CultureAct Annual Report and Financial Statement For the Year end - August 2021
Administrative Information
Trustees:
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Alero Usaini
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Chika Gana
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Chinyere Eke
Charity Number: 1191372
Registered Ofce:
CultureAct 61 Bridge Street, Kington. HR5 3DJ
- We are not a grant making body.
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in the governing document
To advance education of and promote the awareness of arts, culture and heritage for the benefit of the public through particular arts of performance, music, drama, poetry reading, painting and all other associated arts. Additionally encouraging public participation in arts and culture by staging concerts, performances, exhibitions, festivals and all other types of activities deemed appropriate in furthering the purpose.
Trustees Summary Statement
We are proud to state that CultureAct has successfully existed for one year since registration. Being set up mid Covid-19 pandemic posed its unique challenges, we rose to the challenge and were able to host two main events.
In this first year, our main objective was to get reasonably established and test the viability of our offering. Aside the challenges posed by the COVID pandemic and particularly being a new charity, we are happy with the progress we have made. Feedback from our two events have been positive which indicates that there is a need for what we are doing and people appreciate and have found value in the events we have run so far.
We are building our volunteer community. In the one (first) year of operations, the charity officials being the trustees have worked on a volunteer basis with some of the trustee network offering ad hoc volunteer support through unpaid time/services rendered for event planning and hosting. The three trustees working on a voluntary basis, joggling their full time employment and other personal/family commitments meant that we have not progressed as far and fast as we would have hoped. With that consciousness, it is priority in our minds to look at opportunities to expand the team, achieve more diversity in the core team to help drive more momentum.
We didn’t set any fundraising objectives this accounting year. Events have been funded by grants and personal donations.
Statement confrming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public beneft
The Trustees are aware of the guidance and taking it into consideration in their activities and dealings.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public beneft, in particular, the activities, projects or services identifed in the accounts.
Main activities planned and proposed to advance the purposes of the organization include:
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Virtual events, webinars to celebrate world day celebrations that align with our purpose.
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Engagement with schools to offer teaching materials, support and activities/events to expand awareness, knowledge and appreciation of diverse cultures.
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Festivals to allow in person interaction to build networks and drive learning.
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ETC.
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the diference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its benefciaries and any wider benefts to society as a whole.
CultureAct has identified a gap in that there is no structured way to enable cultural interaction for children and young adults. Additionally, there is no centralized, consistent way to provide unbiased, age appropriate content and materials to drive cultural education in order to improve the cultural awareness and quotient of these young members of society. This if solved, will be an organic, sustainable way to improve diversity and inclusion for the current and future generations.
In the one year of our existence, we have run two main events:
Events held
Funding: National Lottery Community Fund
Name: Diversity Quizstar Project report Dates: 5[th] , 12[th] , 19[th] & 26[th] March, 2021
Location: Virtual
Medium: Zoom & Kahoot
Project Summary:
The lock-down impacted social interactions for young people in various ways especially as schools were closed meaning that young people struggled and didn’t have access to support groups in some cases. The demography of Fleet is not very diverse offering an opportunity for an educational, engaging and fun virtual event to improve diversity and inclusion awareness/education and enable community interaction.
This was a new initiative for an educational, engaging and fun virtual event to improve diversity and inclusion awareness/education and enable community interaction. We held weekly quiz competitions through March 2021. The activities covered:
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Quiz competitions with prizes focused on culture and diversity to test knowledge, teach and exchange information.
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Round table discussions/exchange sessions to create a community, foster communication and expressions whilst driving interactions that typically may never happen.
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Bitesize speaker series to raise aspirations and motivate.
In recent years, there has been an increased focus on diversity and inclusion by large corporations which seem to be majorly focused on adults with children and young adults seemingly left out. Being that these youths will be adults of tomorrow, this initiative was geared towards creating cultural
education/awareness thereby raising the culture quotient and foster respect for diversity of thoughts and cultures. This will mean an organic change in this space.
We reached more than 100 youths over the 4 sessions starting with the local area and going beyond using existing connections. Publicity was done via social media and word of mouth. Existing organizations likes schools, churches were also leveraged.
Impact:
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There was a total of 116 registrants across the four days , some others didn’t register e.g. speakers, organizers and people forwarded event details.
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Over the four days, we had ~70 people on the zoom sessions of which there were returners which is testament that they enjoyed the previous session to have come back. There were five speakers in total. Excerpts of survey feedback in response to what they enjoyed most.
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“The experiences by the two speakers”
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“The talk and quiz provided a great opportunity to learn and socialise”
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“The Quiz, The presentation by speakers because it's helpful when you get the exposure about the lifestyle and culture of people in an entirely different system.”
It was evident that there is a gap which presents an opportunity to provide a platform for young people to actively interact across cultural circles to learn and share experiences. Covid pandemic, whilst posing a challenge has shown borderless interactions can be fostered leveraging technology. We recognize this and are planning to adapt our value proposition to plug this gap.
Funding: Charity Reserve & Individual Donations
Name: UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development – Panel Event
Dates: 21[st] May, 2021
Location: Virtual
Medium: Zoom
World day for cultural diversity webinar – panel event held to mark the day and drive discussion. There were about 30 attendees plus the 4 panellists. The caption for the day was family nurturing for an inclusive and equitable society.
Three-quarters of the world’s major conflicts have a cultural dimension. Bridging the gap between cultures is urgent and necessary for peace, stability and development.
Cultural diversity is a driving force of development, not only with respect to economic growth, but also as a means of leading a more fulfilling intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual life. This is captured in the culture conventions, which provide a solid basis for the promotion of cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is thus an asset that is indispensable for poverty reduction and the achievement of sustainable development.
At the same time, acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity – in particular through innovative use of media and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) – are conducive to dialogue among civilizations and cultures, - respect and mutual understanding. https://www.un.org/en/observances/cultural - diversity day
The feedback was very positive with 100% of the respondents saying they enjoyed the event. On What did you enjoy most? Majority pointed to the diversity of the panel some excerpts:
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“The mix of speakers from very different and diverse backgrounds”.
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“Open discussion by panelists”.
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“Personal stories shared by panelists”.
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“Personal stories shared by panelists”.
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“It was informative with real life examples”.
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“The understanding showed by the panelist on cultural diversity and the need to be open minded.”
Financial Review
Total Income: £2070.00
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LOCAL CONNECT FUND - 1,920.00
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Personal Donation - 150.00
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Expenditure: £1991.49 (details in table below) Balance: £78.51
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Item Description Withdra Deposi
wal (£) t (£)
Grant fund awarded LOCAL CONNECT FUND 1920
Trustees vetting Surrey Community A DBS 61.81
check
Diversity QuizStar Tech Set up 427.1
Diversity QuizStar Social Media & Publicity 78.98
Diversity QuizStar Prizes - Amazon Gift vouchers 802.85
for 40 winners
Charity Operations Samsung Tablets for trustees 515.97
Charity Income Personal donation 150
World day for Cultural Panelists appreciation 81.98
Diversity Panel event
Charity address subscription Proxy (registered) address 22.8
renewal
Total 1991.49 2070
Balance 78.51
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