## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** ## **From 1/4/20 Period start date To 31/3/21 Period end date** ## **Charity name: Northern Opera Group** ## **Charity registration number: 1167501** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF THE
ADVANCEMENT OF THE ARTS, IN PARTICULAR
THOUGH NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE
PRODUCTION OF LIVE OPERA AND THEATRICAL
PERFORMANCES FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF
AUDIENCES AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE UNITED
KINGDOM| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|We create a range of musical productions,
suitable for participants of varying ages,
abilities and experiences. We produce works
which are rarely performed, providing artists,
participants and audiences with new and
engaging experiences. We operate in the North
of England, with a national reach.| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|The trustees confirm they have had regard
to the guidance issued by the Charity
Commission on public benefit| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment Para 1.38 Contribution made by volunteers Other ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic having a
tangible financial and logistical impact on the
CIO, we are proud of what we have been able
to achieve for audiences, artists and our
community this year.
Leeds Opera Story
Our heritage project exploring the 300 year
history of opera in Leeds.
Following the national lockdown we continued
to work on the project from home, which
included having volunteers conduct their own
computer based research. We created three
documentary films featuring expert
contributors and paying artists to create at-
home recordings to accompany the films. We
completed our online exhibition with over
6,000 viewing the website thus far.
Leeds Opera Festival
We managed to achieve our busiest Festival to
date, with 20 events across 5 days. This
included an outdoor performance of ‘Thomas
and Sally’, the first indoor concert in the North
of England post-lockdown, a tour of English
ballad opera to venues across the city, and an
extensive online programme of talks and
workshops.
We worked with Made with Music for the first
time to stage an online event for young
children and families, and welcomed online
contributors from the UK, Denmark and USA.
“An excellent production and a lovely
distraction and a welcome step forward in the
current circumstances. The set up followed all
the guidelines excellently and meant we could
enjoy the production whilst feeling safe”
Audience feedback| “ [Artistic Director] David Ward is someone who will not take no for an answer. There was never any doubt in his mind that the Festival would not materialise ... Ward's dauntless optimism had led the way ” Opera Magazine Cinderella Determined to find a way to enable our community to take part in opera over the past 12 months, we decided to try something completely new for Northern Opera Group and make a film! We wanted to an adapt an opera that offered opportunity for an amateur chorus to take part digitally, that would attract a large family audience, and that was technically and logistically achievable with the realities of Covid-secure guidelines and funding available. Pauline Viardot’s ‘Cinderella’ (which we first produced as a stage production in 2016) was an ideal choice, and we were able to utilise two outstanding local venues as locations for the film shoot – Calverley Old Hall (owned and run by the Landmark Trust) and Temple Newsam (one of the UK’s finest country houses, run by Leeds City Council). Amateur chorus members were able to take part for free; joining us for weekly Zoom sessions to learn the music and choreography / acting directions, before recording their parts at home to be edited into the final film. We attracted a mix of previous and new participants, including members joining us from the Netherlands, Mexico and South Korea! We were able to assemble an outstanding principal cast of professional singers, including James Cleverton and Claire Wild, with regular Northern Opera Group contributor Jenny Martins providing piano accompaniment. All principal and chorus cast members joined us for an online ‘film premiere’ the day before general release, which was a wonderful occasion to bring everyone together virtually. The film was exceptionally well received, with a 5* review in The Guardian and winning ‘Best Opera’ at the Classical Music Digital Awards 2020. We attracted additional coverage from BBC Radio 3 (Music Matters) and BBC Look North. Audiences across the world have watched the film online, with lovely feedback from audiences aged 8 to 90. “What a brilliant project and it thoroughly deserved the wonderful praise and reviews it has received. Thank you so much for keeping music making happening in these times. It was a pleasure to be a part of lockdown project and thank you to all involved for making such an innovative production. Thank you for all your hard efforts!” Participant “Such a wonderfully engaging performance of Pauline Viardot’s Cinderella. Perfect for keeping 8 year olds mesmerised on a rainy Sunday. A magical production indeed. Thank you Northern Opera Group” Audience New Responses to Old Operas This new programme commissions composers and librettists to create new, short, music theatre works in response to existing repertoire. It encourages artists to create work for opera / music theatre for the first time, in a supportive and creative environment, producing contemporary responses to often very old (and sometimes quite controversial) repertoire. Our first two projects under this scheme are ‘ Savitri ’ – commissioning two artists from a South Asian background to respond to Gustav Holst’s Indian opera, Savitri – and ‘ The Leeds Opera Story ’ – commissioning two artists from Leeds to create a piece finding parallels between the past and present of opera in the city. Filmed and live performances of these works are scheduled for the forthcoming financial year. Planning has continued for future projects, including our 2021 Leeds Opera Festival with funds raised in this year towards it. ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: Achievements against Para 1.41 objectives set |||| |---|---|---| |Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41|| |Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41|| |Other||| ## **Financial Review** |**Financial Review**||| |---|---|---| |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|With minimal overheads and liabilities,
Northern Opera Group is in a stable
financial position moving forward with a
healthy reserve level| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|As we have minimal overheads the
company doesn’t have a formal reserves
policy. Management accounts are created
for each Board meeting for Trustees to
monitor| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|1177| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a| |Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|n/a| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|n/a| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: The charity’s principal sources of funds (including Para 1.47 any fundraising) Investment policy and objectives including any Para 1.46 social investment policy adopted A description of the principal Para 1.46 risks facing the charity Other ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|**Constitution**| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|**CIO**| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Trustees are selected based on
recommendation and research| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: Policies and procedures adopted for the induction Para 1.51 and training of trustees The charity’s organisational structure and any wider Para 1.51 network with which the charity works Relationship with any related Para 1.51 parties Other ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Northern Opera Group| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|| |Registered charity number|1167501| |Charity’s principal address|c/o Northern Ballet
2 St Cecilia Street
Quarry Hill
Leeds
LS2 7PA| ||| ## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (if any)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Mark Skipper|||| ||SallyStephens|||| ||Sarah Calvert|||| ||Rachel Bamforth|||| ||EmilySimpson|||| ||Charlotte
Armstrong||12/2/21 -|| ||Lorna James|||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity **Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year** ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**| |---|---|---| |**Type of**
**adviser**
**Name**
**Address**||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**||| |||| ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details ## **Other optional information** ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** **Signature(s) Full name(s)** Charlotte Armstrong **Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date** 27 September 2021 **Northern Opera Group** **CC16a** **16750** ## **Receipts and payments accounts** **For the period** 01/04/2020 31/03/2021 **To from** ## **Section A Receipts and payments** |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**7,000**
**539**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,539**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,539**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**7,000**
**539**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,539**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,539**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
**20,404**
**2,350**
**150**
**1,000**
**4,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,904**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,904**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
**20,404**
**2,350**
**150**
**1,000**
**4,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,904**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,904**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**20,404**
**9,350**
**689**
**1,000**
**4,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,443**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,443**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**20,404**
**9,350**
**689**
**1,000**
**4,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,443**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,443**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |
Government|**-**||||||||**36,900**| |Trust and Foundation|**7,000**||||||||**31,100**| |Donation|**539**||||||||**185**| |Box office|**-**||||||||**9,914**| |Arts@Leeds|**-**||||||||**4,000**| |Commissions|**-**||||||||**300**| |Misc|**-**||||||||**346**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**7,539**||||||||**82,745**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||||**82,745**| ||||||||||| |
Operacast|**150**||**-**||**-**||**150**||**400**| |Artist fee|**120**||**20,558**||**-**||**20,678**||**52,456**| |Marketing|**1,500**||**150**||**-**||**1,650**||**1,548**| |Accommodation / travel|**-**||**821**||**-**||**821**||**2,635**| |Venue hire|**-**||**475**||**-**||**475**||**8,970**| |Production|**121**||**1,549**||**-**||**1,670**||**5,109**| |Administration|**-**||**550**||**-**||**550**||**1,800**| |Overheads|**168**||**-**||**-**||**168**||**408**| |Equipment|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**1,208**| |Governance|**240**||**-**||**-**||**240**||**240**| |Volunteer expenses|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**207**| |Training|**-**||**510**||**-**||**510**||| |Vendor fees|**-**||||**-**||**-**||**805**| |Other|**128**||**18**||**-**||**146**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**2,427**||**24,631**||**-**||**27,058**||**75,786**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**75,786**| ||||||||||| ||**5,112**||||||||**6,959**| ||**- 7,365**||||||||**-**| ||**3,430**||||||||**3,556**| ||**1,177**||||||||**10,515**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**|1
Current account
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**1,177**
**-**|**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**17,723**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Current account|**1,177**|**17,723**|**-**| ||1|**-**|**-**|17/09/2021
**-**| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**_Total cash funds_**||**1,177**|||**17,723**||||**-**|| ||(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))||OK|||OK|||OK||| ||||**Unrestricted**|||**Restricted funds**|||**Endowment**||| ||||**funds**||||||**funds**||| ||**Details**||**to nearest £**|||**to nearest £**|||**to nearest £**||| |**B2 Other monetary assets**|Tax reclaimable through Theatre Tax Relief||**10,987**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**-**||||**-**|||**-**|| ||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**|||**Cost (optional)**|||**Current value**
**(optional)**||| |**B3 Investment assets**|||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||**Details**||**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**|||**Cost (optional)**|||**Current value**
**(optional)**||| |**B4 Assets retained for the**|||||||**-**|||**-**|| |**charity’s own use**|||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||||||**-**|||**-**|| ||||**Fund to which**|||**Amount due**|||**When due**||| ||**Details**||**liability relates**|||**(optional)**|||**(optional)**||| |**B5 Liabilities**|WYCAS - Independent Examination||Unrestricted|||**240**|||||| ||||||||**-**||||| ||||||||**-**||||| ||||||||**-**||||| ||||||||**-**||||| |Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|Signature||Print||Name||||Date of approval||| ||||Charlotte Armstrong||||||27 September|2021|| ||||||||||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 17/09/2021 2