2022-03-31-accounts - New Note Projects

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(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation)

Charity number 1161284

Trustee Report and Financial Statements Year ending 31 March 2022

New Note Projects P.O. Box 5420 Brighton BN50 8HS

The Trustees of New Note Projects present their Annual Report for the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

1. Governance and Structure:

New Note Projects (NNP) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Our constitution is a ‘Foundation’ model whose only voting members are its charity trustees. New Note Projects was constituted on14 April 2015 when the Charity Commission produced a unique charitable number: 1161284

The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit when considering the activities to be undertaken. These are detailed in this report.

New Note Projects was overseen by six trustees during the period 1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022:

Chairperson – Bridget Taylor Trustee - Dan Blomfield Trustee – Marcus O’Dair Trustee – Helen Marsden Trustee – Becky Thomas Trustee – Sarah Erskine

The day-to-day operations were overseen by Founder and Chief Executive Molly Mathieson.

2: New Note Projects aims and objectives.

NNP was founded in 2015 by Molly Mathieson and uses music and storytelling to help people strengthen their recoveries from addiction. She was motivated to combat drug and alcohol-related problems within Brighton and Hove in a unique and creative way.

Over the past two years, Brighton’s drug and alcohol issues have deteriorated even further with drug misuse among the highest in the country. The Brighton City Coroner found that the deaths of 39 people were related to drugs or alcohol in 2020, a rise of over 30% on the previous year. The Council estimates the cost of substance misuse across the city at £107 million. There are over five times as many Alcoholic Anonymous meetings in the area compared to the rest of the country, yet local support facilities are disappearing. In 2020, at the start of the national lockdown, the Council’s budget for substance misuse was cut by £340,000.

The local residential alcohol rehab ward was closed in 2015; the nearest one is in Essex, which is 90 miles away. There is urgent need for early interventions, to offer beneficial diversionary activities to give people the best chance of a successful recovery – or not turn to substance misuse in the first place.

New Note Projects has two music-based initiatives.

New Note Orchestra (See section 3)
New Note Strummers (See section 4)

Both programmes reach people who have experienced addiction issues. Many of the people accessing our services have also experienced rough sleeping, poor mental health, social isolation, deprivation and prison.

PUTTING OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES INTO PRACTICE

Operations summary: New Note Orchestra

New Note Orchestra was launched in 2015 as the first of its kind in the world. Its aims are:

To produce new and original music of high artistic value
To help people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction to stay sober by meeting regularly to compose and play music
To reduce the stigma around alcoholism and addiction in our communities by
putting on public performances.

Co-creation has been at the heart of NNO since it was launched in 2015. It is the foundation on which we have written and performed every composition to date. Our methodologies have been recognised by government after being cited as an exemplary recovery model by the Centre for Social Justice ( Road to Recovery. Addiction in our Society - the Case for Reform. 2019)

During the period of this report, we began to emerge from the national lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2021, we began meeting back within the community with Covid-19 restrictions in place. The restrictions stipulated that we were allowed to meet and work together because we were supporting people affected by drug and alcohol addiction and were categorized as a support group, as long as we didn’t exceed 15 people in the room. This had some challenges as we were unable to have an open-door policy and we couldn’t actively recruit new people. Our retention rate has increased very slightly. In 2020/21, it was 53% and during this period (2021/22), it was 56%.

Kind Rebellion Live Stream

On July 4[th] , we live streamed New Note Orchestra (NNO) from the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. The musicians performed their show ‘Kind Rebellion’ and it was interspersed by short, filmed interviews of them talking about how kindness underpins their recoveries from addiction.

The performance was followed by a live panel discussion. The guests included Robin Banerjee, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex; Bernadette Russell, a kindness writer and campaigner; Molly Mathieson; Founder and Executive Producer of NNO; Conall Gleeson, NNO’s Music Director; and orchestra musicians Warner, Lauren and Roger.

Both the performance and panel discussion were a huge success. The quality of the show was underpinned by a team of specialists in TV, sound and lighting design. We made a commitment to hiring local people, including Annie Murray, a camera person in recovery. She used to be a member of the orchestra and, since leaving, has flourished with her own film and editing business.

In order to elevate Kind Rebellion for a live streamed audience, we took the step of hiring in a string quartet. These were professional players who were known to the Music Director Conall Gleeson.

Before launching New Note Projects, Molly Mathieson had spent over 15 years as a TV producer. She oversaw the TV/filming aspects of the production, working alongside live studio director Phil Woodhead.

This project felt very innovative and that we were pushing the technology as far as it could go. It was the first time we had run a social media campaign to encourage a wider and more geographically diverse audience. More than 2000 people clicked through from Facebook to the ticket page and 117 of these converted into sales. Since it has been online, the performance has received over 1500 views.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2021

International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held on 31 August each year to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of drug-related death. It acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends, remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of overdose.

The rate of drug poisonings continues to increase. According to the Office for National Statistics, 4,561 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in England and Wales in 2020; the highest number since records began in 1993, and 3.8% higher than in 2019 (4,393 registered deaths).

In 2021, New Note Orchestra was invited to be part of a national project led by Small Performance Adventures who created a film with a collective of eleven recovery organisations. New Note Orchestra created the soundtrack

for the project. Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, the UK’s only recovery-led dance company, created the choreography which was shared and taught over a series of creative Zoom meetings with participants from all of the arts and recovery organisations. The subsequent film featured members of the New Note Orchestra in Brighton and 100 participants took part across seven other cities. The film has been viewed over 35,000 times online.

No Olho da Rua

No Olho da Rua (In the Eye of the Street) is a long-term collaboration between young Brazilians living on the streets of Belo Horizonte and artists Julian Germain, Patricia Azevedo and Murilo Godoy. A vast archive of thousands of photographs produced over seventeen years charts the participants’ lives over a period of unprecedented economic expansion in Brazil. The project demonstrates how photography has been used to intervene in the urban landscape and serves as a powerfully expressive platform for the socially and economically excluded. Photographer Julian Germain presented some of the photos for an event at Fabrica Gallery in September 2021. He invited two New Note Orchestra musicians to play music to accompany the photos and asked them to join a panel discussion about how the arts can play an important role in bringing marginalised voices into the mainstream.

Left to right: Annebella Pollen of Brighton University, Malcolm Lall (musician), Julian Germain (artist) and Roger Brophy (musician) in a Q&A at Fabrica’s launch of the latest No Olho da Rua zine

4: Operations summary - New Note Strummers

In January 2017, the New Note Strummers group was launched. A weekly guitar group for people who are in recovery from addiction, this group attracts clients who are particularly vulnerable - including those in the early stages of recovery – and have experience of street homelessness and/or significant mental health issues. Many of the members have been socially excluded for long periods of time, including whilst in prison. With a National Lottery grant, Founder Molly Mathieson trialled a successful pilot from January-April 2017 and Strummers became a regular weekly group for people in recovery from addiction. The National Lottery has continued to financially support the group.

During 2021, the New Note Strummers recorded their first album. This came about due to the lack of performing opportunities during the final year of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a very successful project as it allowed each of our musicians to really concentrate on their individual musical skills as well as to come together and play as a group. Some developed their vocal skills and others percussion. They recorded 11 songs and released them online. We created a CD and dedicated it to Darrell Bath who sadly passed away in September 2021. Darrell made a huge contribution to the recording of the CD; he sings on two of the tracks and plays lead guitar.

5: New developments.

New Note Projects’ Three-Year Strategy.

In August 2021, the Chief Executive Molly Mathieson and Chair of Trustees Bridget Taylor invited the participants of New Note Orchestra to design a three-year strategy. This was an important step to co-designing a strategy with service users at the heart.

There were four themes that came out of the three-year strategy meeting.

1) Expanding New Note into an internationally recognised exemplary recovery model by:

Employing a new member of staff to help with strategy and marketing - whose role would be to raise New Note’s profile.
Doing more media appearances.
Developing and promoting our assets such as Kind Rebellion by putting on events alongside Orchestra performances. For example, trailing Kind Rebellion on World Kindness Day; making Kind Rebellion into a podcast.
Taking part in national and international conferences to reach a wider audience
Performing at large venues with diverse audiences.
Creating merchandise: bags, mugs, keyrings etc.
Becoming an exemplary model that others emulate. Helping and supporting other organisations to use our practices.
Creating a New Note sample pack or tool kit.

2) Increasing outreach by:

Developing an outreach strategy.
Challenging stigma around addiction by supporting and encouraging the orchestra musicians to do the outreach.

Adapting the orchestra so we can play outside and be nimbler which would lead to performance opportunities. This could mean investing in new equipment that is easier to set up.

3) Growing the recovery community. Working more in partnership with other recovery organisations by:

Developing a recovery arts consultancy.
Creating a national recovery arts community.
Creating opportunities to collaborate with others in the recovery field.
Finding space locally where we could co-collaborate with others.
Launching a UK National Recovery Festival.

4) Composition and music development

Creating opportunities for co-design and co-creation outside of the Tuesday evening rehearsals.

During the consultation process, we asked our participants what New Note’s biggest achievements had been. They responded with the following:

We defy expectations around people who have addiction issues. We challenge the expectations of people in recovery and what they can achieve and look like.
We are very creative - our music and performances are of very high quality.
We look fantastic on stage!
We help to destigmatise addiction and recovery.
We develop musical skills.
We instil discipline and structure. We give a routine.
Taking part is often an achievement.
Recording the music feels like a big achievement.

After this consultation, we co-designed a training programme called the New Note Key Changers. This new programme will provide training and support for some of our participants to become Community Music Facilitators. The New Note Key Changers will be piloted during 2022.

Review of financial position

The New Note Projects accounts are independently examined by registered accountant Chris Tyler FCA, DChA, FCIE.

Total income: £48,184 Expenditure: £82,892 Staffing costs: £69,381 Operating Costs: £9,194 Investments £4,317

Staffing costs include:

Chief Exec/Project Manager, Music Director, Guitar Tutor, Sound Technicians, Directors, Producers, Freelance Musicians, Freelancers for comms and marketing.

Investments break down into the following: Musical equipment: £3,672. 39 Computer support £440.39 Key Changers expenses £205

Reserves policy:

Our reserves policy is to hold sufficient funds to source the core operating capacity of the charity for four months. This means the charity can meet ongoing liabilities, sufficient to ensure that all delivery commitments can be met and to protect the long-term future of the operations. Our unrestricted reserves on 31 March 2022 were £14,635 and restricted reserves £7,900 making a total of £22,535.

Assets:

The charity has assets in the form of musical instruments. Our total assets on 31 March 2022 were £15,200.

NEW NOTE PROJECTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT INCOME LOTTERY ARTS COUNCIL HENRY SMITH BHCC SSE RAYNE FOUNDATION MARTIN GEDDES BARING FOUNDATION MIND CRI-SEREN REFUND SUSSEX COMMUNITY FOUNDATION REFUND FOYLE FOUNDATION TICKETS FROM LIVE STREAM CD STRUMMER DONATIONS LEIGH TRUST CLOTHWORKERS TRUST	2022 2022 2022 TOTAL UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 9,860 - 9,860 14,850 - 14,850 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3,000 - 3,000 58 58 - 4,040 - 4,040 95 95 - 5,000 - 5,000 349 349 - 217 217 - 315 315 - 2,500 - 2,500 7,900 - 7,900 48,184 1,034 47,150

EXPENDITURE STAFF COSTS OPERATING COSTS INVESTMENTS NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) FUND BALANCES B/FWD FUND BALANCES C/FWD BANK BALANCES RESTRICTED FUND BALANCE CLOTHWORKERS TRUST	69,381 3,725 9,194 5,626 4,317 -	65,656 3,568 4,317 73,541 - 26,391 34,291 7,900 7,900 7,900
	82,892 9,351
	- 34,708 - 8,317 57,243 22,952
	22,535 14,635
	22,535 14,635

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES ON THE UNAUDITED ACCOUNTS OF NEW NOTE PROJECTS

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of New Note Projects for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust 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 examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or

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 to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

C R Tyler FCA DChA FCIE F1 CRT Limited Chartered Accountant Flat 24, Wellingtonia Court Laine Close Brighton BN1 6TD Date: