Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date 01 04 2024 31 03 2024 To
From
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1172529
Artbox London
Charity's principal address
67 Gladstone House
31 Dowells Street London Postcode SE10 9FF
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wendy Reid | Chair | December 2021-Jan 2024 | ||
| Nick Cummins | Treasurer | April 2021 – June 22 | ||
| Paul Mclintic | March 2021 – July 2024 | |||
| Sean Galvin | January 2014 - present | |||
| Rebeca Tristan | April 2021 - present | |||
| Georgie Herety | Rebecca 2022 - present | |||
| Lauren Nicoll | February 2022 - present | |||
| Safia Akthar | February 2022 - present | |||
| Alice Gandell | July 2023 - present | |||
10
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name Dates acted if not for whole year
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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 |
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| Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information) | ||
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
A constitution which establishes its objects and powers. Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution)
How the charity is constituted
Charitable Incorporated Organisation
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection is designed to provide the board with a range of skills suitable Trustee selection methods for the management of the charity. New trustees are either elected by members (eg. appointed by, elected by) at general meetings or appointed between general meetings by the existing trustees.
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
New trustees are provided with induction information on the charity’s mission, and You may choose to include they meet key staff, volunteers and other trustees. additional information, where relevant, about:
An information pack is provided which includes the constitutional documents, recent management accounts, the latest business plan. The Charity Commission’s information on Responsibilities of Trustees is also available to peruse.
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policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
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the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where structure and any wider these will help their role. network with which the charity works; The trustee board meets at least six times a year and the quorum for a trustee meeting is two trustees. • relationship with any related parties; The organisational structure includes two co-directors who attend board meetings • trustees’ consideration of and an administrator who supports the board in addition to other duties. There is also a team of tutors and a studio assistant to run the charity’s workshops and major risks and the system trips, to curate art and to support selling of art at exhibitions, events and online. and procedures to manage Additional specialists are also engaged on project work as described below. them.
The board’s approach to managing risks is to:
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Prepare a strategic plan (three to five years), an annual business plan and an annual budget - Prepare a risk register
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Monitor progress by reference to the above plans, budgets and register - Appoint a trustee to lead on financial matters - Appoint other trustees as focal-points for reviewing aspects of strategic and annual plans and specific risk categories - Prepare suitable financial and other reports with reference to the above plans, budgets and registers - Take corrective action when indicated by the above reviews.
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Section C Objectives and activities
Our constitution sets out our objectives as follows:
a) The relief of people with disabilities , in particular through the provision of facilities to enable and encourage people with disabilities to engage in creative and artistic pursuits; and
b) The advancement of education amongst people with disabilities , especially in the appreciation and practice of the arts.
To achieve these objectives we seek to:
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
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Improve the confidence and self-esteem of people with learning disabilities and autism and reduce their isolation by developing their artistic, creative and life skills
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Provide opportunities for them to make and meet friends
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Raise the ambitions of and to develop the positive identities of adults with learning disabilities and autism by providing opportunities to show and sell their work professionally, and by giving them the chance to earn money from sales of their work
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Increase the visibility and appreciation in the community of people with learning disabilities and autism and to raise the profile of their artwork in the wider art world by providing the above means for them to demonstrate their skills and become more self-confident and helping them become their own advocates though their work and its promotion.
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To achieve our objectives we provided the following activities to adults with learning difficulties and autism.
In summary:
We ran regular twice daily workshops each morning and afternoon six days a week in our dedicated studio in Islington.
We provided 1:1 support in our studio for those artists who find group work difficult and / or have particular needs for personal support
We curated, exhibited and sold art at exhibitions in our studio and at other venues to promote the work produced by our artists. (Selling their art provides the artists with income as we share proceeds 50-50.) We also sell art via our website and to and via corporate partners who may also lease art or license images of our artist’s work.
Summary of the main venues to promote the work produced by our artists. (Selling their art provides activities undertaken for the the artists with income as we share proceeds 50-50.) We also sell art via our public benefit in relation to website and to and via corporate partners who may also lease art or license these objects (include within images of our artist’s work. this section the statutory declaration that trustees have We ran visits (trips out) to art galleries, museums and librarie s in central had regard to the guidance London. (These trips inspire art projects, enhance confidence in the use of public issued by the Charity transport and make our artists more visible in the art world and with the public.) Commission on public benefit)
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grantmaking;
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policy programme related investment;
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contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
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Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
We met the continuing growth in demand
We continued to meet the demand for our service. This demand has grown during the year and, overall, we have seen a 35% increase in demand since the end of the pandemic.
To meet demand, we optimised the capacity of our studio to which we moved in April 2022 and which continues to be the base from which we serve our artists, engage our volunteers, enable the production of creative art and put on exhibitions to sell artwork and related art-based products. Through our work we supported 94 artists who come from several London boroughs: • Islington (65%), • Haringey (18%) • Camden (6%) • Westminster (5%) and • Hackney (6%). Our artists present as male (53%), female (44%) and non-binary (3%). They have a range of ethnicities • white (53%) • black (26%) and • other (21%) and age groups: • 19-25 years (17%) • 26-40 years (61%) and • 41-60+ years (22%). We enlarged our artists’ creative horizons
Our workshop tutors encouraged and facilitated the creative development of our artists, providing them with confidence and helping them in their relationshipbuilding and collaborative work. Our workshops are led by professional tutors who support our beneficiaries to develop their creative abilities and to take part in group activities. Our trips to galleries and other cultural institutions gave our artists experiences to broaden their social and creative understanding. We visited the British Museum, the John Wesley House and Museum, and the Royal Academy Sculptures among other venues. Though necessarily a subjective view, we are convinced that the quality of our artists’ work has steadily grown with their attendance at workshops, as has the variety of expression and the range of use of materials and media. ‘The Scroll - a piece originally intended to keep an artist occupied and create continuity across his drawings - has now become a Thursday morning collaborative project for all. It is especially interesting to see this artist, who might have once been too shy or precious / perfectionist about her drawings, often joining in group work. This artist has become more playful and willing to draw in general, and more engaged socially in the group’. Art Tutor
We transformed people’s perceptions of adults with learning disabilities and autism
Our regular exhibitions give our artists’ work the visibility and recognition it deserves with the public. Our artists took part in several exhibitions during the year, in particular:
Artbox partnered with The Museum of Methodism in London’s Old Street to present a diverse mix of artworks that reflect the structure, approaches and values of John Wesley, the Methodist, as interpreted by Artbox artists.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Our studio-wide exhibition ‘Identity’ was an exciting development this year. Whereas normally we might use our studio to host a major exhibition, in 2023 we partnered with the nearby Jean Stokes Community Centre, using their large hall to showcase recently produced work, including 3D with the usual 2D images.
We were supported by corporate partners Black Rock and Close Brothers whose staff helped us prepare for the exhibition by volunteering their time to record biographies, print labels and hang the work.
‘I feel everyone’s artistic “voices” are becoming more individual, unique, brighter’.Art Tutor
We developed our staff to help them support our artists
During the year we engaged a Special Education Needs (SEN) Advisor in a short-term role to help us refine our approach to understanding and communicating with artists, whether individually or in groups. We’ve thereby been able to build artistic, social, emotional skills while also developing strategies to help tutors and artists deal with challenging behaviour and / or mental health disturbances during workshops.
Our SEN Advisor additionally supports our Creative Coaches who engage with 1:1 support in the studio. Our creative coaches in turn develop great resources to aid communication and inclusion for everyone. All our team has worked to build growing consistency of pastoral and wellbeing approaches, balanced with creativity.
Another example of investing in our people is a new role of Job Coach to support the work of our Studio Assistant who is a former Artbox artist who transitioned to our team in organising our busy studio.
We built a pathway to trusteeship for our artists
From the very beginning Artbox has put artists first in everything it does and maintained a positive and inclusive studio culture.
To build on this, the trustees and senior leadership felt it was time for a move towards greater inclusivity in our governance structure and to provide artists who use our services with direct input to the highest levels of decision-making. We set about this work incrementally on two fronts.
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We revisited our board structure to enable more sharing of power with artists. We looked at various formations of committees and experimented with a weekly Artists Advisory Group (AAG). In the latter, a group of artists representing each of our workshops came together weekly in broad discussions. This experience is helping us understand how a restructured board with artists at its core might best work.
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We recruited to the board further trustees with lived experience of learning disabilities and autism. These trustees come from among our artists, and hence have direct experience, or they could be carers, parents or other relatives of our artists, and so have indirect experience. We greatly value both.
Our Board arrangements will continue to evolve, monitor and refine the above initiatives, together with more accessible processes that respond to the access needs of neurodivergent people, whether that is how trustees are recruited or the details of how the board runs.
We mention here other Board news:
We are grateful for the service of Lauren Nicoll (trustee for fundraising) and Wendy Reid (formerly chair) both of whom left our Board during the year. We
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Section D Achievements and performance
welcome Alice Bridle who joined the Board this year in the role of finance trustee. We began the process of recruiting a new chair, with Paul McLintic (trustee) as Interim meanwhile.
We restored the strength of our team of volunteers
We now have 28 volunteers thanks to the work of our Volunteer Co-ordinator – a role generously funded by Peter Stebbings for three years. Our volunteers are inducted and trained to deliver support mostly through our studio workshop sessions.
Volunteers are asked to commit to at least three months service and, thanks to the training and support they get from our Art Tutors, our volunteers remain engaged and motivated. We have also recently developed a volunteer handbook.
Our volunteers are sometimes trained artists. Two volunteers, with the support of the Volunteer Co-ordinator, have developed and produced their own workshops, one in gouache and one in mark-making, and delivered them to artists during workshop time.
In Mar 2024 we ran a social event for volunteers where they learned two new printmaking skills. ‘The weekly consistent presence of the volunteer allowed for the continuity and rich development, which is helpful for the progression of the artists’ skills but also in terms of resources’. Volunteer Coordinator.
Some of our volunteers move on into paid roles bringing with them their valuable experience of how things work at the point of delivery of our services.
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Section E Financial review
Artbox London holds 25-50% of annual budgeted expenditure in reserve, Brief statement of the representing between 3 and 6 months of ongoing running costs. charity’s policy on reserves
Additional specific reserves are also provided from time to time in anticipation of one-off expenditure or as provisions for identified risks.
Details of any funds materially in deficit
None
Further financial review details (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:
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the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
Our accounts are on an income and expenditure basis ; hence there are no adjustments for prepayments and accruals. In the year 2023-24:
Total income was £239,538 (2022-23: £159,707) made up of £143,034 (£116,696) in sales and £96,503 (£43,011) in fund-raising.
The main sources of sales are session contributions paid by our artists, sales of artwork (originals and prints and products) and sales of services we provide such as evening classes for the public and workshops for corporate partners. Fund-raising is mainly from applications for grants to foundations that support our type of work plus committed giving through our membership scheme and various other donations.
We make special note of a very successful year in fundraising and acknowledge gratefully The Postcode Lottery, The Cloudesley Foundation, Arts Council and Garfield Weston amongst others. We also have received generous donations from The Co-op group, BUPA and the Sir Jules Thorn Foundation as well as one individual.
Total expenditure was £202,029 (2022-23 £185,148). The main costs categories being staff costs, £163,405 (£150,794); studio costs, £18,502 (£16,141); and cost of sales, £29,268 (£11,644). Other items amounted to £7,909 (£8,105).
Our total reserves at the year-end were £113,653 (£94,144)
During 2023/24, because of management initiatives, we converted a deficit of £26,977 into a surplus of £20,454 (albeit based on receipts and expenditure conventions) thus restoring the reserves position we regard as healthy but, given our responsibilities, not excessive while also providing the Board some scope to consider the potential opportunities to invest for our artists future.
Section F Other optional information
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Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Full name(s) Helena Watmuff Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc) Date 03/12/2024
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Artbox London No (if any) Receipts and payments accounts For the period 01.04.2023 31.03.2024 To from
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 143 035 | - | - | 143 035 | 116 696 | ||||
| Fundraising | 79 503 | 17 000 | - | 96 503 | 43 011 | ||||
| Government Grants | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
222 538 | 17 000 | - | 239 538 | 159 707 |
| A2 Asset and investment sales, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (see table). | |||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Total receipts | 222 538 | 17 000 | - | 239 538 | 159 707 |
A3 Payments
| Cost of Sales | 29 268 | - | - | 29 268 | 11 644 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exhibitions | - | 209 | - | 209 | - | ||||
| Studio | 17 502 | 1 000 | - | 18 502 | 16 141 | ||||
| Marketing | - | - | - | - | 155 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
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| Artists | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteers & trustees | 1 528 | - | - | 1 528 | 1 470 | ||||
| Cost of fundraising | - | - | - | - | 150 794 | ||||
| Staff | 148 114 | 15 291 | - | 163 405 | 5 549 | ||||
| Office costs | 4 358 | 500 | - | 4 858 | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 200 770 | 17 000 | - | 217 770 | 185 753 |
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
- - - 17 000 - |
- - - 17 000 - |
- - - - - |
- - - - - |
1 259 - 1 259 219 029 20 509 |
1 259 - 1 259 219 029 20 509 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 259 | 932 | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 1 259 | 932 | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 186 685 | |||||||||
| 20 509 | - | - | 20 509 | - 26 978 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| 93 144 | - | - | 93 144 | 120 122 | |||||
| 113 653 | - | - | 113 653 | 93 144 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Details Bank at March 31 2024 Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Restricted funds Endowment funds to nearest £ to nearest £ |
Restricted funds Endowment funds to nearest £ to nearest £ |
Restricted funds Endowment funds to nearest £ to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113 653 | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| 113 653 | - | - |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2
B2 Other monetary assets
B3 Investment assets
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - |
Details
| Details | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - |
| Details | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
CCXX R3 accounts (SS)
3
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
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| Signature | Print Name Helena Watmuff |
Date of approval |
|---|---|---|
| Helena Watmuff | 03/12/2024 | |
CCXX R4 accounts (SS)
4
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Artbox London members of On accounts for the year 31 March 2024 Charity no 1172529 ended (if any) Set out on pages Above I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 / 03 / 2024 .
- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Date: 05/12/2024 Signed: Name: Tomas Wilcox Relevant professional FCIE qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Counterculture Partnership LLP Bank Chambers Hawes North Yorkshire DL8 3QL
1
October 2018
IER
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
2
October 2018
IER