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← Omnimusic

2024-03-31-accounts

2023-24 OmniMusic Annual Report

Find out more:

www.omnimusic.org.uk

Nobody had ever even heard him speak, let alone sing! It’s like he comes alive with you. Participant Keyworker, Community Partner

OmniMusic

Charity Registration Number: 1171097 Trustees' Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Welcome 5
Administrative Details 6
Trustees’ Annual Report 7
What is AMT? 12
Is it the same as Music Therapy? 13
Meet Josh: Case Study 15
Our Programmes and Future Plans 16
Financial Review 23
Independent Examiner Report 25
Accounts 26
Our Supporters 29

Hello!

We believe everyone has the human right to take part in cultural life and express themself creatively. We are OmniMusic, a disability music charity with ambition.

We are a team of specialist music practitioners, music therapists and creative technologists. Our work is dedicated to children, young people and adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities, SEND and sensory differences. We support the individuals, and the people who support them - their families, teachers, and keyworkers- to reach their fullest potential for creativity, communication and joy.

Our core values are Ambition, Equity, Connection, Learning and Listening; we challenge ourselves to grow and get better on behalf of the people we serve.

Our beneficiaries are at the heart of everything we do, we listen to their needs and desires to develop the high-quality programmes, specialist practitioners and instruments required to make it possible for people with profound physical and learning disabilities to make the music that matters to them.

We encourage ambition and excellence in the music we make together. By using Assistive Music Technology (AMT), alongside traditional and adapted instruments, we ensure equitable access to music through enjoyable, accessible and inclusive sessions.

Our experienced team of professional musicians and creative technologists have over 20 years collective expertise within SEND music making, AMT and Arts for Health, helping us craft programmes that deliver skills, social and wellbeing benefits of music.

We partner with a variety of stakeholders including SEND Education spaces, Community Adult and Social Care settings, and national music and disability organisations.

We can’t wait to share our work with you.

Administrative Details

Trustees: Adrian Neil Hooper (Chair) Maria Isabel Rivera Rivera Thomas Northey Phillip Howley Mark Rowland Mark Ludlam Anne Bourner

Appointed 18 January 2024 Appointed 12 October 2023 Appointed 12 October 2023

Resigned 30 September 2023

Charity Address:

23 High Street Stockport SK1 1EG

Bankers: Barclays Leicester LE87 2BB Accountant and Beyond Profit Ltd independent examiner: G104 Bolton Arena Arena Approach Horwich Bolton BL6 6LB

Trustees Annual Report

Structure, governance and management

Omnimusic is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Foundation) with the Charity Registration Number 1171097. The governing document of Omnimusic is a constitution dated 12 January 2017.

Trustees are appointed by resolution passed at a properly convened meeting. Trustees meet at least 4 times per year.

Objectives and Activities for the Public Benefit

The objects of the charity are:

The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities and setting the grant making policy for the period.

Activities

Our Activities and Acheivements

In 2023-24, OmniMusic underwent a significant revisioning process, with new leadership and identifying ambitious goals at both SLT and Board level. Following the departure of the founding director and an originating trustee, the organisation successfully navigated this transition. We grew the board of trustees, reassessed administrative processes, contracted new suppliers, and invested in our operational infrastructure.

Throughout this change, we remained focused on our core values, aligning growth with these principles and reflecting them outwardly in our new brand identity. Our continued commitment to flexibility and adapting to partners' and participants' needs has been crucial. Detailed evaluation and monitoring have revealed a greater impact than previously understood, leading to better framework for capturing results.

Demand for our work has grown; we successfully delivered all our funded projects, extended our SEND schools offer, and increased engagement in Adult Day Services across Stockport and Greater Manchester; prompting us to increase resources and core staffing. Additionally, we've expanded our delivery workforce, reducing reliance on a small talent pool and forming new partnerships with musicians and music organisations.

Sustainability and Resilience

We've diversified our income streams through stronger relationships with schools and local authorities - converting partnerships to revenue-generating service agreements, enhancing financial sustainability and resilience ambitions. We continue to pursue a rich funding ecology, combining core with project funds and where possible multi-year support, enabling us to make longer-term commitments to partners and beneficiaries.

Our new strategic direction, resulted in significant and rapid growth in a short space of time. In this period, we won the Northern Cultural Education Awards, our rebrand was spotlighted as a finalist in the Prolific North Design Awards, our Creative Technologist secured one of only 8 spots on a UK-wide research programme (Power to Change) to create cost-effect music tools for our users. We were fortunate to receive a £80k grant from UKSPF via Stockport Borough Council, core funding from The Fore, Zochonis Charitable Trust, Broome Family Trust and People’s Neighbourhood Trust.

This pace of growth and scale of funding certainly befits our future ambitions, however, we acknowledge this is an anomaly in our financial trajectory to date and should not necessarily be relied upon as a reflection of the pace of our sustainable growth strategy in the current climate! However, OmniMusic has now reached a ‘new normal’ and has laid stronger foundations for the future.

Programme Delivery

Over the past year, we worked with 239 participants delivering 151 workshops through our partners with 3 SEND schools, and 4 Adult Disability Services, creating 1028 opportunities for music-making. These participants had a range of profound learning and physical disabilities and were typically residents of the top 1-3% wards of deprivation. The 33 pieces of original, new music made by our participants reached over 11,000 public audiences.

We trained 44 music specialists and have been able to create 13 paid work opportunities at, or above, Living Wage. Securing 3 employees on payroll in our core team. We are also proud to have expanded our talent pipeline, providing paid opportunities for disabled/ neurodivergent musicians developing a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Public Profile

Projects had public-facing outputs for the first time, and we have been artistically ambitious on behalf of our participants, promoting their music-making in professional settings, such as concerts in venues like The Bridgewater Hall. Recent projects, including the UKSPF-funded ‘Rise’, a public music installation in a town centre lift shaft for Stockport Town of Culture, featured in the finale event, attracting public audiences, BBC Radio airplay, and shining a spotlight on the incredible work of disabled participants.

We are proud to have won the Northern Cultural Education Awards, recognising our hard work in a short period. Our participants' creative achievements, particularly through our programmes where they wrote and performed original music, have been significant.

Summary

Organisationally, we have weathered challenges and emerged stronger, with a new board, bold vision, and ambitions to scale our efforts. We aim to use our expertise to partner and collaborate with other organisations, bringing clarity to our added value.

We’ve seen far richer results with OmniMusic sessions than music therapy. It’s incredible what’s been achieved. Headteacher, Partner School

What is AMT?

You’ll see we refer to Assistive Music Technology or AMT a lot. We think it’s great! AMT is technology that enables people with disabilities to have freedom in creating and performing their own music. This technology consists of widely available music production hardware/ software and tools developed especially for this purpose, like switches and sensors which can be fitted into a person’s wheelchair or own devices.

It may also include elements of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) - technology used by disabled people to interact and communicate day-to-day. Like Professor Stephen Hawking, who used AAC to translate his facial movements through a computer to convert into his famous voice audio... except we use it to make music.

We use AMT alongside traditional or adapted instruments such as guitars, keyboards, and drums to ensure that our sessions are accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

We strive to always find an instrument to suit the individual’s physical, sensory and cognitive needs, and if it doesn’t exist, we make it! Our specialist creative technologists develop and hack this equipment to ensure that our participants' needs are met. We focus on amplifying our participant’s ability, not disability.

Is it the same as Music Therapy?

Similar approach, difference outcomes

Whilst the approaches do have some similarities, we strive for individuals to engage in music-making for creative expression, inclusion, teamwork, communication and, to support sensory and cognitive development. Improved wellbeing is a welcome by-product of our work.

OmniMusic does have qualified music therapists in our team of freelance practitioners, and they may incorporate aspects of that methodology in their practice to meet the needs of those with the most profound disability, however therapeutic outcomes are not our primary goal.

Active agency vs. passive performance

At times, music therapy can be a very passive experience for recipients with complex needs. Sometimes placing the individual in the role of ‘audience’ rather than ‘artist’. Whereas our use of AMT and adapted instruments removes the physical barriers to music, giving greater autonomy and control over creating and playing.

Supporting creative music-making

The unique aspect of our work, and what sets it apart from traditional music therapy, is the degree of empowerment our sessions can offer to our participants. We set out to make it possible for our participants to make the music that matters to them, as independently as possible.

yl

Meet Josh*

A Case Study

Josh is 15, he has profound and multiple learning disability, complex health needs, non-verbal and uses a wheelchair. OmniMusic’s weekly music sessions provide an inclusive, level opportunity for him to thrive. He is a very animated student, with a wry sense of humour, however his communication skills are extremely limited.

Within just a few minutes of using the Digit Music CMPSR, (one of our specialist items of AMT equipment designed for users with limited movement), Josh was able to recognise a pattern: if he moved the joystick, a violin, guitar or piano sound played, when he stopped, the sound also stopped.

Josh’s support team, quite literally saw the lightbulb moment in his eyes, when he realised that he had complete control over the sound of this instrument attached to his wheelchair. He purposefully moved the joystick to make a violin sound, following a beat, which contributed to part of a track which was showcased as part of Stockport Town of Culture Festival Finale and later featured on BBC Radio.

To see the recognition that he had full agency over this experience; something that is severely lacking in the rest of his life; was profound. To give Josh an identity as a musician, not just as a disabled person, is life-changing. *name changed

Our Programmes

Learning: SEND Education Enrichment

Our work in formal learning settings includes SEND special schools and colleagues across Greater Manchester, where our new year-round partnership programmes combine:

+ group music workshops;

+ 1:1 music sessions;

+ learning resources;

Community: Leisure-time Music-making

Our work in community settings includes adult day services and social care across Greater Manchester, our programmes combine:

+ group music workshops;

Tech CPD: Strengthening our Sector

Our approach to music-making is highly specialised. OmniMusic develops both the tools and teams required to deliver impact to the widest reaching beneficiaries:

+ Assistive Music Technology CPD training;

+ industry advice and guidance on AMT use;

+ development of new music tools;

So, what’s next?

Learning: SEND Education Enrichment

Building on our learning, we aim to roll out across Greater Manchester SEND education settings, ensuring that all children and young people in every borough have regular access to inclusive music-making, high quality cultural experiences and appropriate instruments, by 2030.

Community: Leisure-time Music-making

Working in partnership with a diverse breadth of local to national organisations, OmniMusic will continue to elevate the quality and aspirations of music-making in leisure time for disabled people, by creating spaces for people to come together and showcasing our participants’ work on ambitious professional on and offline platforms.

Workforce: Training & Development

As our work grows, so does our need for specialist practitioners- making workforce development a priority for the years ahead. By 2030, we'll train 25 music specialists and create 5 entry-level paid traineeships to secure a talent pipeline. We will continue to integrate teacher and key worker CPD alongside online resources.

Technology: Discovery & Dissemination

Our team of Creative Technologists sit at the heart of our programmes responding need and enabling participation. We continue to build partnerships and share learning to secure equitable, financially sustainable access to music for disabled people, and demystify access to those tools.

Participants just love OmniMusic sessions and the outcomes are great. You can see individuals' success, engagement and confidence growing. Centre Manager, Adult Day Centre Partner

IGAP li

Impact in Figures

1028 239 11.1k individual opportunities disabled music-makers town centre audiences 151 44 33 workshops delivered AMT specialists trained original pieces of music

1 award won

13

living wage jobs created

11 valued partnerships

Our Year of Growth

OmniMusic had a growth spurt in 2022-24 with new leadership and a passionate new team; increasing our turnover by over 300% and in turn our impact.

Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our supporters, we are proud to have significantly increased our reach and impact for disabled people across Greater Manchester.

Here is just a snapshot of what you have helped us to achieve in such a short time:

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2022-23 2023-24
250
200
150
100
50
0
Participants Reached Workshops Delivered Practitioners Trained
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Benefits

88% Creative, Cognitive and Social Skills

88% of participants said they learned new creative skills, with partner staff reporting improved social capacity, like taking turns, talking and listening to others.

90% Improved Wellbeing and Confidence

90% reported improved wellbeing and confidence, with staff and families reporting that confidence extending beyond OmniMusic sessions into other activities and home-life.

Immediate results

Staff noted shifts in engagement and focus after just one OmniMusic session; sharing that concentration in our sessions far exceeds that of other activities in the setting.

Holistic Wellbeing Benefits

Our partners have reported a greater sense of calm in individuals, fewer incidents of sensory triggers and reduction in stress responses, eg: seizures, following our visits.

Financial Review

Reserves Policy

OmniMusic aspires to have 3 months running costs at any one time held as reserves.

This is to protect against any drop in income and may be spent in the following ways including, but not limited to:

cover staff salaries

cover freelance tutor fees

take advantage of new opportunities

for large-scale organisational development opportunities

capital purchases and expenditure

At 31 March 2024 the total value of free reserves, ie unrestricted funds less any fixed assets was £47,335, which amount to 4 months of expenditure.

Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

The charity trustees are responsible for preparing a trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the applicable Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations, and the provisions of the Trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.

Approved by the trustees on Monday 9 December 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Name: Adrian Hooper Position: Chair

Independent examiner’s report to Trustees of Omnimusic

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Omnimusic (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

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 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:

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.

Signed:

Date: 17 December 2024 Emma Willder, FCMA, CGMA, CG(Affiliated) Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Beyond Profit Ltd G104 Bolton Arena Arena Approach Horwich Bolton, BL6 6LB

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Signed by:

Adrian Neil Hooper, Chair On behalf of the Trustees of OmniMusic

Date: Monday 9 December 2024

Generously funded by:

Broome Family Trust

Proud to partner with:

Thank you omnimusic.org.uk e: info@omnimusic.org.uk

Find out more: www.omnimusic.org.uk