2025-02-28-accounts

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival Trustees’ Annual Report 2024–2025

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, 7 Byng Road, Barnet, EN5 4NW

07896675129 www.hbcmf.co.uk [e-mail] Registered Charity No. 1193517

Structure, Governance, and Management

The charity is a CIO governed by a constitution.

Trustees are selected according to the needs of the CIO with regard to particular skills and knowledge they may have. Prospective trustees are interviewed by a sub-group and then appointed by the passing of a resolution by the board of trustees.

Trustees

Danica Bila

Anahita Falaki

Rhian Morgan

The Trustees confirm that they have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

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High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, 7 Byng Road, Barnet, EN5 4NW

07896675129 www.hbcmf.co.uk [e-mail] Registered Charity No. 1193517

Purposes of the Charity

For the public benefit, to promote and advance for the public the appreciation of and education in music, through concerts and other musical activities, particularly in, though not restricted to, the area of High Barnet.

Main Activities

The charity put on a festival comprising three concerts in two venues: St John the Baptist Church, and Queen Elizabeth’s School. These concerts were well-attended by an audience of approximately 200.

The concerts were designed to be both enjoyable and educational, specifically through adventurous programming and a detailed and accessibly written programme handed out free to all attendees.

Main Achievements

We had a wide range of performers, drawn from amongst the UK’s best early-career musicians, and they performed a diverse set of programmes spanning music from the 18[th] century to the present day. Indeed, adventurous and representative repertoire is a key artistic goal of ours. We have a specific commitment to ensuring each of our programmes is mixed gender which we satisfied. We also had our first repeat performers, the Mithras Trio, who had played in our first season.

A post-concert survey, answered by 10% of our audience, gave more details on our audience:

• Almost 60% of respondents are Barnet residents, indicating that we are successfully cultivating a local audience. This was helped by our engagement with local cultural and community institutions (e.g. Barnet Society).

• Over half of respondents attend classical music infrequently, showing that we are attracting and developing new audiences for this genre.

• 96% of respondents rated the festival either 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale (5 being the highest), demonstrating the success of our activities.

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High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, 7 Byng Road, Barnet, EN5 4NW 07896675129 www.hbcmf.co.uk [e-mail] Registered Charity No. 1193517

• Over two thirds of respondents specifically praised the ‘varied and interesting’ programming. Our programming has been portrayed in some quarters of the press as risktaking, but clearly it is a risk that pays off.

• We received very positive acclaim in the press, both local (e.g. Barnet Society, Camden New Journal) and specialist (e.g. Planet Hugill).

We also surveyed non-attendees, to assess why some potential audience members did not attend. In almost all cases non-attendance was due to lack of availability on the dates. No respondents were put off by ticket prices, and only one mentioned repertoire as unappealing.

Volunteers’ Contribution

Volunteers play an integral part in the success of the festival. Beyond the Trustees and Artistic Director, all of whom act on a voluntary basis, volunteers also steward the concerts. All of our volunteers had worked for us in previous seasons so it was very heartening to have a repeat team.

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High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, 7 Byng Road, Barnet, EN5 4NW 07896675129 www.hbcmf.co.uk [e-mail] Registered Charity No. 1193517

Financial Review

The charity is in a safe financial position and continues as a going concern. The vast majority of costs take place after fundraising has been secured, and as such the annual budget is prepared in line with funds already raised.

The charity has reserves of £2176.21.

The charity holds reserves primarily in order to cover annual logistical expenses (e.g. insurance, website) and also as contingency in case of any unforeseen expenditures or low ticket sales.

The principal financial risk facing the charity is income from trading activities. Every effort is made to ensure much of the charity’s income is derived from sources which are fixed in advance of charitable activities (grants, donations, sponsorship), however the charity will always rely on ticket sales to fund part of its activities and while the charity makes careful and considered projections, there is inevitable risk involved. On a medium-term basis we are aiming to build up reserves equal to projected ticket sales, so that the financial risk is minimised.

Fundraising Activities

The charity successfully raised sufficient funds to carry out its activities. These come from three principal sources: grants from private grant-giving organisations, individual and corporate donors, and trading activities (principally ticket sales). The first two categories make up the majority of funding, which allows us to keep ticket prices at an accessible level. We are also focussed on ensuring our fundraising does not become dependent on any individual ‘key’ donors but is diversified across a pool of funders.

For the first time we did not receive any support from Arts Council England and no actionable feedback was given on our application. This meant we had to shrink the scope of the festival, putting on fewer and smaller-scale concerts. Due to financial planning this did not cause a major issue: the small loss suffered this year represented approximately 2% of income which was covered by reserves.

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High Barnet Chamber Music Festival, 7 Byng Road, Barnet, EN5 4NW 07896675129 www.hbcmf.co.uk [e-mail] Registered Charity No. 1193517

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Danica Bila, Trustee

Anahita Falaki, Trustee

Rhian Morgan, Trustee Monday 3[rd] November, 2025

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High Barnet Chamber Music Festival

(March 2024 - February 2025)

	TOTAL
Income
001 Grant income	470.00
002 Donations	3,669.93
003 Concert sales	1,626.29
004 Other income	22.02
Total Income	£5,788.24
GROSS PROFIT	£5,788.24
Expenses
310 Production cost	879.06
312 Musicians fee	3,000.00
320 Advertising & marketing cost	487.65
326 Insurance	120.73
335 Lighting cost	96.00
338 Venue hire	1,115.00
346 Computer cost	161.38
383 Charitable contributions	100.00
Total Expenses	£5,959.82
NET OPERATING INCOME	£ -171.58
Other Income
411 Interest earned	49.31
Total Other Income	£49.31
NET OTHER INCOME	£49.31
NET INCOME	£ -122.27

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