Scarborough Studios Charitable Incorporated Organisation Annual Report April 2022 - March 2023
Scarborough Studios Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SSCIO) was formed in January 2021 and is based at the Old Parcels Office Artspace (OPO) in Scarborough.
Objectives
The objectives of the Charity are:-
To promote, maintain, improve, and advance the appreciation of the arts in all forms by any means the trustees see fit, in particular:
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A- By providing public art workshops and cultural learning activities;
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B- By providing public exhibitions and displays;
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C- By providing public art programmes and events.
Overview of 2022/23
April
April saw the continuation of the OPO’s first open exhibition. The OPO Open 2022 attracted almost 300 entries from across the UK and 698 visitors to the exhibition.
May
During May the OPO hosted the Big Ideas By The Sea Festival featuring Big Stitch workshops, music, poetry, and giant puppets.
June
June was a very busy month. In the first half of the month ‘Connections’ an exhibition of work by local artists connected through the OPO took place and 3 of our resident artists took part in North Yorkshire Open Studios.
This was quickly followed by Scarborough 6th Form College taking over the OPO for their End of Year Exhibition. The month was rounded off by two back-to-back music nights, Still House Junkies followed by the rock/blues band, Cold Stares.
July
In July Trustee Rob Moore curated ‘Surroundings’ an exhibition of landscape inspired artwork; part funded by Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District (YCBID)
This was followed by another music night featuring the Jake Leg Jug Band.
August
During the summer we held a family friendly exhibition ‘Human Machines’ which featured kinetic sculptures by Johnny White and Amanda Wray, again part funded by YCBID.
September
At the beginning of September, the OPO was offered as a contribution in kind for a fundraising night cabaret night organised by the emerging LGBTQIA+ theatre company (Not) Forever Yone.
This was followed by a Heritage Exhibition – ‘When the Railway Came to Town’ organised as part of national Heritage Open Days. The exhibition which included historical maps and memorabilia from Adrian Spawforth’s private collection was a huge success with a record number of visitors. The exhibition was made possible with the support of YCBID and Spawforths.
The months ended with music from Nathan Bell from the USA on the 20[th] and an Art & Craft Fair with Open Studios on the 24[th] .
October
October saw the OPO exhibition ‘Chaos’ a site-specific installation by London based sculptor Paul Bonomini featured on the front page of the Yorkshire Post. The exhibition drew almost 900 visitors from across the region.
Nick Padden a local artist also held a very successful pop-up exhibition of Seascape paintings in the OPO Learning Space.
November
November brought another mix of music, this time from Canada, a craft fair and exhibition. The exhibition [PRIZED] was a group show by OPO Open shortlisted artists, part funded by YCBID.
SJT Choirs gave notice that they would not be renewing their hire booking beyond December.
December
In December the OPO hosted Grue 2, an exhibition/installation by Steven Wintercroft produced by ARCADE which involved over 400 local people in community build workshops and was seen by almost 1500 people.
January
The OPO remained closed for most of the month while the team of OPO volunteers took a well-earned rest and the Trustees worked behind the scenes on preparing for the OPO Open 2023. At the end of the month a well-attended music night was held.
February/March
The year was rounded off with the OPO Open 2023 which attracted over 400 entries and over 900 visitors from across the country.
The final events of the year were an Art & Craft Fair followed by a sellout music night by Gaelforce
Visitor Numbers 2022/23
| BIBTS | Exhib | Music | Workshop | Choirs | Craft F | School Exh | Talks | Other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 698 | 102 | 800 | |||||||
| May | 200 | 153 | 46 | 399 | ||||||
| June | 577 | 130 | 153 | 300 | 70 | 1230 | ||||
| July | 308 | 25 | 76 | 102 | 8 | 519 | ||||
| Aug | 418 | 20 | 438 | |||||||
| Sep | 784 | 84 | 30 | 218 | 50 | 50 | 1216 | |||
| Oct | 776 | 90 | 65 | 931 | ||||||
| Nov | 560 | 66 | 140 | 30 | 6 | 802 | ||||
| Dec | 1415 | 145 | ||||||||
| Jan | 70 | 70 | ||||||||
| Feb | 900 | 900 | ||||||||
| March | 95 | 150 | 245 | |||||||
| Total | 200 | 6436 | 470 | 236 | 660 | 368 | 300 | 120 | 175 | 8965 |
PR/Marketing
To keep costs down we again maximised the use of social media to market our artistic programme offer. By the end of the year Instagram and Facebook followers had increased to over 1,500, Twitter followers to 1,000 and over 800 people had signed up to the OPO mailing list.
Press coverage included regular full colour articles about forthcoming exhibitions in Scarborough News. Both ‘Chaos’ in October and the OPO Open 2023 in February received front page full colour articles in the Yorkshire Post. Interviews with artists and curators featured on Radio York.
Trustees
At the of the year the Trustees were; Sally Gorham (Chair), Helen Edwards, Rob Moore, Andy Dalton, and Andrew Clay.
In July 2022 Lel Meleyal was appointed to one of the 2 Trustee vacancies.
Volunteers
Volunteers make a vital contribution to the running of the OPO, and we are extremely grateful to the time they give to supporting our exhibition and music programme. During 2022/23 a successful recruitment campaign saw new volunteers joining the bringing total team numbers to over 15.
Finance
SSCIO ended the2022/23 year with a balance of £6,497. This was made up of a carry forward from 2021/22 of £3,006 and an operating surplus of £3,490 (income £17,827, expenditure £14,337) in 2022/23.
SSCIO’s main sources of income were donations, bar sales at music nights, art sales, craft fair and OPO Open submission fees, room hire, and small grants towards the cost of putting on exhibitions.
SSCIO was granted a Licence to Occupy the OPO on a peppercorn rent and successfully applied to Scarborough Borough Council for Business Rate Exemption.
The main items of expenditure were Arts Project Worker fees, artists fees, and bar and transport costs.
Sally Gorham Chair Scarborough Studios CIO 15.7.23
Income and Expenditure
Scarborough Studios CIO For the year ended 5 April 2023
| Income and Expenditure Scarborough Studios CIO For the year ended 5 April 2023 |
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|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |
| Income | ||
| Bar receipts | 1,979.51 | 625.85 |
| Commission on sales | 1,453.19 | 1,006.81 |
| Donations - general | 2,899.08 | 41.00 |
| Exhibition Income | 8,988.70 | 4,041.11 |
| Hire of Space Income | 2,102.00 | 1,135.00 |
| Ticket sales | 405.00 | 219.07 |
| Total Income | 17,827.48 | 7,068.84 |
| Direct Expenses | ||
| Bar/Music Night Expenses | 2,266.03 | 360.36 |
| Direct Expenses | - | 21.00 |
| Exhibition Costs | 6,924.60 | 3,507.27 |
| Total Direct Expenses | 9,190.63 | 3,888.63 |
| Gross Surplus/(Deficit) | 8,636.85 | 3,180.21 |
| Administrative Costs | ||
| Advertising & Marketing | 328.51 | - |
| Bank Fees | 192.21 | 33.86 |
| Cleaning | 3.55 | - |
| Consulting | 4,000.00 | - |
| General Expenses | 99.40 | 127.70 |
| IT Software and Consumables | 85.92 | 12.42 |
| Printing & Stationery | 376.72 | - |
| Repairs & Maintenance | 60.00 | - |
| Total Administrative Costs | 5,146.31 | 173.98 |
| Surplus/(Deficit) | 3,490.54 | 3,006.23 |
Income and Expenditure
Scarborough Studios CIO