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Charity no. 1180799

NW6 Arts

Receipts and Payments Accounts 31 December 2023

NW6 Arts

Reference and administrative details

For theyear ended 31	December 2023
Charity number	1180799
Registered office and	1 Summerfield Avenue
operational address	London
	NW6 6JT
Trustees	The trustees are who served during the year and up to the date of this
	report were as follows:
	Virginia Brand
	Thomas du Plessis	Chair
	Simon Frais
	Derek Johns
	Susan Pym
Bankers	HSBC
	94 Kensington High Street
	Kensington
	London
	W8 4SH
Independent	Godfrey Wilson Limited
examiners	Chartered accountants and	statutory auditors
	5th Floor Mariner House
	62 Prince Street
	Bristol
	BS1 4QD

NW6 Arts

Report of the trustees

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements and the constitution.

Objectives and activities

NW6 Arts is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only voting members are its charity trustees. It was established for the advancement of arts and education for the benefit of the public by the promotion of literature and the arts, in particular, a literary festival in Queen’s Park and other activities as determined by the trustees.

Public benefit

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

Appointment of charity trustees

Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.

Achievements and performance

The 2023 Queen’s Park Book Festival was the most successful festival to date, with record ticket sales, festival audiences and exciting new experiments in artistic programming. The festival was delighted to welcome celebrated authors including Zadie Smith, Sebastian Faulks, Ayobami Adebey, Stephen Buoro, Adam Thirwell, Tom Crewe and many more. Other artists and authors at the festival included Michelin starred chef Michel Roux, the journalists Daniel Finkelstein, Rory Cellan-Jones and Polly Toynbee.

The Queen’s Park Community Tent continued its celebration of local authors and unheard voices with a lively programme of festival poets, young writers, local historians and new talent from around Queen’s Park and Brent. The festival was once again awarded funding from the National Lottery Awards for All in recognition of its outstanding impact to the local area.

For the first time the festival hosted a Quiz Night as a launch event and closed the Saturday evening events with a sold-out comedy night. These new ideas increased the festival’s reach to new audiences, broadening the festival’s appeal and helping to build audiences for future years.

The festival continued its offer of reduced tickets to all sixth form students in Brent and hosted two very successful children’s events for younger audience members and families in the morning. With these initiatives, the festival continues on its mission to broaden its impact on the lives of young readers and writers in Brent.

Future plans

In 2024 the festival will launch a new website, transferring its existing website from a Wordpress website to a Shopify platform. This change will significantly improve the festival’s marketing potential and with a new ticketing system and more flexible Customer Relationship Management systems. The festival will also focus on strengthening its core voluntary team, recruiting new members from its weekend volunteers, in order to sustain its workforce for the future.

NW6 Arts

Report of the trustees

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Financial review

The charity ended the period with a surplus of £3,491 reflecting the careful management of funds throughout the period to ensure the 2023 festival will be financially supported. Total income was £60,390 with 17% of total income derived from government grant funding. This is in line with the aims of the charity to reduce the dependency on voluntary income.

Policy on reserves

It is the policy of the charity to build up its unrestricted reserves to a sufficient level to cover the artistic costs of the forthcoming festival. Given the novelty of the festival and the charity, it is expected that these reserves will take a few years to build.

Independent examiners

Godfrey Wilson Limited were re-appointed as independent examiners to the charity during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Approved by the trustees on 29 April 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Thomas du Plessis Trustee

Independent examiner's report

To the trustees of

NW6 Arts

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of NW6 Arts (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are set out on pages 5 to 6.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

As the trustees of the charity 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 charity’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:

(1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity 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 of the accounts to be reached.

William Guy Blake

Date: 30 April 2024 William Guy Blake ACA Member of the ICAEW For and on behalf of: Godfrey Wilson Limited Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

NW6 Arts