**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED**
**31 MARCH 2024** Charity Number: 1194229 (England and Wales)
1
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED**
## **31 MARCH 2024**
|**CONTENTS**|**PAGE**|
|---|---|
|General information|2|
|Responsibilities of the Trustees|4|
|Annual Trustee’s Report|5 - 12|
|Independent Examiner’s report to the members|13|
|Statement of Financial Activities|14|
|Balance Sheet|15|
|Notes to the financial statements|16 – 22|
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **GENERAL INFORMATION**
|Registered charity name|MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO|
|---|---|
|Charity number|1194229|
|Principal & registered office address|88 Crescent Road|
||Oxford|
||Oxfordshire|
||OX4 2PD|
|Trustees|Beverley Harry|
||Adanna Onuekwusi|
||Dina Desai|
||Sabah Heydon|
||Shabnum Chaudry (appointed December 2023)|
||Rhaea Russell-Cartwright (appointed June 2023)|
|Accountants|SPX Oxford Ltd|
||Peace House|
||19 Paradise Street|
||Oxford|
||OX1 1LD|
|Independent examiner|Sheila Parry FCCA|
|Bankers|The Co-operative Bank|
||P.O. Box 250, Delf House|
||Southway, Skelmersdale WN8 6WT|
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Charity Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law).
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION**
The nominated independent examiner will be considered by trustees for re-appointment for the ensuing year.
Signed on behalf of the trustees
Beverley Harry
Interim Chair of the Trustees
Date ….14 October 2024………………………….
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Objectives and Activities**
For the public benefit, the advancement of education in the arts in Oxford, and the surrounding area, in particular, but not exclusively through the creation and performance of theatre productions.
Since the beginning of April 2023 to the end of March 2024 Mandala has been focused on delivering activities in relation to our Professional Programme and Creative Learning Programme.
## **The Professional Programme**
‘Seed Guardians’, is a new play and project that intertwines powerful narratives, innovative staging, and evocative performances to explore the complex interplay between food sovereignty, seed guardianship globally and food poverty and food banks in the UK.
In a world increasingly dominated by industrialized agriculture and corporate control over seeds and the means of food production, especially in relation to indigenous communities and food insecurity in the UK, where 3 million people are using Food Banks to survive, it is time to begin telling these stories and creating a new narrative. This compelling project dives deep into the lives of individuals who, despite facing adversity, are determined to protect and strive for Food sovereignty for all, in a world where food is becoming a new form of colonialism.
The Play – ‘Seed Guardians’ by Yasmin Sidhwa, with poetry by Jenny Lewis.
_Leilani Mahachi has made it her life’s work to protect the planet. Always unafraid to call out injustice, now her life hangs in the balance, targeted by the very factions she spoke out so bravely against. As she fights for her life in a UK hospital far from her homestead in Zimbabwe, her cause is taken up by her granddaughter Zahra, desperate to find out what happened to her beloved Gogo._
_Join three unlikely friends as they travel from the food bank to Parliament Square to lead the fight against the greed and profiteering of the ‘Toxic Cartel’ – the powerful corporate food companies who ‘own’ the seeds, control production and swallow up everything they touch - threatening the most basic of our human rights: the right to food. Can they succeed against this all-consuming machine, and protect Leilani’s legacy?_
a) **Rehearsed Readings with Q&A’s and Creative workshops for the R&D** , were presented in Oxford and nationally, after one week’s rehearsal with a cast of 4 professional actors. Each of the Rehearsed Readings was followed by a Q&A and some with a creative workshop in late January and early February 2024. The workshops enable participants to explore their relationship to Earth Democracy and Seed Guardianship, and how this relates to their view of Food poverty, the Climate Crisis and Human Rights.
The workshops are led by Artistic Director, Mandala Theatre Company - Yasmin Sidhwa, published poet – Jenny Lewis and with the actors in ‘Seed Guardians’.
Rehearsed Readings followed by Q&A’s and Workshops were delivered to a mix of 298 Global Majority, White working-class and diverse young people and adults in:
**Oxford** - Green Arts Oxfordshire Network, Oxford City Farm, Oxford Poetry Library, Cheney School (part of the Oxfordshire School’s Climate Network), and EMBS College (young people from Ethnically diverse backgrounds, SEN, refugees). Rehearsed Readings x2 at the North Wall Arts Centre.
**London** – City of Westminster College – (Ethnically diverse Sixth form students studying performing arts).
**Salford** - Salford University students – (studying Social Work, Social Policy or Drama).
**Kent** – Rose Bruford College students – (studying on European Theatre Arts BA and American Theatre Arts BA)
**Coventry** – Warwick University students – (studying MA in Drama and Theatre Education).
Rehearsed Readings and Q&As also took place in: **Sheffield** – Theatre Deli (Students from Sheffield University); Oxfordshire Youth – (Young people in Sheltered Accommodation and staff);
## **Feedback**
The feedback we have received across the country from the Rehearsed Reading tour with groups has been overwhelmingly positive - this is from the audiences we will engage with during the National tour in Autumn 2024. The R&D is part of our methodology to engage young people and audiences in the themes of the project and to co-create the project so that it resonates and has impact for our audiences. The feedback will enable us to develop new drafts of the script and to explore further the production of the play, the Q&A’s and the creative workshops as part of the full tour.
_"Seed Guardians is an incredible, inspiring and emotive piece that delves into themes of_
## _empowerment, community and overcoming power and control."_ **Student - Rose Bruford College”**
_"With Seed Guardians, Mandala Theatre Company shows the power of theatre to inspire change is huge. Just watching the rehearsed reading of the play was so inspiring and I love how they used real life situations that you would never typically see in plays (from what I know)."_ **Student - City of Westminster College”**
5
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Autumn Tour of ‘Seed Guardians’**
A three-week rehearsal period will begin in September 2024 and the Tour will open at the North Wall Arts Centre with a Symposium on 3 October
2024. We have 4 performances and have applied for funding to enable free tickets and travel for a number of local schools in Oxfordshire.
## We will then tour to:
**Bristol** – Trinity Arts Centre, **Luton** – Hockwell Community Centre, **Kent** – Rose Bruford College, **Salford** University and The Cockpit Theatre, **London** with 6 performances. We are still working to confirm performances and creative workshops with Middlesex and Royal Holloway Universities. All performances will be followed by Q&As with the artistic team and full panel discussions at the North Wall Arts Centre and The Cockpit Theatre, with academics, activists, young people and NGO’s. We will also be screening the filmed play digitally followed by an online Q&A with Associate Professor Honor Ford-Smith and her students in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at **York University, Toronto, Canada** in October 2024.
## **Mandala Young Company** spent the Easter holiday in April 2023 in intensive rehearsals for
'Paradise Lost' written by Erin Shields, directed by Yasmin Sidhwa with choreography by Marie-Louise Flexen. The play was selected to feature in Oxford’s Offbeat Festival on Friday 16th June at Arts at the Old Fire Station and at the Rencontre International Theatre Festival, Grenoble, France in July 2023. It is an ultra-contemporary new drama, a witty, feminist portrayal of John Milton’s epic poem.
Since the beginning of April 2023 to the end of March 2024 Mandala has been focused on delivering activities in relation to our Professional Programme and Creative Learning Programme.
## **The Professional Programme**
‘Seed Guardians’ is a new play and project that intertwines powerful narratives, innovative staging, and evocative performances to explore the complex interplay between food sovereignty, seed guardianship globally and food poverty and food banks in the UK.
In a world increasingly dominated by industrialized agriculture and corporate control over seeds and the means of food production, especially in relation to indigenous communities and food insecurity in the UK, where 3 million people are using Food Banks to survive, it is time to begin telling these stories and creating a new narrative. This compelling project dives deep into the lives of individuals who, despite facing adversity, are determined to protect and strive for Food sovereignty for all, in a world where food is becoming a new form of colonialism.
## The Play – ‘Seed Guardians’ by Yasmin Sidhwa, with poetry by Jenny Lewis.
_Leilani Mahachi has made it her life’s work to protect the planet. Always unafraid to call out injustice, now her life hangs in the balance, targeted by the very factions she spoke out so bravely against. As she fights for her life in a UK hospital far from her homestead in Zimbabwe, her cause is taken up by her granddaughter Zahra, desperate to find out what happened to her beloved Gogo._
_Join three unlikely friends as they travel from the food bank to Parliament Square to lead the fight against the greed and profiteering of the ‘Toxic Cartel’ – the powerful corporate food companies who ‘own’ the seeds, control production and swallow up everything they touch - threatening the most basic of our human rights: the right to food. Can they succeed against this all-consuming machine, and protect Leilani’s legacy?_
a) **Rehearsed Readings with Q&A’s and Creative workshops for the R&D** , were presented in Oxford and nationally, after one week’s rehearsal with a cast of 4 professional actors. Each of the Rehearsed Readings was followed by a Q&A and some with a creative workshop in late January and early February 2024. The workshops enable participants to explore their relationship to Earth Democracy and Seed Guardianship, and how this relates to their view of Food poverty, the Climate Crisis and Human Rights.
The workshops are led by Artistic Director, Mandala Theatre Company - Yasmin Sidhwa, published poet – Jenny Lewis and with the actors in ‘Seed Guardians’.
Rehearsed Readings followed by Q&A’s and Workshops were delivered to a mix of 298 Global Majority, White working-class and diverse young people and adults in:
**Oxford** - Green Arts Oxfordshire Network, Oxford City Farm, Oxford Poetry Library, Cheney School (part of the Oxfordshire School’s Climate Network), and EMBS College (young people from Ethnically diverse backgrounds, SEN, refugees). Rehearsed Readings x2 at the North Wall Arts Centre.
## **London** – City of Westminster College – (Ethnically diverse Sixth form students studying performing arts).
**Salford** - Salford University students – (studying Social Work, Social Policy or Drama).
**Kent** – Rose Bruford College students – (studying on European Theatre Arts BA and American Theatre Arts BA)
**Coventry** – Warwick University students – (studying MA in Drama and Theatre Education).
Rehearsed Readings and Q&As also took place in: **Sheffield** – Theatre Deli (Students from Sheffield University); Oxfordshire Youth – (Young people in Sheltered Accommodation and staff);
6
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Feedback**
The feedback we have received across the country from the Rehearsed Reading tour with groups has been overwhelmingly positive - this is from the audiences we will engage with during the National tour in Autumn 2024. The R&D is part of our methodology to engage young people and audiences in the themes of the project and to co-create the project so that it resonates and has impact for our audiences. The feedback will enable us to develop new drafts of the script and to explore further the production of the play, the Q&A’s and the creative workshops as part of the full tour.
## _"Seed Guardians is an incredible, inspiring and emotive piece that delves into themes of_
## _empowerment, community and overcoming power and control."_ **Student - Rose Bruford College”**
_"With Seed Guardians, Mandala Theatre Company shows the power of theatre to inspire change is huge. Just watching the rehearsed reading of the play was so inspiring and I love how they used real life situations that you would never typically see in plays (from what I know)."_ **Student - City of Westminster College”**
## **Autumn Tour of ‘Seed Guardians’**
A three-week rehearsal period will begin in September 2024 and the Tour will open at the North Wall Arts Centre with a Symposium on 3 October 2024. We have 4 performances and have applied for funding to enable free tickets and travel for a number of local schools in Oxfordshire.
## We will then tour to:
**Bristol** – Trinity Arts Centre, **Luton** – Hockwell Community Centre, **Kent** – Rose Bruford College, **Salford** University and The Cockpit Theatre, **London** with 6 performances. We are still working to confirm performances and creative workshops with Middlesex and Royal Holloway Universities. All performances will be followed by Q&As with the artistic team and full panel discussions at the North Wall Arts Centre and The Cockpit Theatre, with academics, activists, young people and NGO’s. We will also be screening the filmed play digitally followed by an online Q&A with Associate Professor Honor Ford-Smith and her students in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at **York University, Toronto, Canada** in October 2024.
## **Mandala Young Company** spent the Easter holiday in April 2023 in intensive rehearsals for
'Paradise Lost' written by Erin Shields, directed by Yasmin Sidhwa with choreography by Marie-Louise Flexen. The play was selected to feature in Oxford’s Offbeat Festival on Friday 16th June at Arts at the Old Fire Station and at the Rencontre International Theatre Festival, Grenoble, France in July 2023. It is an ultra-contemporary new drama, a witty, feminist portrayal of John Milton’s epic poem.
Satan is explored through a female lens, reflecting our current times in which women everywhere are speaking truth to power, challenging the dogma of religion and the patriarchal system, especially the violation of women’s rights, (all over the world) in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and in the West in relation to sexual and domestic abuse.
The 9 strong ethnically diverse young company age 19 – 25 years, with Syrian, Kenyan, Angolan, Jamaican, Polish, American, and British white working-class backgrounds created a magical production bringing their talent and creativity to produce a refreshing perspective on what is happening today with a frame of reference that is both local and global. They received a standing ovation and wonderful feedback.
## Link to trailer: https://youtu.be/Yio-83n5KLY
At the International Festival the Young Company represented Mandala amazingly, participating in Fire, Commedia, Dance, Film and Acting workshops led by international directors from France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Algeria and UK, as part of the finale street parade and production of ‘The metamorphosis of Nar‐6’ performed by 100 young people from France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, UK, Italy, Canada, Lithuania and Belgium – outdoors at Place Félix Poulat, Grenoble, France, to a packed audience.
Link to Evaluation and Feedback of the Rencontre 2023: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dFMY_5dbTREiQgx3-8ec7OXEy7cn--ar/view?usp=drive_link
CREARC, Grenoble, invited – the Heads of the Rencontre du Jeune Theatre Europeen (this includes Artistic Director - Yasmin Sidhwa) and young members of these structures and institutional and associative partners to a seminar in Grenoble. Nelvin Kiratu, a Mandala Young Company longstanding member attended from 7 – 10 September 2023.
This was an opportunity to analyse the impact of youth exchanges through theatre and to discuss the digital transition focus of "Youth and self-image in the digital age".
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **International Youth Symposium and Festival – July 2024**
We are planning an exciting International Youth Symposium and Festival ‘Uncaging our World’ will take place in Oxford 19-28 July 2024, co-hosted with Oxfordshire Youth & Oxford City Council, International partners - Ashtar Theatre, Palestine & CREARC, France. This 7-day International Symposium and Festival will be co-planned and delivered with young people. The planning has begun with discussions with:
- a) Oxfordshire Youth – as a key partner with their base being the festival hub, they are putting feelers out for accommodation
- b) Pembroke College, Oxford University – discussions are ongoing, they are keen to host the symposium.
- c) Pegasus Theatre and The Old Fire Station – we are in discussion with these two venues about hosting the international productions.
d) We have a meeting set up with Oxford City Council as a key partner in terms of signing off spaces for the happenings and parade on Saturday 27th July. We are also looking at some funding from them.
## e) We have a zoom meeting set up with Ashtar Theatre as our key international partner with whom we will be applying to the British Council International Collaboration fund, as the 3rd strand of our partnership with Palestine, this time bringing a group of young artists from Ramallah to participate in the festival in Oxford.
f) We are aiming to invite 7 international companies with 10 young people/ artists in each company from Palestine, France x2, Germany, Spain, Tunisia, Lithuania and Mandala Young Company. We will also be opening the festival to 40 local young people, which will mean 50 in total from the UK.
**Mandala’s Youth Voice group** has been meeting twice a month, once online and once in person, since 24 August 2023 at our new base. The most recent in person meeting was on 7th March 2024.
Between 6 and 12 young people have attended regularly, 9 from the Global majority, they have:
- Begun planning the International Festival
- Set up a new podcast series called ‘Arts Uncaged’ and so far, have recorded three podcasts on various themes related to the arts and young people
- Begun working with us to co-design our evaluation measures and processes. We have begun our new evaluation methodology in key targeted
- schools, colleges and youth groups who participate in our R&D on ‘Seed Guardians’ alongside the academics we work with on this project - to compile, understand and interpret data and feedback.
Mandala Theatre Company Trustees have taken on the guidance to operate the charity in accordance with charity law and the charity’s purpose. We ‘have regard’ for the Charity commission's public benefit guidance which means:
- we are aware of the guidance
- we have taken it into account when making decisions to which the guidance is relevant
- if we decide to depart from the guidance, we will have good reasons for doing so
Policy on grant making, Policy on social investment including program related investment, Contribution made by volunteers are all available.
## **Achievements and Performance**
There have been many achievements for Mandala Theatre Company over the last 12 months, where the work of the charity has made a difference to young people’s lives especially but also to society.
These include:
## *** Creative workshops undertaken for the R&D of our new professional project – SEED GUARDIANS.**
The workshops enabled participants to explore their relationship to Earth Democracy and Seed Guardianship, and how this relates to their view of Food poverty, the Climate Crisis and Human Rights. The workshops were led by Artistic Director, Mandala Theatre Company - Yasmin Sidhwa, published poet – Jenny Lewis or Visual Artist - Nicole-Rose.
We ran workshops with Green Arts Oxfordshire Network, Oxford City Farm, Cheney School (part of the Oxfordshire School’s Climate Network), and EMBS College in Oxford. We also ran Creative workshops in Sheffield, London, Kent, Salford and Coventry with young people and students.
Link to Seed Guardians workshop with Green Arts Oxfordshire Network:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CyLvRDAoaJy/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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Charity number: 1194229
## **MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
**b) Oxford University ‘Everything is Connected’ Festival – A Conversation and Food was part of their official Autumn season.** The event involved Oxford Community Action (who run a Food Bank and Cafe, Oxford University – Humanities Cultural Programme and Mandala Theatre Company and took place on
25 October 2023 at Flo’s the Place in the Park focused on the issues being explored in ‘Seed Guardians’ - Food Banks and Seed Banks.
Links to ‘Everything is Connected’ event:
**https://www.instagram.com/p/CyvySeiI0F1/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==**
**https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzCN7mKLG5n/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==**
## **Feedback on the Rehearsed Readings of ‘Seed Guardians’ in Kent and London**
_"A new perspective on today's biggest issues: interconnection between climate activism, poverty and injustice. Also connecting two different worlds and how communities can fight these issues."_ **Feedback R&D Audience member**
## _"Seed Guardians is based on roots of a black African background where it communicates how deep and cultural it is. I feel it also brings awareness and shows a different light to what an audience might see and this becomes intriguing and eye opening"._ **Feedback R&D Audience member**
* **Mandala Young company’s participation in the Rencontre International Theatre Festival, Grenoble, France**
From 30 June to 9 July 2023. The 9 strong ethnically diverse young company age 19 – 25 years, with Syrian, Kenyan, Angolan, Jamaican, Polish, American, Egyptian and British white working-class backgrounds performed ‘Paradise Lost’ written by Erin Shields, directed by Yasmin Sidhwa, at the Festival to an International audience, where they received a standing ovation and wonderful feedback. The Young Company
represented Mandala amazingly, participating in Fire, Commedia, Dance, Film and Acting workshops led by international directors from France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Algeria and UK, as part of the finale street parade and production of ‘The metamorphosis of Nar-6’ performed by 100 young people from France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, UK, Italy, Canada, Lithuania and Belgium – outdoors at Place Félix Poulat, Grenoble to a packed audience.
“I feel like the experience of the Rencontre is one I will keep with me for the rest of my life. The experience of connecting and working with creatives from across Europe, overcoming language barriers, using the tools of theatre has reaffirmed for me the importance of theatre and the arts as tools for human connection.” **Young Company member aged 18**
Link to Evaluation and Feedback of the Rencontre 2023: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dFMY_5dbTREiQgx3-8ec7OXEy7cn--ar/view
The achievements Mandala has made in relation to the objectives set are:
The advancement of education in the arts in Oxford, and the surrounding area:
- 1) Creative workshops with young people and students for the ‘Seed Guardians’ project exploring Food Poverty in the UK and Food Sovereignty and ownership globally from October 2023 to March 2024, in schools, universities, colleges and NGO’s.
- 2) Mandala Young Company learning creative and theatre skills and performing ‘Paradise Lost’ by Erin Shields to international audiences in Grenoble, France and locally as part of the Offbeat Festival in Oxford. A witty, feminist exploration of John Milton’s epic poem about the cosmic battle between good and evil, Satan’s revenge and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. This is an ultra-contemporary new drama, a commentary on society today, that is fiercely engaging, irreverently funny and deeply moving.
- 3) Mandala Young Company were part of a large theatre exchange in Grenoble focused on young people in a digital age, using the myth of ‘Narcissus’ as a stimulus for creativity.
- 4) Professional Rehearsed Readings of ‘Seed Guardians’ by Yasmin Sidhwa with poetry by Jenny Lewis exploring Food Poverty in the UK and Food Sovereignty and ownership globally toured to schools, colleges and universities and theatre audiences in Oxfordshire and nationally.
- 5) Knowledge Exchange conference with the Cultural Programme at Oxford University focused on Food Banks and Seed Banks using ‘Seed Guardians’ as a stimulus for the discussion.
Mandala’s Fundraising activities have involved a huge amount of partnership working, especially with Education establishments, including:
*Funding from Oxford University through their Cultural Programme fund with Professor Danny Dorling.
*Local authority funding through Oxford City Council Big Ideas and Big Impact Funds
*The Partnership with Oxfordshire Youth will enable joint funding bids to Trusts and Foundations and is helping to give us a wider reach.
* In April 2023 we became one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio organisations funded over the next three years. ACE have supported our work since 2016.
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Financial Review**
The Charity remains financially secure, as much as we can be within the arts and current external circumstances. We continue to develop strong partnership working, which is often combined with securing funding. The company is now using an accounts package linked to the bank account which provides better tracking and reconciliation of income and expenditure, profit and loss and is familiar with the accountants delivering the audit.
We manage financial resources well and spend within our means. There are sometimes short-term issues of cashflow which arise from the nature of project funding when secured grants are paid in instalments.
We are in a reasonably good financial position with a reserves policy in place (see below) but need to keep growing our income to ensure our creative programme has funding in place to ensure plans can be followed through.
We were successful with a three-year funding bid to Arts Council England as one of their National Portfolio Organisations which is providing core funding to Mandala from April 2023 to 2026. This is enabling the company to plan with greater confidence and security.
Within the current Business Plan, Mandala has developed its reserves from a zero-standstill position so that unrestricted funds are sufficient to:
- Cover the notice period of staff (3 months minimum)
- Terminate or cover other contractual obligations in case of closure
- Provide funds to cover any legal costs of closure
In recognition of Mandala’s growth, assets and equipment we aim to expand our Reserves to ensure equipment and assets can be purchased to enable the organisation to function professionally and a programming fund set up to enable the organisation to seed and produce new work, often before funding is secured or to be used as match-funding for securing additional grants. The Reserves Policy therefore contains 2 new areas (funding permitted):
- Asset and Equipment Replacement
- Programming and Programme Development
## **Reserves Accounting Year 2023/24 following audit September 2024.**
## **Unrestricted reserves: £128,039**
## **Restricted reserves: £30,846**
## **Total reserves £158,885**
The principal risks facing the charity are:
**1: Financial:** Artistically we’re growing and developing but to become sustainable, the company needs more core funding in addition to ACE and Oxford City Council core funding and to secure an Impact and Evaluation post. The ACE core funding has enabled us to employ a part-time Fundraiser and Administration and Finance Officer.
_Risk:_ Wellbeing of Artistic Director until additional part-time staff are in post. Artistic Director is working long hours.
_Mitigate:_ Successful application for NPO funding from ACE (for April 2023-March 2026) and other funders for core funding. We have applied to numerous Trusts and Foundations and hope more of these will be successful and apply for further longer-term funding.
2: **Earned Income:** from Box Office or charging workshop fees is very precarious for Mandala’s work. To reach the diverse audiences we want to, it is a very difficult challenge and balancing act with the need to raise Earned Income, while trying to access new and diverse audiences.
_Risk:_ Unpredictable nature of earning income. For the Audiences we want to work with, theatre is not part of their cultural spend and the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis has further cemented this.
_Mitigate:_ The nature of the pathways we are trying to establish for Ethnically diverse and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds do have financial implications. Long term funding from one or two Trusts or Foundations.
**3: Lack of a Permanent base:** short term leases, space to build and make work, storage (not being able to recycle and reuse etc). These result in increased costs and less ability to be more sustainable, which is something we are working on.
We are currently resident company with Oxfordshire Youth where we have access to office and meeting room space, but rehearsal space is difficult to access. The space is only temporary, we hope it will become permanent soon.
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
Constitution and registration with the Charity Commission
CIO
APPOINTMENT OF CHARITY TRUSTEES
1) Apart from the first charity trustees, every appointed trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
2) In selecting individuals for appointment as appointed charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
INFORMATION FOR NEW CHARITY TRUSTEES The charity trustees will make available to each new charity trustee, on or before his or her first appointment:
(a) The Trustee Pack
- (b) A copy of the current version of the constitution.
- (c) A copy of the CIO's latest Trustees' Annual Report and statement of accounts.
## (d) Charity Commission Guidance on:
Public benefit: running a charity (PB2)
The Founder and Artistic Director of Mandala Theatre Company has been employed and tasked by the Trustees to run the day-to-day activities of the charity. She is tasked with reporting back to the Board of Trustees four times per year on both the business and finances of the charity, including at the AGM where the financial accounts are presented by the Charity’s accountants - SPX Accountants, Oxford.
Mandala Theatre Company is resident company at Oxfordshire Youth - this relationship has a MOU which is mainly there to support partnership funding applications, joint projects and continuing to provide a base for the charity. The two organisations function completely separately in terms of governance.
## **Reference and Administrative details**
Charity name Mandala Theatre Company CIO
Other name the charity uses Mandala Theatre Company
Registered charity number 1194229 Charity’s principal address 88, Crescent Road, Oxford OX4 2PD
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
**SN Trustee name Office Dates acted if not for whole year Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee** 1 Beverley Harry Interim Chair April 26 2021 Advisory Board and Directors of Mandala Theatre Company CIC 2 Adanna Onuekwusi Trustee January 17 2022 Beverley Harry (Interim Chair) 3 Dina Desai Trustee January 17 2022 Beverley Harry (Interim Chair) 4 Sabah Heydon Trustee March 27 2023 Board of Trustees 5 Rhaea Russell-Cartwright Trustee June 28 2023 Board of Trustees 6 Shabnum Chaudry Trustee December 20 2023 Board of Trustees
**Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved**
**Director name N/A**
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Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity**
|**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**||
|---|---|---|
|**N/A**|||
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## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others**
|Description of the assets held in
this capacity|N/A|
|---|---|
|Name and objects of the charity
on whose behalf the assets are
held and how this falls within
the custodian charity’s objects|N/A|
|Details of arrangements for
safe custody and segregation of
such assets from the charity’s
own assets|N/A|
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
Yasmin Sidhwa (Artistic Director and CEO)
## **Declarations**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
|**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**
**etc)**
**Date**|||
|---|---|---|
||Beverley Harry||
||
Interim Chair||
||14 October 2024||
||14 October 2024||
12
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
I report on the accounts of the Charity for the period ended 31 March 2024, which are set out in pages 5 - 13
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
As the charity’s trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requirements of s144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) does not apply and that an Independent Examination is needed. The charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. It is my responsibility to state, on the basis of procedures specified in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under s145 of the 2011 Act, whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner’s report**
An examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
## (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with s130 of the 2011 Act; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act.
have not been met; or
- (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Sheila Parry FCCA
Date…………15 October 2024.…………………………….
13
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
|**Notes**
**Income from:**
Donations and
legacies
3
Charitable activities
4
**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
5
Charitable activities
6
**Total expenditure**
**Net income / -expenditure**
**Transfers between**
**funds**
**Net movement in**
**funds**
**Reconciliation of**
**funds:**
Total funds brought forwards
**Total funds carried forward**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**
20,800
7,787
28,587
149
23,297
23,446
5,141
116
5,257
122,782
128,039|**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**
-
105,466
105,466
194
74,796
74,990
30,476
- 116
30,360
486
30,846|**Total**
**2024**
**£**
20,800
113,253
134,053
343
98,093
98,436
35,617
-
35,617
123,268
158,885|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**
10,000
25,833
35,833
354
9,597
9,951
25,882
58,758
84,640
38,142
122,782|**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**
-
170,178
170,178
-
171,188
171,188
- 1,010
- 58,758
- 59,768
60,254
486|**Total**
**2023**
**£**
10,000
196,011|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||206,011|
|||||||354
180,785|
|||||||181,139|
|||||||24,872
-|
|||||||24,872|
|||||||98,396|
|||||||123,268|
The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses in the period and therefore a statement of total recognised gains and losses has not been prepared.
All of the above amounts relate to continuing activities.
The notes on pages 7 to 13 form part of these financial statements.
14
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
**AS AT 31 MARCH 2024**
## **BALANCE SHEET**
|**Notes**
**CURRENT ASSETS**
Debtors
9
Cash at bank
**CREDITORS:**Amounts falling due
within one year
10
**NET CURRENT ASSETS**
**NET ASSETS**
**FUNDS**
**INCOME FUNDS**
Unrestricted Income funds
11
Restricted Income funds
11
**TOTAL INCOME FUNDS**|**2024**
**£**
**£**
22,500
139,978
162,478
- 3,593
158,885
158,885
128,039
30,846
158,885|**2023**
**£**
**£**
33,587
101,282
134,869
- 11,601
123,268
123,268
122,782
486
123,268|
|---|---|---|
For the period ended 31 March 2024, the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011.
## Trustees’ responsibilities:
- The members have not required the charity to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 145; and
- The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
These financial statements were approved by the members of the committee and authorised for issue on …23 September 2024……and are signed on their behalf by:
## Beverley Harry
Interim Chair of the Trustees
15
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
## **1. ORGANISATION STATUS**
Mandala Theatre Company CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
The assets and liabilities of the previous unincorporated organisation were transferred to the new CIO on 26 April 2021 when the old charity was wound up.
## **2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## **Basis of accounting**
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS102.
These financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable United Kingdom accounting standards and the requirements of the Statements of Recommended Practice 2019 (SORP 2019), ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’, issued by the Charities Commission and the Companies Act 2006, with FRS102.
## **Fund accounting**
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.
Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor or trust deed.
## **Income**
All income is included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.
Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.
## **Investment income and interest receivable**
Income from investments and deposit interest is included in the statement of financial activities when it becomes receivable. Investment income is included gross of recoverable taxation.
## **Expenditure**
Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure represents amounts invoiced, including value added tax.
## **Fixed assets**
Fixed assets (excluding investments) are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. All assets costing £500 or more are capitalised and valued at historical cost.
16
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
**FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **Depreciation**
Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset, less its estimated residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:
Office furniture – 20% straight line
Computer equipment – 33% straight line
## **Taxation**
The Charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
## **3. INCOME FROM DONATIONS AND LEGACIES**
|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
Donation
20,800
-
20,800
-
**. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
Earned Income
6,693
300
Grants - Core funding
-
-
Grants - Project funding
-
93,566
Grants - Local Authority
funding
-
11,600
Other income
944
-
Trusts & Foundations
150
-
7,787
105,466||**Total**
**Funds**
**2024**
**£**
20,800
20,800
**Total**
**Funds**
**2024**
**£**
6,993
-
93,566
11,600
944
150|**Unrestricted**
**£**
10,000
10,000
**Unrestricted**
**£**
13,211
-
10,100
-
2,522
-
25,833|**Unrestricted**
**£**
10,000
10,000
**Unrestricted**
**£**
13,211
-
10,100
-
2,522
-
25,833|**Restricted**
**£**
-
-
**Restricted**
**£**
500
5,400
163,341
937
-
-
170,178|**Restricted**
**£**
-
-
**Restricted**
**£**
500
5,400
163,341
937
-
-
170,178||**Total**
**Funds**
**2023**
**£**
10,000
10,000
**Total**
**Funds**
**2023**
**£**
13,711
5,400
173,441
937
2,522
-|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||||
||||
||
||
||
|||113,253||25,833||170,178||196,011|
## **4. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
17
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
## **5. EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS**
|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
Fundraising costs
149
194
149
194
**. EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
Staff costs (including
freelance fees)
16,203
39,257
Professional fees
337
2,188
Office rent
800
-
Office and travel costs
713
1,128
Professional
Programme
1,619
22,959
Creative Learning
Programme
981
5,789
Education & Outreach
2,644
3,475
23,297
74,796|**Total**
**Funds**
**2024**
**£**
343
343
**Total**
**Funds**
**2024**
**£**
55,460
2,525
800
1,841
24,578
6,770
6,119
98,093|**Unrestricted**
**£**
354
354
**Unrestricted**
**£**
2,050
1,629
1,037
195
48
4,638
-
9,597|**Restricted**
**£**
-
-
**Restricted**
**£**
27,523
-
-
1,302
80,959
59,303
2,101
171,188|**Total**
**Funds**
**2023**
**£**
354|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||354|
|||||**Total**
**Funds**
**2023**
**£**
29,573
1,629
1,037
1,497
81,007
63,941
2,101|
|||||180,785|
## **6. EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
## **7. GOVERNANCE COSTS**
|Independent examination|**Total**
**2024**
**£**
250
250|**Total**
**2023**
**£**
250|
|---|---|---|
|||250|
18
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
## **8. ANALYSIS OF STAFF COSTS**
|Gross salaries
Redundancy pay
Employer's NIC
Employer's pension|**2024**
**£**
35,358
-
-
688
36,046|**2023**
12,957
2,130
1,152
2,643|
|---|---|---|
|||18,882|
None of the employees of the charity earned £60,000 or more during the period ended 31 March 2024 (2023: no employees)
The average number of employees during the period was 4 (2023: 1). All employees are involved in the provision of the charity’s objectives.
## **9. DEBTORS**
|Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
**0. CREDITORS**
Trade creditors
HMRC payable
Accruals
Other creditors|**2024**
**£**
-
22,500
-
22,500
**2024**
**£**
506
2,158
840
89
3,593|**2023**
**£**
11,087
22,500
-|
|---|---|---|
|||33,587|
|||**2023**
**£**
-
-
11,601
-|
|||11,601|
## **10. CREDITORS**
19
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
## **11. Movement in funds**
|**Unrestricted funds**
General
**Restricted funds**
Arts Council England
British Council
Oxford Brookes
Oxford City Council
**Restricted funds**|**Balance at 1**
**April 2023**
**£**
122,782
486
-
-
-
486
123,268|**Income**
**£**
28,587
93,566
-
300
11,600
105,466
134,053|**Expenditure**
**£**
- 23,446
- 72,251
- 184
-
- 2,555
- 74,990
- 98,436|**Transfers**
**£**
116
-
184
- 300
-
- 116
-|**Balance at 31**
**March 2024**
**£**
128,039
21,801
-
-
9,045
30,846
158,885|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The restricted funds for 2023-24 are as follows:
Arts Council England provided project funding towards creative programmes
British Council funded the Ultra Art Youth Theatre Festival
Oxford Brookes – contributed to the funding of MAD(E) professional tour
Oxford City Council provided funding towards both core costs and project funding
20
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
|**_Previous year_**
**Unrestricted funds**
General
**Restricted funds**
Arts Council England
Awards for All
British Council
Oxford City Council
Project funding,
incorrectly reported as
restricted in 2021-22
**Restricted funds**|**Balance at 1**
**April 2022**
**£**
38,142
1,422
-
-
-
58,832
60,254
98,396|**Income**
**£**
35,833
81,890
9,861
70,590
7,837
-
170,178
206,011|**Expenditure**
**£**
- 9,951
- 82,826
- 9,921
- 70,601
- 7,840
-
- 171,188
- 181,139|**Transfers**
**£**
58,758
-
60
11
3
- 58,832
- 58,758
-|**Balance at 31**
**March 2023**
**£**
122,782
486
-
-
-
-
486
123,268|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The restricted funds for 2022-23 are as follows:
Arts Council England provided project funding towards creative programmes
National Lottery Awards for All provided funding for young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to participate in the “Shared Humanity” programme celebrating migration and cultural diversity.
British Council funded the Ultra Art Youth Theatre Festival
Oxford City Council provided funding towards both core costs and project funding
## **12. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS**
|Tangible fixed assets
Current assets
Creditors due within 1 year
**Net assets**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£**
-
131,632
- 3,593
128,039|**Restricted**
**funds**
**£**
-
30,846
-
30,846|**Total 2024**
**£**
-
162,478
- 3,593|
|---|---|---|---|
||||158,885|
21
Charity number: 1194229
**MANDALA THEATRE COMPANY CIO**
**FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (continued)**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS**
## **13. TRUSTEE REMUNERATION, KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS**
No member of the board of trustees received any remuneration for the role as trustee during the year.
No trustees were reimbursed for travel expenses during the year.
The Key Management Personnel comprise the Trustees. There were no other related party transactions.
22
Charity number: 1194229