Annual Report and Unaudited Accounts
1[st] April 2023 – 31[st] March 2024
MeshWorks is a CIO committed to advancing understandings about the social role of art and performance, through producing and promoting contemporary art for audiences around the world via artist residency, research and performance platforms.
Charity Name : MeshWorks
Charity Number : 1185702
Registration Date : 9[th] October 2019
Trustees:
Amanda Hill-Dixon (Chair) Peter Macdonald (Treasurer) Helen Nicholson
Registered Address:
3 Sovereign Crescent, Lexden Road, Colchester. CO3 3UZ
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Governance and Management:
With no paid staff, MeshWorks is a volunteer led organisation, currently run by a small board of trustees who receive no renumeration for their participation. The board of trustees are supported day-to-day by researcher and producer Dr Poppy Spowage.
Current trustees include:
Amanda Hill-Dixon (Chair) Peter Macdonald (Treasurer) Helen Nicholson
Objectives and Activities:
MeshWorks’ objective is to is to promote art for the benefit of the public by the production of contemporary East African performance and art projects but not exclusively in Sub-Saharan Africa and England and Wales. To advance understandings about the social role of art and performance, MeshWorks produces and promotes contemporary art for audiences around the world via artist residency, research and performance platforms. This has included collaborating with international partners and supporting the development and delivery of the artist residency, research and performance platforms, including East African Soul Train (EAST) and Lost+Found. As well as providing training opportunities for East African artists, MeshWorks activities have a range of benefits for the public, including connecting and engaging local and international audiences with international contemporary cultural practice and advancing understanding about the social role of contemporary arts and performance practice.
OFF/TRACK (https://www.off-track.xyz/)
Between 01 April 2023- 31 March 2024, MeshWorks provided in-kind support to OFF/TRACK, a collective of artists from around the world which evolved out of EAST - a 7-day pop-up residency centered around a journey on East Africa’s historic railways, which brings artists and people working in the creative sector together to explore their identity and collaborate – and Lost&Found – a hybrid residency and research programme where artists are guided through and invited to co-create a process virtually that inspires them to play, to share perspectives, to challenge their peers, take risks and create new collaborative work, for on and offline audiences. In-kind support has included production, administration and fundraising support – namely led by Poppy Spowage, with support from the board of trustees.
Together with MeshWorks, OFF/TRACK successfully secured grants from the British Council and Pro Helvetia for a second edition of Lost&Found, which took place between May-September 2023.
Lost+Found is a hybrid research and residency programme that uses technology and gamified approaches to catalyse connection, collaboration and cutting-edge work across geographies and disciplines. In 2023, 16 artists from across the UK, Africa, India and Europe were guided through a 6- week virtual process using low-tech hacks and smartphone technologies that inspired them to play, share perspectives with their peers, take risks and create new collaborative artwork. Working with local partners in the UK (Ugly Duck Spaces), Botswana (Maitisong Theatre), Nairobi (Freehand Studios) and India (Dhurii Space), Lost+Found culminated in a series of on and offline performance-installations for
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global audiences. A full overview of the programme and participating artists can be found here: https://www.off-track.xyz/lost-found
This programme also allowed us to build a partnership with Miller-Zillmer Foundation, who awarded MeshWorks an initial 10,000 EUROS of project funding, to support the production of EASTgoesSOUTH with OFF/TRACK Collective in 2024.
For centuries there has been a vibrant exchange of goods and ideas between India and East Africa. Both regions also share hundreds of years of colonial history and exploitation under the British Empire. MeshWorks and OFF/TRACK Collective plan to trace these connections by going south: EASTgoesSOUTH is a life changing innovative artist residency, centred around a creative journey on India’s historic railway.
EASTgoesSOUTH will bring creatives from across East Africa, India and the UK/Europe together for a 7- day creative adventure that is focused on building trust, connection and catalysing new artwork for audiences around the world. The project will commence in Kochi, where artists working in different artforms will gather for one day of onboarding/community building headed by Diya Naidu (Indian Dancer/Choreographer) and Pamela Enyonu (Ugandan Visual Artist). We will then embark on a 40 hour emotional, physical and creative journey on the train from Kochi to Kolkata, where, guided through tried and tested exercises, prompts and and provocations, participants are encouraged to dive deep in conversations about our entangled histories and collaborate with artists from different disciplines and geographies, generating new work and hosting pop-up participatory performances along the way. Elements of the journey will be live streamed via the collectives’ social media channels, gathering momentum as the project unfolds. On arrival in Kolkata, artists will have three days to create a performance-installation for local audiences. Building on our work together in Lost+Found - a global hybrid residency and research programme - we will live-stream the final performance for online audiences and create an exhibition in a box for artists/partners to produce ‘pop-up’ performanceinstallations in their own contexts following the in-person project in India.
A full-scale version of the project will require further financial support to Miller-Zillmer Foundations grant.
Fiscal Support
As OFF/TRACK are not a registered or legal entity, and all project grants are currently having to run through individual members of the collective, MeshWorks have been working with the team to provide fiscal support. In August 2023 MeshWorks opened a community interest bank account with Metro Bank which enabled us to enter an agreement and receive our first grant from Miller-Zillmer Foundation. We have also continued to act as a fiscal sponsor for OFF/TRACK, leading a second round of applications to The Supporting Act Foundation and Moleskin Foundation for direct support for the collective. We also spent a number of weeks preparing a British Council International Collaboration Grant 2024 with partners in the UK, Uganda and India, which the collective were invited to apply for and established a PayPal donation site to facilitate individual donations. MeshWorks is also spotlighted on a new website – www.mesh-works.org – as we continue to fundraise for EASTgoesSOUTH 2024-25.
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Financial Review
Income in the period 1[st] April 2023 – 31[st] March 2024 from voluntary donations and other fundraising activities was zero, but MeshWorks received was £8,383.65 in Grant Income from Miller-Zillmer Foundation. All activity in this reporting period was in-kind, outgoing expenditure was zero whilst we continue to fundraise for the remaining project budget needed to produce EASTgoesSOUTH 2024-25.
Statement of Financial Activities 1[st] April 2023 – 31[st] March 2024:
The Trustees are satisfied that MeshWorks is entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain and audit under Charities Act 2011, section 145. The Trustees acknowledge their responsibility for complying with Charities Act 2011 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
Annual Return and Financial Accounts Approved by Board on: 23rd January 2025:
Luisa-Amanda Hill Dixon Trustee, MeshWorks +447968593939 Amanda.hill-dixon@wcpp.org.uk
Helen Nicholson Trustee, MeshWorks +447929625244 H.Nicholson@rhul.ac.uk
Peter Macdonald Trustee, MeshWorks +447976494298 peter.macdonald@equans.com
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| MeshWorks | 1185702 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | |||
| For the period from |
1st April 2023 | To | 31st March 2024 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Last year to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
|||||
Donations and Legacies |
- | 8,354 | - | 8,354 | - | ||||
| Charitable Activities | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | - | 8,354 | - | 8,354 | - | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Sub total | - | ||||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
Charitable Activities |
- | - | - | - | - | ||||
| RaisingFunds | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | ||||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | **- ** | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories onetary assets nds |
Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Miller-Zillmer Foundation Grant for EASTgoesSOUTH Details |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 8,354 - - 8,354 OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
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| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - |
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
| 1 Details |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - - |
28/01/2025 Current value (optional) - - |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | ||
| 1 | - | 28/01/2 - |
B3 Investment assets
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
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| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||||
| Details | liability relates | (optional) | (optional) | |||||
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| Signature | Print Name Peter Macdonald Helen Nicholson |
Date of approval |
| Peter Macdonald | 23.01.2025 | |
| Helen Nicholson | 23.01.2015 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
28/01/2025
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