## **KING LEAR ARTS CIO**
**TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended**
**31 MARCH 2024**
1
## **CONTENTS**
|GENERAL INFORMATION
3|
|---|
|ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES
4|
|STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
8|
|BALANCE SHEET
8|
|NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
9|
|INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT
10|
2
## **GENERAL INFORMATION**
## **Administrative Details**
Charity name: King Lear Arts
Registered Charity Number: 1194586
Registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales: 25 May 2021
Registered Office: King Lear Arts, PO Box 704, 19-21 Crawford Street, London, W1H 1PJ
## **Trustees**
Andrew Browning (Chair)
Anneliese Gilchrist (Secretary)
Henry Bowen (Treasurer)
Harriet Rudd-Jones (Trustee)
_All 25 May 2021- present_
## **Our Advisors**
**Chartered Accountant:** Stephanie James, Stephanie James Chartered Accountant, Lincoln Hill, Ironbridge, Shropshire, TF8 7NY
**Examiner:** Hilary Payne, AAT, Mill Farm Drive, Randlay, Telford, Shropshire, TF3 2NA
## **Governing document**
King Lear Arts is a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and a registered charity currently with a board of four trustees. King Lear Arts is governed by its constitution, as approved by the Charity Commission, which is a constitution of a charitable incorporated organisation whose only voting members are its charity trustees. _[SORP Para 1.25]_
## **Appointment of Trustees**
Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. _[SORP Para 1.25]_
3
## **ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES**
The trustees present their report and the financial statements for King Lear Arts for the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
## **Objectives**
King Lear Arts exists:
“For the public benefit, the promotion of the arts and to advance education in the arts, primarily in the United Kingdom, by offering or promoting opportunities for active participation in the creative arts.
‘Active participation’ means participants creating or performing works themselves, rather than viewing, listening to, or otherwise consuming works created or performed by others.
‘Creative arts’ means any of the following: crafts, dance, design, digital arts and media, film, literature (including creative writing and poetry), music, opera, photography, theatre, the visual arts, and cross-arts practices.”
Source: King Lear Arts Constitution approved by the Charity Commission _[SORP Para 1.17]_
## **Chair’s Introduction**
Following the successful King Lear Prizes competitions and King Lear Arts Club activities in previous years, 2023/24 saw the successful running of the King Lear Prizes 2023, themed around the King’s Coronation.
I would like to thank the Board of Trustees and our advisors for their efforts during the period.
## **Andrew Browning, Chair, King Lear Arts**
4
## **Key Activities**
## **King Lear Prizes 2023**
The King Lear Prizes 2023. Contestants were invited to submit entries in one of three categories: Art, Poetry, Short Story, with an optional theme of the King’s Coronation (held on 6 May 2023).
The competition attracted 6,198 entries from 3,084 people across the United Kingdom demonstrating once again that there is a huge appetite for active arts participation activities amongst older people.
The entries were judged by our judging teams and our eminent final judges: Mina Gorji, Roger McGough, Emily LaBarge, Roma Piotrowska, and prizes were awarded for Beginners and Experienced Amateurs in each category and for outstanding groups of entries.
## **Feedback Reports to Contestants, including using Artificial Intelligence**
This year’s competition offered for the first time feedback to contestants. This was based on the interest in feedback we had from our participants in previous King Lear Arts activities and on focus groups and strategy work we had conducted in 2022/23.
Therefore we provided and test the quality of different types of feedback:
- AI Feedback
- AI Feedback with small input from volunteers
- Volunteer Feedback
- Professional Tutor Feedback
We then undertook survey and insight work to understand more about who valued which types of feedback, in order to improve our offer for future King Lear Arts activities.
## **King Lear Prizes Coronation Anthology**
As a result of the high quality of the entries, we compiled and edited a limited edition printed anthology of the best entries to the King Lear Prizes 2023 competition to be distributed to the winners and sent to the King and Queen to commemorate their Coronation year.
_[SORP Paras 1.17 and 1.19]_
Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in both the setting up of King Lear Arts (in particular the definition of the charity’s objects), and in their monitoring the activities of the charity and their alignment with the charity’s public benefit. _[SORP Para 1.18]_
5
## **Key Achievements**
- Ran a successful arts competition for 3,084 people across the United Kingdom.
- Gained deeper insight into participants’ views on different types of feedback on their work.
- Developed innovative technology to provide tailored feedback to participants using generative artificial intelligence technology.
_[SORP Para 1.20]_
6
## **Financial Review**
These accounts relate to the period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The financial activities of King Lear Arts this year include the costs involved in running the King Lear Prizes 2023, and the ongoing running of the charity (e.g. website, preparation of accounts etc.).
There has been a net deficit before financing in the period. However, King Lear Arts has been able to fund its activities in these initial ‘startup’ periods through generous donations from individuals and loans to the charity from the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
The loans to the charity will be repaid if and only if funds for that purpose become available to the charity from donations. It is expected that this would happen in the financial year 2024/25 at the earliest, and no interest is charged on these loans.
To fund future activities, the Trustees agreed a Fundraising Strategy in June 2021, which will be taken forward in the following period. At the end of the period the charity has sufficient cash to finance its ongoing activities. _[SORP Para 1.21]._ Based on the Fundraising Strategy and expected income, the Trustees do not expect there to be a net deficit before financing on an ongoing basis.
## **Reserves Policy and Risk Management**
King Lear Arts does not currently hold any financial reserves as it has been developing its activities and its fundraising strategy during the period, but will seek to build reserves in the coming years as fundraising and operating surpluses allow. [SORP Para 1.22]
The Trustees review King Lear Arts financial information on a regular basis at Trustees’ meetings at an overall and an individual project level.
## **Declarations**
## **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
|**Signatures**|||
|---|---|---|
|**Full Names**|Andrew Browning|Henry Bowen|
|**Positions**|Chair|Treasurer|
|**Date**|31/01/2025|31/01/2025|
7
Sign.com Document ID: 56a2a48c35 - Page 1/4
## **KING LEAR ARTS CIO**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2024**
|**Receipts and payments**||
|---|---|
|**Receipts**
**Fundraising (gross)**
Competition entry fees
Sale of merchandise
**_Total gross Income_**
**Increase in loans to the charity**
**_Total receipts_**
**Payments**
**Charitable Payments**
Accountancy fees
Advertising & marketing
Consultancy fees
IT & software
Sundry expenses
**Sub total**
**Fundraising expenses**
Competition prizes
Other competition expenses
**Sub total**
**_Total payments_**
**_Net receipts/(payments)_**
**_Cash funds at end of last period_**
**_Cash funds at end of this period_**|**01/04/2023**
**01/04/2022**
**31/03/2024**
**31/03/2023**
**Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds**
**£**
**£**
**31,741 -**
**2**|
||**31,743 -**|
||**9,734**
**66**|
||**41,477 66**|
||**1,000 700**
**7,000 510**
**13,322 41**
**9,697 25**
**51 102**|
||**31,070 1,378**
**3,300 -**
**5,344 -**|
||**8,644 -**|
|||
||**39,714 1,378**|
|||
||**1,763**
**(1,312)**|
||**10,755**
**12,067**|
||**12,518 10,755**|
|**Statement of assets and liabilities at end of the period**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at end of the period**|
|---|---|
|**Cash Funds**
Current account
Deposit account
**Liabilites**
Loan from trustee
**_Net cash liabilites_**
**Approved by the Trustees on**|**31/03/2024**
**31/03/2023**
**£**
**£**
**12,518 7,955**
**- 2,800**|
||**12,518 10,755**
**(32,726)**
**(22,992)**|
||**(20,208)**
**(12,237)**|
|||
**Andrew Browning Chair**
Sign.com Document ID: 56a2a48c35 - Page 2/4
## **KING LEAR ARTS CIO**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE PERIOD TO 31 MARCH 2024**
## **Notes**
## **1 Income**
The majority of the charity's income came from entry fees to its third King Lear Prizes competition.
## **2 Loan to the charity from its trustee**
The balance on the bridging loan represents charity expenditure met by personal funds of the trustee, Andrew Browning, No interest is charged on the loan and it will be repaid when charity funds are available, from expected donations to the charity.
## **3 King Lear Prizes**
A summary of the income and costs from the competition held during the year (with the 2021 comparatives, no competition being held in 2022) is as follows:
|**Income from competitions**
Donations
Competition entry fees
**Direct costs**
Competition prizes
Judging fees & gratuities
Card processing fees
**Gross surplus**|**King Lear Prizes 2023**
**King Lear Prizes 2021**
**£**
**£**
**- 921**
**31,741 32,663**|
|---|---|
||**31,741 33,584**|
||**3,300 1,160**
**3,663 250**
**1,681 1,700**|
||**8,644 3,110**|
||**23,097 30,474**|
Sign.com Document ID: 56a2a48c35 - Page 3/4
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/** Charity Name KING LEAR ARTS CIO **members of On accounts for the** 31 MARCH 2024 **Charity no** 1194586 **period ended (if any)**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the period ended 31/03/2023.
**Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
**Signed: Name:** Hilary Payne **Relevant professional** AAT L4 **qualification(s) or body (if any):**
**Date:** 26.01.25
**Address:** Mill Farm Drive, Randlay, Telford TF3 2NA
## **Section B Disclosure**
N/A
**October 2018**
1
**IER**