Stuart Croft Foundation
Charity number 1163676
Annual Report and Financial Statements
for the year ended 30 September 2022
Stuart Croft Foundation
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 September 2022
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Trustees' report | 2 to 6 |
| Examiner's report | 7 |
| Receipts and payments account | 8 |
| Statement of assets and liabilities | 9 |
| Notes to the accounts | 10 |
Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report for the year ended 30 September 2022
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 Dates Gary Thomas Chair Emma Bennett (Greany) Chair Susan Jones Treasurer Steven Eastwood Gillian Fox Sarah Jones Gilane Tawadros
Charity number 1163676 Registered in England and Wales Registered and principal address Bankers 45 Empress Road Barclays Bank Market Harborough Building Society Derby 69 Albion Street Welland House DE23 6TD Leeds The Square LS1 5AA Market Harborough. LE16 7PD
Independent examiner Simon Bostrom FCIE West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) foundation ormed 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.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2022
Objectives and activities
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
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.
Introduction
This is the sixth 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 recognized 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 have been 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, for the number of days (or part days) worked in any given month or period of months, and the total paid over the year was £2,280.
The Foundation does not own any premises. Work carried out for the Foundation by the trustees and consultants during 2021-22 took place in their own homes, studios and offices, and meetings of the trustees took place online.
Three meetings of the trustees were held during 2021-22 and average trustee attendance was 86%. A number of additional meetings were held throughout the year to focus specifically on fundraising and programming, with selected 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 2021-22.
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.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2022
Governance and public benefit statement continued
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.
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 2021-22 were derived from its inheritance from Stuart's estate. The trustees' caution results from the one-off nature of that inheritance and uncertainty about any additional funding.
All of the Foundation's funds were maintained at all times during 2021-22 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 from 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 £4,330.
Funds were spent on activities to promote public access to the Stuart Croft archive; initiating work towards a monograph on Stuart’s work; together with administration and running costs. There are no funds in deficit. During 2021-22 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 bank by the Foundation on 30 September 2022 were £63,337. Liabilities amounted to £2,864 and so free cash reserves totalled £60,473, with all funds being held consisting of expendable funds.
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 held at the BFI National Archive was largely unavailable to the public until 2021. Demand for access has been slow to recover after restrictions eased, but it is starting to pick up now. There were 6 views of the Stuart Croft collection during this period with an average viewing time 329 seconds.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2022
Achievements and performance continued
Since November 2019 a selection of 51 of Stuart Croft’s film still images have been available via the Art Image website, a digital image licensing service. The most popular viewed image in this collection remains to be a still from Remetior (2015), Stuart Croft’s final and unreleased film that was 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 awarded Anna Brass and Michelle Williams Gamaker (Moving Image Award, £5,000 each), Seán Elder (Curation Award, £2,000), and Myrid Carten and Grzegorz Stefański (Education Award, £1,000 each).
Due to the impact of Covid-19, many of these projects were delayed. The Stuart Croft Foundation remained committed to supporting the awarded projects and with restrictions easing, all projects have now resumed production momentum and are due to be completed by the end of 2022 or early 2023. During this period various trustees from the Stuart Croft Foundation offered awardees the chance to receive regular advice and guidance on the development and production of their projects.
In October 2021, The Bang Straws , a film by artist Michelle Williams Gamaker premiered at the 65th BFI London Film Festival. The film was shown as part of the Experimenta programme Anachronic Chronicles: Voyages Inside/Out Asia at the ICA and was nominated for the BFI Short Film Competition, gaining an honourable mention from the judges. In November, The Bang Straws was also screened at Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) in York and won the Best Experimental Film Award and also screened at the 25th Internationale Kurtagefilmtage Winterthur in Switzerland, where it was nominated for the International Competition. The Bang Straws was also in UK Competition for the London Short Film Festival's You're Obviously in the Wrong Place and Raindance Film Festival's Abstract Notions (nominated for Best UK Short). The film was also selected for the Whitechapel's triennial The London Open a free public exhibition which ran between June-September 2022. The Bang Straws was also presented with a post-screening Q&A in February 2022 as part of Future Ages Will Wonder exhibition at FACT in Liverpool curated by Annie Jael Kwan who was in conversation with Michelle Williams Gamaker for the SCF’s first Questions online series event earlier in February 2021 (see below). Through the production of The Bang Straws , Williams Gamaker went on to be awarded the Film London Production Award. She is in pre-production for Thieves, which is a sequel, and this will premiere at South London Gallery in March 2023.
In April 2022, Earthly Bodies took place at Eastside Projects as the first part of the Birmingham Critical Film Forum (BCFF) - a series initiated by Seán Elder to develop artists’ moving image in the West Midlands. This free screening of films by artists, curated by Birmingham-based curator Jessica Piette, centred feminist, embodied relations to the non-human. Themes explored in the films include the colonial commodification of nature, nature as a site for connecting with others and tracing genealogy, embodied and queer relationships to the non-human. Earthly Bodies included work by Bryony Gillard, Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann, Shireen Seno, and Linda Stupart. The next BCFF screening edition takes places in February 2023, hosted by Vivid Projects as part of the Birmingham School of Art's Night School series. The first meeting of the forum takes place in March 2023.
Myrid Carten has continued to develop No Place Like Home , a film which contrasts an observational documentary approach with formally cinematic experimental sequences to explore the fragile nature of home. The film received further funding from Screen Ireland, New Dawn Film Fund, Netherlands Film Fund and the BFI. It was selected for the IDFA Forum in 2021. It is being developed into a feature documentary, produced by Roisin Geraghty and Tadhg O'Sullivan for Inland Films and is due to be completed by Spring 2023.
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 September 2022
Achievements and performance continued
Grzegorz Stefański has continued to develop thrust , a moving image work that investigates the subject of home, memory and ambiguity of care-violence dynamics in family structures. The project was awarded the 2020 SCF Education Award is being developed in collaboration with a crew of professional creatives including Director of Photography Rosie Taylor. thrust is planned as a first part of a moving image trilogy, due to be completed by the end of 2022. The second part will be developed during the residency at the Tokyo Art Space at the beginning of 2023 and the third part in London.
Anna Brass has continued to develop Haukebodde Hacoud Hacwod Aukud Acud Acut Acuto, an innovative film set in late medieval Italy and Essex that draws on diverse imagery to depict a world in a state of flux. Filming took place throughout August, with editing to be completed by the end of 2022. There are plans for screenings at various cultural institutions in Norwich in early 2023, including a premiere of the film at Ancient House in Norfolk at the end of March 2023.
‘Questions’ online event series
From March – June 2021, the Stuart Croft Foundation hosted a series of online events called ‘Questions’, inviting artists, curators, researchers and writers working with artists’ moving image to discuss the process of thinking and making behind their project. This was part of our commitment to supporting artists working with moving image, including existing SCF Awardees as well as 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 organisation supporting moving image. The series included an event focused on the making of The Bang Straws with speakers Michelle Williams Gamaker, Carolina Ongaro, Katie Simpson, Annie Jael Kwan; an event focused on 'the loop' with Jennifer Martin, Rebecca Jane Arthur, Hogan Seidel, in partnership with Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival; and an event focused on the publication Lamentation: On Absence, the Archive and What Comes After with speakers Adam Roberts, Gareth Evans, in partnership with Birkbeck Institute for Moving Image (BIMI). The first Questions event was uploaded in March 2021 available to view online for free via the SCF vimeo channel, and the remaining two events were uploaded and promoted in October 2022.
Communications and public outreach
The Stuart Croft Foundation’s website (www.stuartcroftfoundation.org) received over 8,600 unique visitors from 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2022, which is 60% less than the previous year (20,500 unique visitors in 2020/21). There was a similar reduction in engagement on Facebook and Twitter, with a 24% and 80% decrease in engagement respectively. This the an absence of activities carried out in previous years that attract high volumes of interest, such as the SCF Awards and the ‘Questions’ online event series. However, on Instagram, where we have maintained a steady stream of content relating to Stuart Croft’s archive, there was a 41% increase in engagement.
We have 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 our networks engaging with our work. This has been carried out through our website, newsletter and social media channels.
Plans for the future
The Foundation has initiated plans for a printed publication, and an exhibition, on Stuart’s work. Essays for the monograph have been commissioned, and discussions are taking place with a publishing partner, and an exhibition venue. Fundraising is underway seeking additional support for the exhibition and publication, to augment the Foundation’s existing funds.
Approved by the board of trustees on 5/4/2023
Susan Jones (Trustee)
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Stuart Croft Foundation
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 30 September 2022, which are set out on pages 8 to 10.
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.
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 charity as required by section 130 of the Charities Act; 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.
Simon Bostrom FCIE
14/4/2023
West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
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 2022
| Notes 2022 2022 Unrestricted Endowment funds funds £ £ Receipts Interest 101 - Total receipts 101 - Payments Administration 2,752 - Awards - - Accountancy and independent examination 264 - Internet hosting web development 415 - Project costs - - Archiving, storage, maintenance and reflection 1,000 - Total payments 4,431 - Net receipts / (payments) (4,330) - Transfers between funds - - Net movement in funds (4,330) - Fund balances brought forward 20,844 46,823 Fund balances carried forward (3) 16,514 46,823 |
2022 Total funds £ 101 101 2,752 - 264 415 - 1,000 4,431 (4,330) - (4,330) 67,667 63,337 |
2021 Total funds £ 219 219 5,340 2,400 264 296 600 243 9,143 (8,924) - (8,924) 76,591 67,667 |
|---|---|---|
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Statement of assets and liabilities
| as at 30 September 2022 2022 2022 Unrestricted Endowment £ £ Cash funds Barclays Bank 16,514 21,555 Market Harborough Building Society - 25,268 Total cash funds 16,514 46,823 |
2022 Total £ 38,069 25,268 63,337 |
2021 Total £ 42,500 25,167 67,667 |
|---|---|---|
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. Public access to the BFI National Archive was restricted in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and slowly resumed as restrictions eased in 2021.
| Liabilities Independent examination Administration Awards |
2022 £ 264 800 1,800 2,864 |
|---|---|
The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 5/4/2023
Susan Jones (Trustee)
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Stuart Croft Foundation
Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 30 September 2022
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 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 those assets which must be held permanently by the charity, principally investments. 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. Any capital gains or losses arising on the investments form part of the fund. Investment management charges and legal advice relating to the fund are charged against the fund.
2 Related party transactions
Trustee expenses
No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.
Trustee remuneration and benefits
No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.
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