a brigantesorchestra SHEFFIELD'S PROFESSIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT for BRIGANTES MUSIC (1187752)
for the period
ending 31 March 2024
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Summary of the purposes of the charity
SORP Para. 1.17
“To advance the education of people in the arts for the public benefit, in particular classical music of professional standard, primarily, but not exclusively, through the provision of public orchestral performances and the education of young musicians, young people, and the provision of classical music to those less likely to engage with it.” – Brigantes Music Governing document
The charity is in the form of a symphony orchestra with hired professional musicians, soloists and conductor who will, over the course of each season, present various performances of classical music, film music or contemporary music (including commissioned compositions) for Sheffield audiences. By forging close links with schools and the city’s musical education services, the charity will offer free tickets to young people with a view to encouraging a love of the arts in general and music in particular. The charity will offer opportunities to young up-and-coming soloists to perform with a professional symphony orchestra. The musicians of the orchestra will themselves be in developing careers and local to Sheffield – in this way the charity also benefits the local arts economy.
The Brigantes aims to benefit the UK, Sheffield / Yorkshire’s existing audiences, new audiences including young people, school children, young musicians, students, over 65s and those on reduced incomes. Also, the orchestra aims to promote local musicians with developing careers, young soloists, young / student composers; those in minority groups by cross-cultural bridging, or by raising awareness of contemporary issues.
Music education is an important aim of the charity, both for existing, regular audience members who will be offered jargon-free, instructive programme notes, pre / post-concert talks and musical combinations of pieces which highlight a specific issue, for example mental health awareness or issues of equality, sexuality and gender; and for local school-children or young instrumentalists in the form of easy and affordable access to music, and programmes specifically tailored to their education or the entertainment of their family group.
Summary of main activities
SORP Paragraphs 1.17 & 1.19
This period covers the end of the season 2022 / 2023 and the first part of the season 2023 / 2024 which included two very large projects employing in total some 132 musicians, a chamber music programme featuring narrated poetry underscored by the orchestra and including a national celebrity narrator, as well as some unusual repertoire including a complete ballet score with three vocal soloists.
The new season (2023 / 2024) included three main full-sized symphonic concerts spread reasonably evenly through the year (December, March & June) as well as a chamber-sized concert exploiting the expertise and talent of the available pool of musicians and employing narrated voice and basic technology for amplification and mixing. Due to operational issues, a ‘Winter Warmer’ festive concert was not possible in 2023 due to availability of the Cathedral and a later than usual season opening concert.
For the second time, the music selected had a thematic overview and drew from repertoire linked to, written for, or about dance. This featured three full ballet scores by RimskyKorsakov, Stravinsky and Aaron Copland as well as symphonies by Dvorak and Beethoven, both in themselves a distillation of dance forms. The orchestra invited five young soloists on the cusp of international careers for concerti by Rachmaninov and Mozart, and for the vocal lines in the ballet Pulcinella by Stravinsky. The season also promoted a concert meant for young people and families and this was presented to local schools. The season finale in June 2024 would be the orchestra’s fifth birthday.
Following pricing restructure aimed at encouraging a younger generation of concertgoers, audiences settled into slow but steady growth in all demographics in the concerts running up to the end of March 2024 (not including the new schools’ concerts and fifth birthday programme which were outside of the remit of this report). The charity invested much time in developing a mailing list built from these audiences in an effort to maximise repeat visits and to gradually reduce a reliance on social media advertising which was found to be hit and miss and, in some demographics, irrelevant.
A Public Relations consultant was retained into the new season and seen to be very much worth their fee with increased coverage in the local press, on open social media, and in respected regional newspapers (also with an online presence) including The Yorkshire Post.
Plans were put in place to engage a consultant charity fundraiser with the aim of securing financial support through grant applications. The charity planned to use any successful awards to engage a consultant liaison for schools and the local community, a consultant corporate fundraiser, as well as officers to properly manage online and social media presence, maintain the season ticket project and develop the membership programme of donations. A further goal would be to supplement finances for the schools’ concert in 2025. The ultimate aim is to secure corporate funding for the orchestra’s general activities and reduce a reliance on our local corporate sponsor.
The charity can report a slight increase in take-up of its rewards programme to encourage private charitable donation. Following the appointment of consultant officers as mentioned above, the charity plans to entrust this to the Schools and Community Liaison with a remit to manage, expand and promote the scheme with a particular focus on the top tiers. Similarly, the season ticket system was repeated and had double the interest of the previous season.
Contribution made by volunteers
SORP Para. 1.38
Brigantes Music was well supported by volunteers including:
-
i. Volunteers to promote the concert including the distribution of flyers and posters
-
ii. Front-of-house volunteers who issued tickets and collected payments, sold CDs and other merchandise, handed out programmes and generally liaised with the audience at the concerts.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
Summary of the main achievements of the charity
SORP Para. 1.20
Of note were the increases to our principal target demographics over the concerts in this period. Our governing document commitment to audience development details our aspiration to lower the average age of our audiences (Sheffield’s usual audience for classical music tends to be aged 60+). We identified the need to do more over the next season and to reach potential audiences in marginalised demographics or those who had never had a concert experience of classical music to know if they would even like it. Plans were made to search for funding for a consultant officer to develop all strands of audience development or, “The Audience of Tomorrow” . In the meantime, we collaborated with a small volunteer charity called Creative Connections and were able to offer 20 to 30 free tickets per concert for asylum seekers and their families currently living locally to Sheffield. This was so successful and so well received by attendees that we extended our commitment into the new season. This has had a small knock-on effect in that some of the early recipients of these tickets continued to attend at their own expense once their asylum applications were agreed and they had settled in the city. The charity sees this as a small but significant way to expand audiences and a particularly valuable way to introduce classical music to new demographics.
We have continued to present largescale orchestral projects so that more musicians from Sheffield or the surrounding environs could count the ensemble as regular work. The average age of the orchestra has settled at around 30. The orchestra is conscious of its diversity and gender balance and has focussed on maintaining this consistency where, for example, 56% of the ensemble on average is female. The trustees have discussed
the need for a youth training scheme in connection with one of the nearest further-education universities or conservatoires which could offer opportunities for potentially graduating musicians to gain some orchestral experience with a professional orchestra.
The charity is continuing its commitment to educating its audiences and so there were new free programme booklets which were extremely popular in helping to give musical context, break down the barriers of musical jargon and acquired knowledge, and show how the repertoire applied to contemporary and popular culture. In development are programme booklets aimed at our younger age groups.
With plans for concerts aimed at young people, families and schools, the charity has published essential procedural policy to support these events as well as relating to the employment of our musicians including documents concerning complaints, harassment and bullying, and safeguarding. These were published on our website along with guidance for trustees (with plans to expand these numbers over the next season) such as a trustee code of conduct.
Plans for the following season include concerts specifically aimed at local school children and families, expansion of the creative aspect of the orchestra to include multimedia, a diversification of repertoire including some film music and music written during the 21[st] Century.
Performance of fundraising activities against objectives
SORP Para. 1.41
The charity secured funding from a local company to the full value of its requirements for the period. The donations scheme has yielded small but consistent income and audience members have also made additional contributions at the box office. Ticket sales were robust and reasonably constant, helping to reduce the funds required from our supporting local company and maintain cashflow.
FINANCIAL REVIEW (see receipts and payments accounts)
Current financial position
SORP Para. 1.21
Brigantes Music had donations which entirely met its requirements for the period. These were mostly donations from a local company. The charity is seeking funding from multiple streams in the next seasons to gradually reduce the contribution from this generous local company. These include engaging a consultant to seek sources of charitable grant funding.
Reserves
SORP Para. 1.22
Brigantes Music has a small reserve as of March 2024 partly due to revised ticketing systems which generate income consistently rather than in lump-sums after each performance.
STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE
The charity’s trusts
SORP Para. 1.25
Brigantes Music is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a constitution governing document and currently has three trustees.
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Principal Information
Brigantes Music (The Brigantes Orchestra), 1187752. Registered at 2 Collins Street, Blackheath Village, London SE3 0UG.
Trustees
Chairman: Mr Quentin Clare (appointed 04 February 2020)
Secretary: Dr Anthony R Hart (appointed 04 February 2020)
Mr David Watkin-Holmes (appointed 04 February 2020).
DECLARATIONS
The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
QUENTIN CLARE, CHAIRMAN | 25 JANUARY 2025
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS PERIOD 01 APRIL 2023 to 31 MARCH 2024
| LAST YEAR 61,286 3 9,921 |
LAST YEAR 61,286 3 9,921 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts UNRESTRICTED Donations 30,997 Bank Cash Reward 0 Ticket Revenue 11,243 |
RESTRICTED 0 0 0 |
ENDOWMENT 0 0 0 |
30,997 0 11,243 TOTAL |
LAST YEAR | |||||||||
| Donations | 30,997 | 0 | 0 | 30,997 | 61,286 | ||||||||
| Bank Cash Reward | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||
| Ticket Revenue | 11,243 | 0 | 0 | 11,243 | 9,921 | ||||||||
| 42,240 Asset Sales SUBTOTAL None 0 |
42,240 | 0 | 0 | 42,240 | 71,210 | ||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
| None | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 0 42,240 Payments SUBTOTAL TOTAL RECEIPTS Musicians Wages 35,291 Other Wages 2,100 Ticket Refunds 64 Venue Hire 1,089 Printing 608 Marketing 241 Office 29 Website Design 383 Concert Expenses 1,105 Sheetmusic 757 Financial Charges 5 Membership Fees 0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 42,240 | 0 | 0 | 42,240 | 71,210 | |||||||||
| 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
35,291 2,100 0 1,089 608 241 29 383 1,105 757 5 0 |
|||||||||||
| Musicians Wages | 35,291 | 0 | 0 | 35,291 | 54,319 | ||||||||
| Other Wages | 2,100 | 0 | 0 | 2,100 | 1,500 | ||||||||
| Ticket Refunds | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Venue Hire | 1,089 | 0 | 0 | 1,089 | 4,948 | ||||||||
| Printing | 608 | 0 | 0 | 608 | 1,613 | ||||||||
| Marketing | 241 | 0 | 0 | 241 | 3,584 | ||||||||
| Office | 29 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 919 | ||||||||
| Website Design | 383 | 0 | 0 | 383 | 156 | ||||||||
| Concert Expenses | 1,105 | 0 | 0 | 1,105 | 1,451 | ||||||||
| Sheetmusic | 757 | 0 | 0 | 757 | 2,416 | ||||||||
| Financial Charges | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | ||||||||
| Membership Fees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 41,672 Asset Purchase SUBTOTAL None 0 |
41,672 | 0 | 0 | 41,672 | 70,916 | ||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
| None | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 0 41,672 568 862 SUBTOTAL TOTAL PAYMENTS NET TRANSFERS CASH LAST YEAR END CASH THIS YEAR END 0 295 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 41,672 | 0 | 0 | 41,672 | 70,916 | |||||||||
| 568 | 0 | 0 | 568 | 295 | |||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 295 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 862 | 0 | 0 | 862 | 295 | |||||||||
| STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ENDING 31 MARCH 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash Funds 862 UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL Cash at Bank 862 0 0 |
LAST YEAR 295 |
|||||||||
| Cash at Bank | 862 | 0 | 0 | 862 | 295 | |||||
| Other Monetary Assets SUBTOTAL |
862 | 0 | 0 | 862 | 295 | |||||
| 0 0 0 0 QUENTIN CLARE 04/04/2024 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 |
|||||||||
| None | 0 | |||||||||
| Investment Assets | ||||||||||
| None | 0 | |||||||||
| Assets for Own Use | ||||||||||
| None | 0 | |||||||||
| Liabilities | ||||||||||
| None | 0 | |||||||||
| Signed on behalf of the Trustees: |
||||||||||
RAPINET & co A ccountants Abaeus House 2 Sandygate Road Crosspool Shell%eld SIO SNG Telephone 0114 267 1833 Fax 0114 267 1844 lobIle 0796 809 8990 EmaLI.. andreNN.@rapinet.co.uk . Web8Éte'. www.rapLnet.co.uk Independent Exatniner's Certificate. Nam¢ of organisation . Brigantes Orchestr& I bave Completed my examioll of the fuMnciaI records of the above organisation and I can confm that no mat¢ria] matters have come to my attention in ¢onDection to my l ¢an }fim] that the accounting re¢oTds are pr¢pared in accordance with good accounting prnctices and the fula1 statements give a ttue and fair vi¢w of the state of affairs of th¢ org#nis&tion a5 at the year end 31 March 2024. I have no ¢on¢erns and have com¢ across no other matters iti ci>nnection with the exaMion to which attcniion should be drawn in this report iti ord¢T to eDabl¢ a prop¢r understanding of the financial statements to k reached. I have been given access to all the relevant re¢ords of the orUSaOn and l am ¢ontent in signing off this certificate. Si8nath of the iDdesndent examiner . The indepndent examiner is . ., ......,. Nameoffim].... .. Addr¢ss.......................................,.................. ABAC&111)UsE ' """ 8iIShNDYGATE RCAD GROSSEQQkn.. $105NG"'"" Principal A. Rapinet. B.A.IHonsl