful.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the

charity’s policy on reserves

The financial reserves of RicNic are currently held in a bank account with CAF Bank, designed for charities and run by the Charities Aid Foundation. RicNic aims to hold a minimum of 6 months of salary and running costs (non project) as unrestricted reserves each year, currently amounting to £30,000 per annum. This is to enable the charity to commit to staffing and project delivery for its beneficiaries in advance, as many of our projects run over a few months in duration.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include Income additional information, where relevant about:

Trusts and Foundations

A concerted focus in the final quarter of 2023 led to an increase in trusts income for 2024 with the total amounts surpassing all previous years at £102,882. This figure included £27,836.64 of core funding (unrestricted), while the remaining amounts for project/restricted funding also covered salary and core costs in a FCR model in most cases. Some of the funding was received in 2024 but restricted to projects running in and into 2025.

Within this total grants income, RicNic received funding from grantmakers with whom we have built a repeat funding relationship, including Garfield Weston Foundation, Postcode Lottery and Baron Davenport Charitable Trust. We also received grants from new sources, specifically for projects in new locations across Staffordshire and Cheshire.

Donations and Individual Giving 2024 saw an increase in regular giving and online donations in comparison to previous years. This was heavily impacted by the introduction of the RicNic Foundry project, through which parents of participants have made weekly or monthly donations towards their child’s involvement. This is an area which we will look to build on in the future, as we continue to grow our local networks.

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Earned Income

Income on ticketed performances has varied in recent years, with the figures post-pandemic showing the demonstrable change in audience attendance compared to 2018/2019. 2018: £25,329 2019: £22,260 2020: £0 2021: £325.50 2022: £4787.20 2023: £12,343.50 2024: £435.75

2024 marked a move away from RicNic’s summer musicals, due to the rising costs of staging full-scale productions. These were replaced with cabaret-style projects with limited budgets. The ticket income reduction for 2024 reflects this move as audiences were smaller and ticket sales operated more on a ‘pay what you can’ basis for one-night only shows.

Workshop Income

The 2024 figures show an increase in earned income via workshops. This is a result of the organisation taking on a local authority tender to deliver a piece of work.

Expenditure

RicNic’s principal expenditures are (i) staff salaries and office operation costs, and (ii) costs relating to outreach programmes.

In previous years the costs relating to theatre productions were the second largest, if not largest expense in some years. The removal of these large scale productions from our programme has led to considerable savings in this area.

Section F Other optional information

Following a sharp drop in income during 2023, measures had been implemented in the final quarter to focus on fundraising and to look at the charities options. Up to March 2024, the Board continued regular monthly monitoring meetings and mapped out the changing options for continuing and closing the charity. Further consultations in April and June confirmed that we had returned to our previous cash flow levels and that there was scope for us to continue. Projects resumed in April but with a different approach, ensuring less pressure is put onto participants, there is less financial risk and the team can better manage the workload. Section G Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. ~~_~~ Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

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Signature(s)
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Full name(s) CHRISTOPHER SLESSER

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HANNAH LINDSEY
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Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) CO-CHAIR

CHAIR

Date 22.10.2025

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