Stuart Croft Foundation
Charity number 1163676
Annual Report and Financial Statements
for the year ended 30 September 2021
Stuart Croft Foundation
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 September 2021
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Trustees' report | 2 to 7 |
| Examiner's report | 8 |
| Receipts and payments account | 9 |
| Statement of assets and liabilities | 10 |
| Notes to the accounts | 11 |
Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accounting Service
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report for the year ended 30 September 2021
Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors
The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position
Gary Thomas Chair Emma Margaret Bennett (Greany) Chair Susan Jones Treasurer Gilane Tawadros Steven Eastwood Sarah Jones Gillian Fox
Charity number
The charity was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, number 1163676, on 21 September 2015.
Principal address
45 Empress Road Derby DE23 6TD
Bankers
Barclays Bank Market Harborough Building Society 69 Albion Street Welland House Leeds The Square LS1 5AA Market Harborough. LE16 7PD
Independent examiner
Claire Welling
Accountants
West Yorkshire Community Accounting Service Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) formed on 21 Seotember 2015.
Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees
The trustees of the charity are appointed by a resolution at a meeting of the trustees.
The charity's objects
To build on the legacy of artist-filmmaker Stuart Croft (1970-2015), to increase public understanding and knowledge of contemporary moving-image practice.
Mission
Mission: to make accessible Stuart’s legacy and archive, to exhibit his moving-image works, and to provide grants for new moving-image productions, research, publications and exhibitions.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2021
Introduction
This is the fifth annual report of the Stuart Croft Foundation. The Foundation was formed in 2015 by friends and family of artist filmmaker Stuart Croft, following his death in that year. Stuart was an internationally recognised and award-winning artist who exhibited widely and whose significance is far-reaching. He was an innovative artist whose moving-image practice involved the language of genre cinema, appropriation and circular narratives.
Governance and public benefit statement
The Foundation's governing document is its constitution. The constitution follows the Charity Commission's foundation model, ie the model for a charitable incorporated organisation whose only voting members are its trustees. Responsibility for the Foundation therefore resides with its trustees.
Seven trustees were in post at the beginning of the year, and there were no changes in the year. Gary Thomas and Emma Bennett acted as co-chairs, and Sue Jones acted as treasurer, for the year. No other trustee has had a specific permanent role, but trustees have taken on specific tasks, clearly assigned to individual trustees or groups of trustees.
The Foundation employed no staff during the year but engaged a consultancy service to provide administrative support and project management assistance. Arts consultant Harriet Fleuriot acted as Freelance Office and Project Manager for the year. The Foundation agreed a fee of up to a maximum of £7,000 over the year, at a daily rate of £200, as full and inclusive remuneration for all services rendered by Harriet Fleuriot. Fees were paid upon receipt of an invoice, in instalments, for the number of days (or part days) worked in any given month, and the total paid over the year was £5,340.
The Foundation does not own any premises. Work carried out for the Foundation by the trustees and consultants during 2020-21 took place in their own homes, studios and offices, and trustees' meetings took place online.
Four main meetings of the trustees were held during 2020-21 and average trustee attendance was 78%. Additional meetings were held in the year to focus specifically on fundraising and programming, with select trustees in attendance. All trustees gave freely of their time to promote the objects of the Foundation. No trustee received any remuneration or benefit from the Foundation during 2020-21.
The Foundation cannot, and does not, operate in isolation. It seeks to work positively in partnership with others to provide activities that promote diverse artistic and cultural practice and the study of artists' moving image. Stuart Croft Foundation is committed to ensuring its decisions and decision-making processes are, and are seen to be, free from personal bias and do not unfairly favour any individual connected with the charity.
An official Conflict of Interest Policy and Privacy Policy was approved at the meeting of the trustees on 7 March 2019. It is the policy of Stuart Croft Foundation to ensure every trustee understands what constitutes a conflict of interest and that they have a responsibility to recognize, declare, and document any conflicts that might arise for them and to ensure that the conflict does not affect the decision making of the organisation. All prospective new trustees must register any conflicts of interests by filling in a Conflict of Interest form before joining the Foundation. A conflict of interest register is updated regularly, and conflict of interest is a standing order item for every meeting of the trustees.
In summary, the Foundation seeks to be an efficient and well-operating charity with effective processes, record keeping, financial management and full compliance with legal requirements and recommended good practice.
The trustees confirm that, in carrying out all of their activities related to increasing public understanding and knowledge of contemporary moving image practice, they have complied with their duty under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2021
Finance
The trustees confirm that, so far as they are aware, there is no relevant examination information of which the charity's Independent Examiner is unaware. They have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as trustees in order to make themselves aware of any relevant information and to establish that the charity's Examiner is aware of that information.
The trustees continue to adopt a cautious approach towards the guardianship of the Foundation’s financial resources. The Foundation’s financial resources during 2020-21 were derived from its inheritance from Stuart's estate. The trustees' financial caution results from the one-off nature of that inheritance and the absence of any certainty about additional funding.
All of the Foundation's funds were maintained at all times during 2021-21 within the compensation cover provided by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In addition, as part of the Foundation's effective stewardship of its financial resources, cash flow is monitored on a day-to-day basis, and cash flow and other financial information are reported to trustee meetings. All expenditure is approved by the trustees. The processing of any payment out of the Foundation has to be authorised by two trustees.
HMRC accepts the Foundation as a charity for tax purposes. Its income is not therefore liable to taxation. It claims and receives gift aid against tax on suitable donations. Its incorporated status makes it advantageously eligible for certain investments that would otherwise not be available to it.
Financial review
The net payments for the year were £8,924, including net receipts of £11,076 on unrestricted funds and net payments of £20,000 on the endowment fund, after transfers
The net payments for the year were £8,924. Funds were spent on promoting public access to the Stuart Croft archive; funding the third round of Awards; staging public events; and administration and running costs. There are no funds in deficit. During 2020-21 a current account was held with Barclays Bank, and a savings accounts with Market Harborough Building Society.
Reserves policy
Whilst reserves ordinarily exclude expendable endowment funds, they have been included as part of the reserves in this statement, on the basis that they are readily available for spending. Total funds held at the bank by the Foundation on 30 September 2021 were £67,667. Liabilities amounted to £4,304 and so free cash reserves totalled £63,363, with all funds being held consisting of expendable funds.
The trustees have no reserves policy as the endowment fund will be utilised to fund activities to the end of 2024. Any additional activity will be funded from additional funding, yet to be secured.
Achievements and performance
Promoting public access to the Stuart Croft archive
The Foundation has continued to promote the Stuart Croft archive online catalogue, which became accessible to the public in August 2018 via the online BFI Collections Search. Due to Covid-19, the physical Stuart Croft archive at the BFI National Archive was largely unavailable to the public. The Foundation hopes that as restrictions ease more people will be able to access it. The online collection catalogue has received 150+ unique views.
In March 2021, copies of Adam Roberts’ book, Lamentation, in the Stuart Croft Archive (published by MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE in August 2020) were sent to various artists, curators and academics working with Moving Image, as well as close supporters of the Foundation. The book is the outcome of Adam’s research project supported by the SCF Research Award in 2018, looking into the archive of Stuart Croft held at the BFI National Archives. It accounts Adam’s visits to examine the archival records and the experience had while doing this work, incorporating reflections on loss, extinction and survival. Copies of the book are available online from publisher MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE, and in bookshops at BFI Shop, LRB Bookshop, and Tenderbooks (London), and Good Press (Glasgow).
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2021
Achievements and performance (continued)
In June 2021, the Stuart Croft Foundation partnered with Birkbeck Institute of Moving Image (BIMI) to host Lamentation: on absence, the archive and what comes after. This online event included a BIMI Screening Room presentation of Stuart Croft’s films The Stag Without a Heart ( 2010) and Drive In (2007) and focused on Adam Roberts’ research and his new book Lamentation , in the Stuart Croft Archive. More information is available below.
Between March 28 - May 24 2021, Stuart Croft’s film Drive In (2007) was screened in Tourism , a two part videoexhibition that took place, 2021 at Kunsthaus Glarus and Stadtgalerie Bern, curated by Luca Beeler, Richard Sides and Judith Welter.
Since November 2019 a selection of 51 of Stuart Croft’s film stills images have been available via the Art Image website, a digital image licensing service. The most popular viewed image in this collection continues to be a still from Remetior (2015), Stuart Croft’s final and unreleased film, completed after his death.
The Stuart Croft Foundation Awards
Launched in 2017, the Stuart Croft Foundation Awards enable filmmakers, curators, writers, researchers, students and recent graduates working between and beyond the gallery and cinema to create small-scale projects, where other funding may be difficult to obtain.
In March 2020, the Foundation gave awards to Anna Brass and Michelle Williams Gamaker (Moving Image Award, £5000 each), Seán Elder (Curation Award, £2000), and Myrid Carten and Grzegorz Stefański (Education Award, £1000 each).
Due to the impact of Covid-19, many of these projects have been delayed due to physical restrictions that impacted the production of films and events. The Foundation remains committed to supporting the awarded projects and removed strict deadlines in line with our expectations that the development and completion of projects would be delayed.
Michelle Williams Gamaker was able to complete her film The Bang Straws , which in addition to the 2020 SCF Moving Award was also supported with a ‘Herstories & Feminisms’ research and development grant from Jupiter Woods. The Bang Straws was premiered at BFI London Film Festival in October 2021, and was screened in November 2021 at Aesthetica Festival, UK; and the 25th Internationale Kurtagefilmtage, Winterthur, The Short Film Festival, Switzerland.
Restrictions have eased to some extent and some awardees are working towards more certain production schedules for their projects. However, circumstances are still challenging, further delays are likely and we expect to see projects completed any time from the end of 2021, well into 2022.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2021
Achievements and performance (continued)
‘Questions’ online event series
From March – June 2021, the Foundation hosted a series of online events titled Questions, where artists, curators, researchers and writers working with artists’ moving image were invited to discuss the process of thinking and making behind their project. This activity was part of the Foundation’s commitment to supporting artists working with moving image, both the SCF Awardees and broader artist networks.
Each event invited an SCF awardee to share the development and production of their awarded project and was hosted in partnership with another moving image organisation:
1. The Bang Straws 19 March 2021
With Michelle Williams Gamaker, Carolina Ongaro, Katie Simpson, Annie Jael Kwan In partnership with Jupiter Woods
Michelle was joined in conversation with Carolina Ongaro and Katie Simpson from Jupiter Woods to talk about their collaboration and the research and production process, discussing the importance of supporting artistic research and experimenting with ways of making this public. Curator and researcher Annie Jael Kwan then talked with Michelle in response to The Bang Straws, exploring the film’s relationship with traditional Chinese art forms and tropes, the legacy of colonial filmmaking and cinematic practice, and how fictional activism and intercultural solidarity might operate as a methodology/lens for artists and organisers. A recording was uploaded to the Stuart Croft Vimeo page.
2. A=A 29 April 2021
With Jennifer Martin, Rebecca Jane Arthur, Hogan Seidel
In partnership with Alchemy Film Festival
A = A was a discussion event examining questions of repetition, duration and the loop in artists’ moving image. Inspired by Stuart Croft’s concept of circular storytelling, the event worked through questions and provocations relating to the ways in which ideas of repetition, duration and cyclicality inform assumptions integral to the structural organisation of life under capitalism – and, in the context of the current moment’s multiple crises, to the reproduction of capitalism itself. Featuring talks by the artists, the event launched the 2021 Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. A recording will be uploaded to the Stuart Croft Vimeo page.
- Lamentation: On Absence, the Archive and What Comes After 4 June 2021
With Adam Roberts, Gareth Evans
In partnership with Birkbeck Institute for Moving Image (BIMI)
This online event included a BIMI Screening Room presentation of Stuart Croft’s films The Stag Without a Heart (2010) and Drive In (2007), shared for 48 hours before the event, followed by a live online conversation between writer, filmmaker and curator Adam Roberts and curator/writer Gareth Evans. Adam and Gareth talked about cultural value and its legacies in the face of ecological collapse, drawing from Adam’s research and his new book Lamentation, in the Stuart Croft Archive . The discussion included a short reading from the book by actor Camilla Arfwedson ( Drive In , by Stuart Croft) and a recording was uploaded to the Stuart Croft Vimeo page.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2021
Achievements and performance (continued)
Communications and public outreach
The Foundation’s website (www.stuartcroftfoundation.org) received over 20,500 unique visitors from 1st October 2020 to 30th September 2021, which was 22% less than the previous year (26,692 unique visitors in 2019/20). This reflects the absence of an SCF Awards application call out during 2020/21, resulting in lower website traffic. There was a significant peak in website visits in January 2021, after announcing our online web series Questions. The Foundation continued to share news about SCF activity via the website, newsletter mailing list and social media channels
An SCF Instagram account was launched in February 2021. This has attracted almost 500 followers to date. It has been used to regularly share images from Stuart’s archive and news about the online events hosted in 2021, posting 34 times since it launched and receiving over 850 interactions. Elsewhere, Foundation posts reached over 1,600 people on Facebook and had over 7,500 tweet impressions on twitter. This engagement was lower than previous years (40% and 80% less respectively) and there was also a slower increase in networks, with 2% more Twitter followers and 3% more Facebook page likes (compared to 35% and 10% respectively in 2019/20). Again, this may be due to the absence of an SCF Awards application callout in 2020/21, which historically boosted online interaction. The Foundation has continued to carry out a simple marketing strategy that focuses on highlighting the Stuart Croft archive, celebrating the impact of the SCF awards, and promoting any events or activity associated with the Foundation, with an aim to increase the breadth and diversity of networks engaging with the Foundation’s work.
Statement on Covid-19
The Foundation has continued to experience the impact of the global Covid-19 virus. The trustees have reassessed the charity’s ability to continue for at least 12 months from the date that the accounts are approved and conclude that no material uncertainties exist that cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
In May 2020, the trustees met to review future activity in consideration of the impact of the pandemic, and built an additional 12 months into the previous timeline of planned activity. With Covid-19 still presenting restrictive conditions and uncertainty, the Foundation is regularly reviewing expectations for the delivery of awarded projects and all other programme activities.
Signed on behalf of the board of trustees on 17/12/2021
Gary Thomas (Trustee)
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Stuart Croft Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation ('the CIO')
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 30 September 2021, which are set out on pages 9 to 11.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the CIO 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 CIO's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Whilst an independent examination is not required under section 145 of the Act, the trustees have opted for this type of scrutiny.
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:
1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records.
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.
Claire Welling
10/1/2022
West Yorkshire Community Accounting Service
Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Receipts and payments account
for the year ended 30 September 2021
| 2021 2021 Unrestricted Endowment funds funds £ £ Receipts Charitable activities - - Interest 219 - Total receipts 219 - Payments Administration 5,340 - Awards 2,400 - Governance costs - - Meeting costs, travel and subsistence - - Accountancy and independent examination 264 - Internet hosting web development 296 - Project costs 600 - Archiving, storage, maintenance and reflection 243 - Total payments 9,143 - (8,924) - Transfers between funds 20,000 (20,000) Net movement in funds after transfers 11,076 (20,000) Cash fund balances brought forward 9,768 66,823 Cash fund balances carried forward 20,844 46,823 Net receipts / (payments) |
2021 Total funds £ - 219 219 5,340 2,400 - - 264 296 600 243 9,143 (8,924) - (8,924) 76,591 67,667 |
2020 Total funds £ 223 792 1,015 4,660 15,450 86 12 264 775 - - 21,247 (20,232) - (20,232) 96,823 76,591 |
|---|---|---|
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Statement of assets and liabilities
as at 30 September 2021
| 2021 2021 Unrestricted Endowment funds funds Cash funds £ £ Barclays Bank 20,844 21,656 Market Harborough Building Society - 25,167 Total cash funds 20,844 46,823 |
2021 Total funds £ 42,500 25,167 67,667 |
2020 Total funds £ 51,642 24,949 76,591 |
|---|---|---|
Assets retained for the charity's own use
Documents from the private archive of Stuart Croft were professionally catalogued, and made accessible within the BFI National Archive from September 2019. Since then, there have been two visits by members of the public. Public access to the BFI National Archive was restricted in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and slowly resumed in 2021 as restrictions eased.
| Liabilities Independent examination Administration Awards Administration for awards 2020 |
£ 264 1,240 1,800 1,000 4,304 |
|---|---|
Approval of the accounts
The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 10/12/2021
Gary Thomas (Trustee)
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 30 September 2021
1 Accounting policies
Basis of accounting
The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.
There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year.
No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.
Taxation
As a registered charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.
Endowment funds represent the expendable endowment which may be converted to income, when approved by the trustees. Income arising on the endowment funds can be used in accordance with the objects of the charity and is included as unrestricted income unless restrictions have been imposed by the donor.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.
2 Trustee expenses
No trustee received any expenses during this year.
One trustee received £12 towards travel expenses in the previous year.
3 Related party transactions
No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.
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