2025-10-31-accounts

The Dot Collective Registered Charity: 1169951

THE DOT COLLECTIVE ANNUAL REPORT

Trustees Annual Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 October 2025

Legal and Administrative Information

The trustees, who are also the members, of The Dot Collective present their annual report together, as required by company law, with the audited financial statements of The Dot Collective (the Charity) for the year ended 31st October 2025. The Trustees confirm that the Trustees’ report and financial statements of the Charity comply with the current statutory requirements, requirements of the Charity’s governing document, and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019).

The Dot Collective is a charitable incorporated organisation (foundation) (CIO) and was incorporated on 31 October 2016 with registered charity number 1169951 and commenced trading on that date.

Charity name: The Dot Collective Charity number: 1169951

Charity’s public registered office address: 180 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8RH Incorporation date: 31 October 2016

TRUSTEES

The trustees, who are also the members, of the CIO during the year were: Ms H J Mayfield Mrs. N L Newman Mr. R C F Hickson Ms A Williams

Independent Examiners

Spencer-Davis & Co Chartered Certified Accountants 85B Headstone Road Harrow HA1 1PG

Bankers

The Co-operative Bank - Business Business Customer Services PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Address: 180 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8RH t: 07885456135 e: [e-mail]

MISSION, VISION, VALUES AND ACTIVITIES

Our Vision

Creating theatre with access needs at its core, creates more engaging theatre for everybody.

Our Mission

The Dot Collective helps older people and those with additional needs and dementia stay connected with their communities, to feel self worth, learn new skills, enjoy the theatre at all stages of their lives, alleviating loneliness, improving health and wellbeing and making communities stronger through the provision of professional theatre and storytelling activities. The Dot Collective allows multiple generations to access professional theatre, to sit together within the comfort of their community and feel socially stimulated.

Our Values

We believe everyone has the right to experience professional theatre

We remove barriers to the arts for people living in care, people with dementia and people with additional needs, bringing high-quality theatre into care homes and community settings for people who may not be able to attend conventional theatre venues.

We believe professional arts belong in the community

Theatre and the arts created for people in care and community settings should be valued equally to work produced for leading theatres and cultural venues. Where theatre is performed should never determine its artistic value or the value of its audience.

We are on a mission to challenge stigma

We challenge the perception within the professional arts industry that theatre created for care homes, older people or audiences with access needs is somehow less ambitious, less important or less valuable. We want to get to the root of where this stigma comes from within our industry and challenge the attitudes, structures and practices that allow it to continue.

We improve quality of life

We bring joy, vitality and warmth into everyday care settings, creating meaningful creative experiences that reduce isolation, stimulate memories and imagination, and boost confidence and self-belief and mood.

We believe people in care should have a voice

We listen to people’s memories, experiences, opinions and ideas and value their contribution. We see the person, not their age or ability, and design our work with the people we meet.

We believe theatre can connect communities

We connect residents, families, carers, artists, volunteers, schools, community organisations and audiences, creating opportunities to share experiences, skills, talents and passions.

We put accessibility at the heart of our creative practice

We design theatre around access needs from the beginning, creating more engaging, imaginative and inclusive work for everyone.

The Dot Collective Registered Charity: 1169951

We work collaboratively and have a ‘can do’ attitude

We build strong partnerships, share knowledge and expertise, and find practical and creative ways to make ambitious professional theatre happen in spaces where conventional theatre would not be possible.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Constitution and Governance

The CIO is governed by its Constitution. On 31 October 2025 there were 4 members who were all trustees of the CIO at the time.

The activities of the CIO are supervised by the trustees, who meet as a Board 4 times each year or more often if necessary. The trustees delegate the day-to-day management of the CIO to its artistic director. The professional experience of the Board provides good support and advice to the artistic director through individual meetings, e-mail correspondence and board meetings.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

The trustees recognise the need for a strong board with a broad base of skills covering theatre production management and development, artistic strategy, governance, legal expertise, human resources, development and fundraising. Potential new trustees are discussed by the board and met by at least one member of the board before consideration and appointment by approval of a simple majority of the trustees. All trustees are members of the CIO.

Risk management

The trustees, with the artistic director, consider risk across all areas of the CIO’s activities. Risk assessment of the operation is carried out on an ongoing basis and is reviewed annually. Where needed policies and procedures will be implemented in order to mitigate risk. Risk assessments are carried out on a project by project basis, ensuring that the RAMS are appropriate for the CIO’s activities.

This has included additional RAMS and training for aerial circus performances and workshops that the charity plans to carry out going forward. Additions include:

• Rigger qualification for Artistic Director Laura Harling

• Public and employer liability Insurance to cover working at height up to 7 metres

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objects

The objects for which the CIO is formed are to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of the performing arts by any means its trustees see fit, including through the provision of workshops, public events and performances, particularly but not exclusively for the benefit of elderly people living in care homes, in particular those living with dementia and learning disabilities.

Address: 180 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8RH t: 07885456135 e: [e-mail]

Public benefit

The trustees have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the CIO’s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

ACTIVITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS, PERFORMANCE

The Dot Collective continues to be a member of the Independent Theatre Council (ITC). We are proud to contract our freelance creatives under the Fairwork Approved agreement (FWA)

November 2024 - October 2025

A Map to You

Continued delivery of this project, funded by The City Bridge Corporation (year 4), supporting older people and people living with dementia across London through creative workshops in care settings. Participants' stories and lived experiences informed the development of new productions, including Catch of the Day , Footprints in the Sand , and A Christmas Carol , which toured to participating care communities and public audiences to raise awareness of dementia.

November 2024 - October 2025:

We continued our commission with The Oxford Playhouse, working in partnership with Isis House care home in Oxfordshire. The first part of the project began in October 2024 until April 2025 with a series of storytelling workshops with care home residents. Their stories, memories and imagination inspired a new play, Fair Ladies Day .

The project aimed to bridge the gap between professional theatres and their outreach work, while giving older people living in care agency, creative stimulation and a direct role in the development of new professional theatre. It also aimed to raise positive awareness of older people and dementia within the wider community and professional arts, staging original theatre that had been created with marginalised local voices. .

The initial funding ended in April 2025 but was extended in June 2025, allowing us to deliver additional workshops and continue developing the first draft of the play. The draft was shared as a reading in September 2025 which took place at Isis House for its residents and their families and at The Oxford Playhouse for The Oxford Playhouse’s management team and invited members of the professional arts and health community. The intention was to continue the project in 2026 with a full staging at The Oxford Playhouse, however The Oxford Playhouse decided not to continue its involvement, making the reading in September 2025 the final event of the project with the theatre. The Dot Collective will now look to develop Fair Ladies Day further in London, in collaboration with Southwark Playhouse, in early 2026.

November - December 2024

A Christmas Carol

A co-production with open Bar Theatre

This production was developed with Open Bar Theatre in association with Fuller's pubs touring their venues to public audiences and care homes. This project was funded with support from Southwark charities, City Bridge Trust and Fullers Smith & Turner pubs.

The Dot Collective Registered Charity: 1169951

February - September 2025 Paradise Island: Catch of the Day

We undertook research and development (R&D) for a new accessible touring theatre production, Paradise Island: Catch of the Day , with R&D residencies at Factory Space, Bournemouth (February, March and August) and 101 Outdoor Arts (May). Residency support from The Lighthouse Poole (August) and funding from Arts Council England supported the development of TDC’s methodology for embedding accessibility within the creative and performance process. As part of the R&D process, one of our trustees, Mrs. N L Newman, provided services as a director and was paid £825.00. The involvement of Mrs. N L Newman was approved unanimously by the remaining trustees.

Alongside the R&D, funding from Southwark charities, City Bridge Trust, Arts Council England Project Grants and Wimbledon Foundation enabled us to deliver creative workshops with people living in care. The new production was directly inspired by participants’ memories and associations with the beach and the idea of a paradise island.

Catch of the Day was then toured to care homes and community spaces, bringing accessible professional theatre to audiences of different ages and abilities. The project explored how participants’ lived experiences can directly inform new professional theatre, while demonstrating the value of high-quality, accessible and community-led performance.

The project strengthened our creative methodology and partnerships and provided a foundation for the further development and touring of Paradise Island: Catch of the Day in 2026/27.

Live audiences reached: 4000

New care contacts and partnerships: 12

The projects took place/toured in: London, Suffolk, East Sussex, Hampshire, West Sussex, Devon, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Kent, Oxford.

The projects and productions worked with existing and new partners, supporting the charity's growth.

Fundraising activities

The Dot Collective took part in The London Landmarks half marathon with 5 participants raising funds for the charity. £4350 was raised. These funds were used to support The Dot Collective’s continuation with Isis House - with the remaining funds allocated to unrestricted reserves.

FUTURE PLANS

December 2025

The Elves and the Shoemaker will be revived for a 3rd year (last performed December 2023) to tour into care homes, pubs and public spaces in partnership with Open Bar Theatre Ltd. Open Bar Theatre produces professional productions that tour into Fullers Pubs. The Dot Collective will tour their existing production A Christmas Carol into care homes, this minimises the overall cost of a production as costs are shared. It will also tour to Youngs pubs as a new partnership.

Address: 180 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8RH t: 07885456135 e: [e-mail]

January - April 2026

Fair Ladies Day with The Southwark Playhouse

We will partner with The Southwark Playhouse in Elephant, London to continue working on the play developed with The Oxford Playhouse. This will specifically be working with The Southwark Playhouse Elders company, who will read, explore, improvise and discuss the text to help the playwright produce the next draft. The Elders company will take part in a public reading of the play, which will be held at The Southwark Playhouse in April 2026 for local community partners and industry peers.

Footprints in the Sand

Building on A Map to You and Paradise Island , this project will work with participants in care homes across Southwark and Merton to create rapid-response pieces of theatre based on the memories, experiences and stories of people living in care and with dementia.

We will deliver three creative storytelling workshops with three different groups. Each week, the material generated through the workshops will be developed into a poem and a short play, creating an immediate creative response to the participants’ stories. The poems and short plays will be shared with participants each week, filmed and shared with the wider community. This ensures that participants see their stories transformed into professional creative work and that their voices reach beyond the care home.

The material created through the project will also contribute to the development of a new full-length play, planned for October 2026. The project will develop over three years, creating an ongoing body of work rooted in the memories, experiences and voices of people living in care and with dementia, while building connections between care homes, professional artists and the wider community.

The Dot Collective Methodology

Looking at almost 10 years of practice, Laura Harling (Founder & Artistic Director) will formalise a methodology of how to imbed access within professional theatre practice, specifically for multiple ability audiences. This will be a culmination of research, theory and practice. Laura will apply to Arts Council England for a research grant for this work.

Catch of the Day May - August 2026

The Dot Collective plans to revive and develop Catch of the Day to tour care home gardens and public spaces for Summer 2026

Shakespeare in the Garden - June - July 2026

The Dot Collective will collaborate again with Open Bar Theatre to bring a professional Shakespeare production into care homes for two weeks before the production begins its wider tour to Fuller’s pub gardens. The production will be predominantly funded by Fuller’s, enabling The Dot Collective to bring a large-scale professional production into care settings at a significantly reduced cost. The Dot Collective will cover the running costs for the two-week care home tour.

Shakespeare has been regularly requested by care home residents and staff through our feedback and evaluation. This partnership provides an opportunity to respond directly to that demand, bringing high-quality Shakespeare to audiences who may otherwise be unable to access it in conventional theatre settings, while making effective use of existing touring infrastructure and funding.

The Dot Collective Registered Charity: 1169951

FINANCIAL

The CIO’s financial status has increased consistently from year to year as the charity grows. The growth of the CIO's reach has meant more funding is required to run the projects and productions. The charity's income is funding from grants applied for and public donations made through public events such as theatre performances.

The CIO and the trustees have a reserves policy of £7,000 minimum to be utilised for project shortfalls when agreed by the board. The reserves are raised through charity donations and funds raised through public performance ticket sales revenue. The trustees recognise the need for the CIO to have increased reserves. They aim to attain greater financial stability and sustainability through fundraising (both long term and short term) and plan to focus on raising public donations and core, unrestricted multiple year funding to obtain unrestricted reserves. We plan to have reserves of 3 months costs which would be unrestricted funds of £10,131.

By order of the Board Ms Helen Jane Mayfield

Address: 180 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 8RH t: 07885456135 e: [e-mail]

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of The Dot Collective

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Dot Collective for the year ended 31 October 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees 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 Dot Collective’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and 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 my examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1. Accounting records were not kept in respect of The Dot Collective 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 fo the accounts to be reached.

Jane E Spencer-Davis BA FCCA CTA Spencer-Davis & Co 85B Headstone Road Harrow HA1 1PG

19 August 2026

The Dot Collective Income and Expenditure Account Year Ended 31 October 2025

		2024 2025 Total Total
	General Projects
Income Donations Grants Services and other income Ticket sales
	9,982 64,553	9,086 9,982 79,490 64,553 0 11,511 9,637 9,181
	11,511 9,181
	20,692 74,535	98,213 95,227
Expenditure Costumes, set and props Other project costs Freelance fees Subscriptions and royalties Venue hire Travel and subsistence Insurance Advertising and publicity General admin costs Accountancy
	192 4,673 52,855	5,448 192 146 4,673 56,355 52,855 0 0 1,427 3,277 16,203 19,075 585 585 1,640 317 3,211 2,351 120 150
	3,277 19,075 585 317
	2,351 150
	2,501 80,974	85,135 83,475
Surplus of income over expenditure	18,191 (6,439)	13,078 11,752

The Dot Collective Balance Sheet As at 31 October 2025

	2025	2024
Current assets Cash at bank and in hand
	38,164	26,382
Current liabilities Sundry creditors
	150	120 26,262
	38,014
Represented by Projects General funds
	(7,643) 45,657	(1,204) 27,466
	38,014	26,262