## Report to the Charity Commission 2022-23 The Charity’s activities at the beginning of the financial year commencing April 2021 were all directed to the fulfillment of the core aims through the performance of Fame and Envy, a new opera by Roger Simmonds set to an initial story by Simon Kingston. ## Production and Preparation for Fame and Envy For OCO’s next production Roger Simmonds had completed the score for a new opera entitled, Fame and Envy. The new work was completed by the end of 2021 with a focus on the Art World with its opportunities for vast wealth, unbounded ambition and unscrupulous corruption. Fame and Envy starts out with a debate between two friends which essentially amounts to one friend’s jealousy of the other’s success in the world of contemporary painting. The debate escalates to a challenge centred on an exhibition of “mock” art which, in turn, engenders subplots of envy, infidelity, scandal and murderous intent. Inevitably, there are unintended consequences and these lead to the opera closing with two tragic deaths. OCO scheduled the production of this tale of jealousy in the world of fine art for the summer of 2023 and, once again, OCO started the recruitment of young professionals not only for the leading singing roles but also a young professional to be Artistic Director. The choice of venue for this production presented the biggest challenge as we had decided not to continue with al fresco performances due to the demands made on the soloists and the vagaries of the weather. The lack of a suitable venue in Wheatley forced us to look further afield, even into neighbouring Buckinghamshire. Eventually we settled on St Mary’s Thame, a church that offered excellent space and marvellous acoustics. Although the decision for the venue was only made in January 2023 the six young soloists and the Artistic Director had already been recruited so the rehearsals were well underway. It had been decided not to use a chorus but accompany the singers with an instrumental quartet of piano, violin, cello and oboe. During 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 OCO staged several fund-raising events that also raised awareness of the forthcoming production of Fame and Envy. The Trustees are pleased to confirm that the Charity’s funds are in credit for the forthcoming productions and events. David Keene Chairman of Trustees July 2023 37D Church Road, Wheatley OX33 1LZ Registered charity number 1178044 http://www.oxcontemporaryopera.org info@oxcontemporaryopera.org 1 ## OXFORDSHIRE CONTEMPORARY OPERA ## FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2022 - 23 37D Church Road, Wheatley OX33 1LZ Registered charity number 1178044 http://www.oxcontemporaryopera.org info@oxcontemporaryopera.org 1 ## Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera ## Statement of financial activities in FY 2022/23 |Note
FY
2021/22

£
Income
Brought forward from FY 2020/21
3,026.75
Brought forward from FY 2021/22
Ticket sales (1)
1
800.00
Raffle ticket sales
1
226.00
Bar sales (1)
1
364.30
Donations (1)
2
1,324.92
Donations (2)
HMRC Gift Aid
200.00
Ticket sales (2)
3
7,435.00
Bar sales (2)
3
988.55
Programme sales
3
411.00
Ticket sales (3)
6
460.00
Raffle tickets sales (3)
6
75.00
Ticket sales (4)
7
Raffle ticket sales (4)
7
Bar sales (2)
7
Ticket sales (5)
10
Raffle ticket sales (5)
10
Ticket sales (6)
11
_______
Total income
15,311.52
Expenditure
Squarespace
216.00
OCO Insurance
4
Google
214.25
TEN licences (x2)
42.00
Refreshments/SUN voucher costs (1) 1
302.78
Hire of chairs/tables for concert
1
173.04
Musician Fee
1
50.00
Parchments Print (1)
3
795.97
Rehearsal space hire (1)
3
204.00
Rehearsal Pianists
3
Piano Tuner
3
68.00
Soloist travel expenses
3
825.29
Carecheck
Postage (1)
3
7.95|FY
2022/23
£
1,211.12
1,625.00
790.00
97.00
261.50
460.00
70.00
70.00
_______
4,584.62
268.80
96.00
259.79| |---|---| |37D Church Road, Wheatley OX33 1LZ
http://www.oxcontemporaryopera.org|| |Registered charity number 1178044
info@oxcontemporaryopera.org|| 2 |Hire of tables/chairs|3|173.58||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Hire of Portaloos|3|390.00||||| |Advertising and signage (1)|3|90.00||||| |Video and lighting|3|1,480.51||||| |Rental of monitor, cable etc|5|75.00||||| |Set construction and design|3|408.16||||| |Costumes|3|86.01||||| |Soloists Fees|3|5,500.00||||| |Musicians Fees (1)|3|1,300.00||||| |Performance film costs|3|47.00||||| |Refreshments costs (2)|3|568.57||||| |Soloist/musician food|3|365.32||||| |Thankyous, props and sundries|3|344.88||||| |Business Cards||28.20||||| |Parchments Print (2)|6|20.20||||| |Advertising and Signage (2)|6|125.67||||| |Rehearsal space hire (2)|6|66.00||||| |Hire of Holton Village Hall|6|130.00||||| |Card reader costs (1)||2.02||||| |Parchments Print (3)|||132.20|||| |Advertising (3)|7|||67.50||| |Postage (2)||||10.05||| |Musicians Fees (2)|7||280.00|||| |Refreshment costs/SUN voucher (2) 7|||209.86|||| |TEN licence|7|||21.00||| |PayPal/SumUp costs|7|||3.88||| |Artistic Director Fees|8||500.00|||| |Travel expenses (Fame & Envy)|9||278.26|||| |Hire of Holton Village Hall|10||166.50|||| |Hire of URC|9|||20.00||| |Advertising (4)
|10|||49.99||| |Musician Fees (3)
|10|||50.00||| |Crick’s of Wheatley voucher|10|||25.00||| |Card reader costs (2)|10|||2.59||| |Advertising (5)|9|||29.95||| |||_________
|_________|||| |Total Expenditure||(14,100.40)
|(2,471.37)|||| |Funds||||||| |At April 2022||1,211.12||||-| |Net Movement of Resources in the Year
||(1,815.63)||||| ||||_||__|| |At March 2023|||2,113.25|||| 37D Church Road, Wheatley OX33 1LZ Registered charity number 1178044 http://www.oxcontemporaryopera.org info@oxcontemporaryopera.org 3 The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure are derived from continuing activities. ## Notes 1. A fund-raising concert was held on 29[th] May, 2021. 2. In FY 20/21 funds were donated by The Thistle Trust (£1,500) and The Martin Smith Foundation (£1,000). These were augmented in FY 21/22 by donations from other supporters. 3. All these expenses were incurred in preparation for the OCO production of _@emele_ in July 2021 4. Level of insurance was reduced by changing insurers. 5. £25 of these costs were incurred in FY 20/21. In agreement with Spire Film Ltd., payment for these costs was deferred until FY 21/22. 6. A fund-raising concert was held on 12[th] March, 2022. 7. A fund-raising concert was held on 24[th] June, 2022. 8. Artistic Director appointed on 16[th] August, 2022. 9. Auditions and marketing for Fame and Envy 10. A fund-raising concert was held on 16[th] November, 2022. 11. Fame and Envy scheduled for 16[th] and 17[th] June, 2023 37D Church Road, Wheatley OX33 1LZ Registered charity number 1178044 http://www.oxcontemporaryopera.org info@oxcontemporaryopera.org 4