Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date 01 June 2022 31 May 2023 From To Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name INTERNATIONAL SHAKESPEARE ASSOCIATION Other names charity is known by ISA Registered charity number (if any) 1160312 Charity's principal address Shakespeare Centre Henley Street Stratford-upon-Avon Postcode CV37 6QW Warwickshire
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Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
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Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled **to appoint trustee(if any) ** |
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| Tom Bishop | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Dominique Goy Blanquet |
Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Clara Calvo | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Paromita Chakravarti |
Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Rafik Darragi | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Carla Dente | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Jacek Fabiszak | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Atsuhiko Hirota | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Ton Hoenselaars | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Peter Holland | CHAIR | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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Peter Holbrook | 01.06.22-01.07.22 | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Hyon-U Lee | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Bi-qi Beatrice Lei | VICE CHAIR | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| David McInnis | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Gordon McMullan | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Alfredo Modenessi | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Claudia Olk | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Lena Cowen Orlin | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Christopher Thurman |
Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Nataliya Torkut | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Lingui Yang (Gary Yang) |
Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
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| Li Lan Yong | Members at annual general meeting after WSC/ charity trustees |
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
| Name | Dates acted if not for wholeyear |
|---|---|
| NA | NA |
| NA | NA |
| NA | NA |
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
| Type of adviser | Name | Address |
|---|---|---|
| NA | NA | NA |
| NA | NA | NA |
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NA NA NA NA NA NA
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
Peter Holland (Chair)
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) ) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity Trustee selection trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed methods for the effective administration of the CIO. This will include that they (eg. appointed by, elected should have made a significant contribution to the study and appreciation by) of Shakespeare. When selecting new charity trustees, the charity trustees and the members will ensure a suitable level of international representation, including, but not limited to, representatives of established and regional Shakespeare organisations. The vacancies so arising may be filled by the members at the annual general meeting and any vacancies not filled at the annual general meeting may be filled by the charity trustees.
Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) ) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) How the charity is constituted
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
| Youmay chooseto include additional information, where relevant, about: • policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees; the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; • relationship with any related parties; • trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. |
TheInternational Shakespeare Association is an umbrella organisation devoted to connecting Shakespeareans and Shakespeare national societies around the world. With its headquarters at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, a small committee of prominent Shakespeareans, including John Russell Brown, O. B. Harrison, George Hibbard, and Levi Fox helped shape the association’s original objectives, including advising on the initiation and planning of World Shakespeare Congresses. The original executive committee, like all committees since, was made up of representatives from around the world.The ISA offers an opportunity for individuals and institutions to join together to further the knowledge of Shakespeare throughout the world. As befits a global academic organisation, the International Shakespeare Association is committed to principles of diversity and inclusion for all, as well as of academic freedom and freedom of expression. It believes that the world-wide exchange and engagement with the works of Shakespeare that the ISA promotes leads to greater understanding of and respect for different cultures and societies and the place of the individual within them. |
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Section C Objectives and activities
| Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document |
- To advance the education of the public by furthering the study of Shakespeare’s life and work by such means as the trustees determine including by: - Organising, holding and promoting participation in the World Shakespeare Congress and disseminating the learning from that event; and Offering advice and assistance in the establishment of national or regional Shakespeare associations. |
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Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit
Disseminating learning
ISA members were given access to digital recordings made of the 2021 congress in Singapore. Free access to these digital resources helped serve the ISA’s aim to advance the education of the public as they provided a special opportunity to understand how and why Asian practitioners bring Shakespeare onto their stages. Disseminating learning from world congresses is a key ISA objective, and the recordings from this important international event will have benefitted young scholars and those who were unable to attend the event in 2021. The resources enabled and promoted cultural exchange between scholars, students and Shakespeare enthusiasts from across the globe.
Promoting international participation
Our constitution allows for the appointment of new Trustees, who also serve on the ISA’s Executive Committee. In view of a number of retirements by Trustees the present Executive Committee followed previous practice in taking informal soundings of members and considered the recommendations of the Nominations Committee formed by the Chair. It gave careful consideration to the composition of the Executive Committee, with a view to placing recommendations before the membership for approval. In presenting the candidates for nomination, the Executive Committee kept closely in mind the need for the Committee to reflect the international character of the Association, to encompass wide-ranging interests and experience, and to ensure an appropriate degree of change and renewal in its composition.
The election of our new members acted in the public benefit by increasing international representation for our membership at large. Our new Executive members include:
Paromita Chakravarti is Professor of English at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and Coordinator of the “Shakespeare in Bengal” Project at its Centre for Advanced Studies. She has been a Visiting Fellow at, for example, Oxford and Amsterdam. Her publications include coedited anthologies on Shakespeare and Indian Cinemas and on Changing Frames of Gender Politics in India.
Jacek Fabiszak is University Professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University, president of the Polish Shakespeare Association, and past treasurer of the European Shakespeare Research Association. His books include Polish Televised Shakespeares and Shakespeare's Drama of Social Roles.
Hyon-U Lee is Professor of English at Soon Chun Hyang University in Korea. As well as numerous articles on a wide range of topics in the study of Shakespeare performance, translation and adaptation, he has directed Coriolanus, Shrew and Q1 Hamlet.
David McInnis is Associate Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Melbourne. He is author of Shakespeare and Lost Plays, and Mind-Travelling and Voyage Drama in Early Modern England, and editor of Dekker’s Old Fortunatus for the Revels. He is cofounder and co-editor of the Lost Plays Database.
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| 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)Youmay choose to include further statements, where relevant, about: • policy on grantmaking; • policy programme related investment; • contribution made by volunteers. |
Chris Thurmanis Professor at Witwatersrand University in South Africa, and Director of its Tsikinya-Chaka Centre. He is president of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa and founder of Shakespeare ZA. He is editor of the journal Shakespeare in Southern Africa and editor or South African Essays on ‘Universal’ Shakespeare. Nataliya Torkut, as Director of the Shakespeare Centre at Zaporizhzhia National University, has worked to promote both Shakespeare scholarship and public awareness of Shakespeare in Ukraine. She maintains a Ukrainian Shakespeare portal and also contributes to the World Shakespeare Bibliography. Organising, holding and promoting participation in the World Shakespeare Congress The 2026 World Shakespeare Congress will take place in Verona, Italy, a vital crossroads of ancient and early modern Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the setting for_The Two Gentlemen of_ Verona_and_Romeo and Juliet. The WSC will address questions related to the role of Shakespeare in connection with contemporary concerns about the destiny of our planet and human beings at a time when humanism has been deeply challenged. The Congress will foster discussion of the many ways in which Shakespeare may be conceived as ‘planetary’, reaching out to resonances with new cultural galaxies of enquiry, debate, ~~and knowledge~~ |
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| ~~.~~ The continued development of a new vision for the ISA designed to encourage further opportunities for the public to benefit from the organisation’s work via recordings, publications, and digital and hybrid events. |
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Section D Achievements and performance
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Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
June 2022
Nomination and election of 6 new members of the Executive Committee
June 2022
Draft proposal for world congress to be held for the public benefit in 2026 in Verona, Italy.
September 2022
Public announcement of the 11th World Shakespeare Congress in 2026 to be held in Verona, Italy. The Local Organizing Committee is headed by Professor Silvia Bigliazzi of the Università di Verona, with Emanuel Stelzer as co-Chair. Professors Shaul Bassi (University of Venice Ca Foscari), Fernando Cioni (University of Florence) and Eric Nicholson (NYU, Florence) are members of the Advisory Board. The dates of the world congress will be 20-26 July, 2026
January 2023
Formation of Programme and Congress Committee for WSC 2026
May 2023
Development of World Shakespeare Congress website as gateway for those interested in coming together in Verona for a Shakespearian celebration in 2026: https://www.wsc2026.org/
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Section E Financial review
Our Constitution states that our trustees have the power to “set aside Brief statement of the charity’s income as a reserve against future expenditure but only in accordance policy on reserves with a written policy about reserves”
Details of any funds materially in deficit
NA
Further financial review details (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:
N/A
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the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
Section F Other optional information
World Shakespeare Congress 2026: Verona – open access website invitation
The 2026 World Shakespeare Congress will mark the International Shakespeare Association’s 50[th] anniversary. Let us celebrate together in fair Verona, Italy, where, from July 20th to 26th 2026, Shakespeareans will gather in this beautiful and historic city on the Adige River, a vital crossroads of ancient and early modern Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the setting for The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Romeo and Juliet . The WSC will address questions related to the role of Shakespeare in connection with contemporary concerns about the destiny of our planet and human beings at a time when humanism has been deeply challenged. The Congress will foster discussion of the many ways in which Shakespeare may be conceived as ‘planetary’, reaching out to resonances with new cultural galaxies of enquiry, debate, and knowledge.
Planetary Shakespeares offers a way to tackle a whole range of issues beyond the present concern with Global Shakespeare and suggesting multifarious ways in which Shakespeare’s infinite variety and complexities can offer an entrance point to the humanities, enabling them to confront planetary crises and reconsider relations among nature, art and technology, as well as the need to reconfigure our sense of reality both socially and epistemologically. Now that we have moved into the digital, the virtual, the cyborg, and the posthuman ages, and the notion itself of reality has been challenged from different angles, including our experience of augmented reality, we have become aware of new turning points in history, and how they affect our perception of the contradictions embedded in our sense of the real. Theatre best captures such transformations and possible contradictions. “Planetary Shakespeares” offers convenient gateways into the most varied experiences of ‘the real’ via a plurality of interconnected issues.
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Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) N.B.Walton Full name(s) Nick Walton Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Executive Secretary and Treasurer Date 9th April 2024
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International Shakespeare Association
Accounts
Year: 2022-2023
| Unrestricted Receipts: Membership 160.00 Donations - Grant income - Bank interest 47.22 Royalties - __ 207.22 Expenditure: Grant Subsidy - Bank Charges 120.00 PayPal Fees 5.48 Refreshments - Costs of Secretariat - Travel & Accommodation - Printing & Stationery - Gifts - Professional Fees - WSC2021 Funding __ 125.48 __ Net Receipts 81.74 (payments) Cash Funds 12,936.68 (last year end) Cash Funds 13,018.42 (this year end) |
Restricted __ - - - - __ - __ - 519.00 519.00 |
Total 160.00 - - 47.22 - _ 207.22 - 120.00 5.48 - - - - - - _ 125.48 _ 81.74 13,455.68 13,537.42 |
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