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2025-03-31-accounts

Company number: 01468164 Charity Number: 279184

Shape London

Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

Shape London

Contents

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Reference and administrative information ...................................................................................... 2 Trustees’ annual report .................................................................................................................. 4 Independent auditor’s report ....................................................................................................... 44 Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) ................... 48 Balance sheet ............................................................................................................................... 49 Statement of cash flows ............................................................................................................... 50 Notes to the financial statements ................................................................................................. 51

Shape London

Reference and administrative information

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Company number 01468164 Country of England and Wales incorporation Charity number 279184 Country of England and Wales registration Registered office Buckinghamshire New University High Wycombe Campus and operational Queen Alexandra Road address High Wycombe HP11 2JZ Trustees Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows: Tony Heaton OBE Chair James Hodgson Vice Chair Jon Tibbits-Smyth Treasurer Robert Davies Owen Kimm Jennifer Clarke Michelle Duxbury Amanda Stewart Resigned 24 September 2025 Jonathan Dunicliffe Resigned 24 September 2025 Key management David Hevey Chief Executive personnel Jeff Rowlings Head of Programme Bankers CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent, M19 4TA HSBC Lion House 25 Islington High Street London, N1 9LJ

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Shape London

Reference and administrative information

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Solicitor Bates Wells Cheapside House 138 Cheapside London EC2V 6BB Auditor Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 110 Golden Lane LONDON EC1Y 0TG Accountants Peters Elworthy & Moore (PEM) Chartered Accountants Salisbury House Station Road Cambridge CB1 2LA

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Reference and administrative information set out on pages 2 and 3 form part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

CHAIR’S REPORT

I am delighted to share this report on the continued development of Shape and our activities during 2024/25 that support our aims, values, and mission.

Shape continues to perform strongly, and we remain resilient and responsive in a fast-changing world.

We are proud to be part of the Arts Council of England’s (ACE) National Portfolio and as a leader in our work with disabled artists.

Our programme, detailed within the body of this report, demonstrates the breadth and diversity of our work and the range of artists and creatives who we support and whose work we continue to develop and promote, as can be seen when looking at our long history.

This history continues to be captured as part of the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA), housed within the Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) and whom we work closely with, as does the National Disability Movement Archive and Collection (NDMAC), our large-scale heritage project which is collecting and re-telling the heritage story of the Disability Rights Movement.

We continue to honour the memory of Adam Reynolds and the bursary, established in his name, gives an unprecedented opportunity to disabled artists. Many past recipients have gone on to develop successful careers following the award and have become Shape alumni and part of our rich history.

We value our history but we continue to innovate; our major exhibition, CRIP ARTE SPAZIO: THE DAM IN VENICE, running alongside the world renown Venice Biennale was the first major international exhibition of the UK's unique and radical Disability Arts Movement and was described in the arts press as ‘One of the Top Exhibitions In The World, 2024’. A great accolade for our work in bringing disabled artists to a world audience.

I hope this brief introduction to some of our activity will draw you in to discovering our ambitious approach to disability arts and what that means in the 21st Century, making Shape such a vital organisation in our sector - by identifying and nurturing disabled artists, inspiring the wider community to recognise and respond emotionally and intellectually to their work and achieving a wide and respected influence through the cultural and creative sectors in the UK and abroad.

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Finally, I want to thank our Board of Trustees for their ongoing diligence and good governance, our excellent staff team, ably led by our CEO, David Hevey and of course our funders, the Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and all the other funders, individuals and grant-making trusts who support our vital work.

Thank you very much on behalf of all at Shape.

Tony Heaton OBE

Objectives and activities

Shape's main operational activities and those we aim to help are described below. All our charitable activities focus on the positive promotion of disabled people and are carried out to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Shape’s Vision – what we are working towards

Inspiring and inclusive arts, creative and cultural sectors, accessible to all.

Shape’s Mission – how we will make it happen

By promoting great art, open culture and inclusive practices, knowledge and learning to ensure that disabled people have active and influential roles in arts and culture - as leaders, artists and creatives, participants and audiences, and as part of a skilled workforce.

Shape’s Strategic Aims are to:

Work with cultural sector organisations towards promoting greater accessibility and inclusion – opening talent and audience pathways.

Raise the aspirations of disabled people wanting to work and lead in the cultural sector, providing high quality, accessible learning and development opportunities to support their careers.

Support disabled artists and creatives to achieve excellence and inspire a new generation of artists to emerge.

Improve the public perception of disabled artists and raise their profile across the UK and internationally, to diverse and growing audiences.

Lead with landmark and influential “game-changer” projects to build our creative and cultural reach and continue to pioneer the way for disabled and diverse people who face barriers.

We deliver these aims through focusing on the following key areas:

Arts and Partnerships – developing opportunities for disabled artists, children and young people.

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Audiences and Engagement – broadening arts inclusion and engagement. Skills, Diversity and Leadership – including access, consultancy and training.

We report on our activities under these headings.

In working towards these aims, in 2024/25 we delivered a range of diverse projects and programmes supporting disabled creatives across age groups and career stages, across the UK and internationally, which we report on in the achievements and performance section.

Values – the foundation of our beliefs and guiding purpose:

Inclusion - we value access, diversity, establishing the grounds for advocacy and taking part. Ambition - we value aspiration, growth, future, unlocking potential, the will to improve and be better, seek improvement.

Creativity - we value innovation, seeing the world differently, expanding boundaries, taking risks, challenging convention, valuing beauty and lifting life above the ordinary.

Excellence - we value inspiration, being the best you can be, being judged on merit, having an end point to work towards, doing things the right way, professionally.

These values inform and drive our key strategic aims, detailed in their own section below. Our values are enshrined in all we plan, think and do.

The main objectives and activities for the year were focused upon delivery of our committed programme responding to disabled artists’ needs and the needs of the arts creative and cultural industries. Shape works with ACE as a National Portfolio Transfer Organisation (NPOT) and contributed to the ACE’s ‘Let’s Create’ strategy of supporting Great Art and Culture for Everyone.

The financial statements do not include the intangible benefit from the hours given by the Trustees of the charity to its governance and management. Shape records its sincere appreciation of this benefit.

The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This review looks at the charity’s achievements and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Trustees review the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

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Achievements and performance

The charity's main activities and those it tries to help are described below. All its charitable activities focus on delivering our strategic aims and are carried out to further Shape’s charitable purposes for the public benefit. The report sets out key achievements delivered through the three main areas of activity identified above.

Arts and Partnerships: Developing opportunities for disabled artists

Adam Reynolds Award (ARA)

In July 2024 we announced Chris Laing as our new ARA recipient. As part of our package of support we awarded Chris, who is deaf, and predominantly uses British Sign Language (BSL), with a £10K bursary and began collaborating with him on a project, funded by ourselves, to create a short film designed to act as a campaign highlighting barriers faced by deaf people, in particular BSL users, for whom everyday built environment objects such as call points or help buttons are not accessible.

https://www.shapearts.org.uk/Blog/get-to-know-2024s-adam-reynolds-awardee-chris-laing

At the time of making the award, Jeff Rowlings, Head of Programme at Shape Arts, said: “Chris Laing’s passion for, and dedication to, opening up the world of architecture and spatial design to deaf people exactly mirrors our own mission to ensure that disabled people have the chance to not only enjoy and take part in cultural activity, but to make their own mark on it, and bring to the fore the ideas and voices that enrich society and make our world a better place to live in.

Having the opportunity to make our 2024 Adam Reynolds Award to Chris is doubly significant, firstly in terms of raising Chris’ profile and the aims of the Deaf Architecture Front that he spearheads; and secondly, for the chance to collaborate in the making of a film expounding Chris’ vision of a society in which deaf people are free of the barriers which constrain their lives and creative potential. We are thrilled to be working with Chris this year and look forward to supporting him in making this exciting new work.”

In response, Chris said: “I feel very excited and honoured to be recognised for this award. The opportunity to broaden public awareness of the everyday barriers deaf people face is both valuable and very important. Working with Shape Arts on this project is a wonderful opportunity to make a positive and lasting impact. The award enables Deaf Architecture Front which I founded to create and share a film that brings the deaf community into focus and builds a bridge between architecture and society.

I hope this project raises awareness of the barriers deaf people face and engages new audiences in a conversation about how we can think, plan, and build a better future for our communities, considering the needs of everyone. For me, personally, this will be my first time directing a film and creating scripts and storyboards; it’s an experience I am very much looking forward to.”

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To boost the film’s visual impact, in keeping with Chris’ design brief, we commissioned disabled animation artist and designer Mina Owen to create 2D overlays and inserts that would add another layer of engagement and help to tie together certain elements, without resorting to a dialogue based script or unnecessary exposition. A deaf-led crew undertook the filming, namely cameraman Sam Ash and actor Hermon Berhane. Sign Language Interpreters were on board to ensure smooth communication between this crew and the Shape production team. The film was shot in under a week, using London locations. Some of the crew were involved in post-production work but it was mainly Chris and the Shape team focussing on editing.

A significant focus of this work was on creating a campaign that would be appealing to deaf audiences but carry elements of wider interest to mainstream audiences. From the beginning of 2025 we began to assess which aspects of the film were connecting with online viewers. The film contained flash-card type snippets of campaign information and statistics to raise awareness of the issues faced by deaf people in the built environment, and it appeared to be the blend of these with the main character’s predicaments that worked most successfully. This led to a soft launch of fully edited materials to coincide with Sign Language Awareness week. This fulfilled the aim of the film acting as a vehicle for discussion rather to be viewed as an aesthetic piece – stylistically it is a short infomercial. What we learnt from experimenting on social media is that users largely bypassed the clips when presented as ‘clips from a film’ but did take an interest when we inserted a face and voice to present the issues raised by the film. Comments generated in response to the initial posts drew attention to widespread issues faced by disabled people (not just deaf people) who use public transport services.

We launched the film officially during Deaf Awareness week, and were excited to reach 60K views online through the social media campaign, with hundreds more views on YouTube https://youtu.be/OPkrUb_U0Xw of the full length version.

In tandem with the launch Chris Laing was widely profiled across the deaf-led press. In one interview, on revealing how his own personal experiences were reflected in the film’s events character, he was asked what kind of response he hoped to get from Silent Buttons. In response Chris answered: “I want to raise awareness because nobody really talks about this in public. I hope Transport for London and others take it seriously. The Deaf community does matter, especially in emergencies. Relying on hearing loops alone isn’t enough. Even if only one Deaf person uses a help point or gets stuck in a lift, there should already be accessible BSL communication available. That’s what inclusion really means.”

One reviewer wrote:

‘‘I absolutely love the different scenarios as they highlighted different ways in which Deaf people experience barriers from home life, work life, social life, and normal day to day life. I really appreciate the nuances such as the intersectionality touched upon in the robbery scene where racism was also a concern alongside audism and the ease of how one can forget to turn off the tap when in a rush! I hope this campaign reaches a multitude of people; it’s a new way of educating. I loved the animation also! For someone with a really bad attention span, I was able to stay focused and engaged via Socially Sound account.’’

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As we reached the end of the project, Chris gave us evaluation feedback that without such flexible and accessible support as that provided through the ARA programme, he would never have been able to undertake a project such as this, and he plans to use it as a launching pad for further campaigning to make the built environment more inclusive for deaf people. A talented artist and draughtsman, Chris is close to completing a part time placement with an architectural firm in London, where he will soon be one of the only qualified architects in the country who is a BSL user. Chris plans to work more in film to campaign for deaf people’s rights in his capacity as leader of Deaf Architecture Front (DAF) and commented to us, in recognition of the support he received through the ARA programme: “Gaining experience in directing film and understanding the associated strategies was incredibly valuable, as was the opportunity to explore and develop new skills. Working closely with actors and building connections through networking was also a great experience. The knowledge I gained from this project will directly support DAF’s future campaigning efforts.”

We aim to screen Chris’ film as part of the Flarewave Festival in September 2025, which takes place for the third time this year and is growing its reputation as a major event on the deaf community calendar with support from Brighton Dome Theatre and sponsors such as ourselves.

ARA Shortlist

The Adam Reynolds Award Shortlist programme provides us with the opportunity to make awards to mid-career disabled artists in addition to a main awardee and so add impact and value to the programme. In the past few years, we have awarded small grants for commissioning new work to be made by such artists as part of a package of support. This might include career support and collaboration on a project, in kind production guidance, access support, materials and technical or curatorial advice. This year we made awards to three artists known for their technical abilities and who have in common the fact that they are making new content with spoken word, moving image and text as a main component of their practice. Details of all three selected artists are given below.

We selected Cardiff-based poet Rachel Carney, following discussions with her about her use of Ekphrasis, which is defined as ‘a literary device that describes a visual work of art, either real or imagined, in a vivid and often dramatic way’. Rachel has used Ekphrastic poetry as a means of broadening and deepening engagement with the visual arts by those who may face a range of barriers around education practices, learning and exposure to the arts, and we were very pleased that Rachel was successful in submitting a paper for the Beyond The Visual symposium in November 2024.. For her Shortlist commission, we supported Rachel with the making of a short film in which readings of her poetry, and the presentation of curated objects explore ways that Ekphrasis can reach new audiences and participants. For example, such a film can be played in a gallery or museum setting as a means of introducing Ekphrasis to visitors, whether as a prelude to their own direct participation or to give them an insight into how visual processes work.

Sop is a London-based artist and musician making film, performance, sound, writing, and workshops often in collaboration with others who are also chronically ill. They come from the queer, DIY punk scene, and their work centres modes of sociality rather than dominant notions of

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productivity and wellness. Sop’s film, titled ‘We Year’ uses stunning visual overlays and spoken word to meditate on ‘crip time’ and the frustrations of being confined to home in relation to societal expectations around work, rest and productivity.

Davinia-Ann Robinson’s (born in Wolverhampton, lives and works in London) art practice and research are explored through sound, sculpture, writing and performance, examining how tactility, presencing and fugitivity work to form an undoing of colonial and imperial frameworks of extraction, through which nature and Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies are articulated within colonialism. In her film, titled Between the Body and Clay, Davinia explores texture, mood, movement and phases of making and being using visceral, prolonged contact with raw clay and clay slip.

As indicated, all three commissioned works for the Shortlist this year are short films incorporating spoken word, verse and meditations accompanied by collages in different media. In each case, we are working towards the films being exhibited in galleries, screening or other spaces, with Davinia Ann Robinson’s work to be shown as part of a clay sculpture installation exhibited at the Stanley Picker gallery, Surrey in September 2025, and Rachel Carney to launch her film at Cardiff University. The event will invite participants to make their own creative responses to the showcased artworks.

Animations made by our three ARA Shortlist artists from last year continued to gain views subsequent to their launch late in 2024, adding 2K to our online audiences, and we were delighted that both The Voice by Djofray Makumbu and Peel by Tilly PM have been selected for screening festivals.

The Voice - https://youtu.be/iAhygSRmelo?list=PLsohq98CRFntNF_RCBa_4-feB2Db45tpz

Peel- https://youtu.be/oBlCinZajNc?list=PLsohq98CRFntNF_RCBa_4-feB2Db45tpz

Vyhod/exit - https://youtu.be/Se-oCh0xE9c?list=PLsohq98CRFntNF_RCBa_4-feB2Db45tpz

Emergent

This was the third year of our programme forged in partnership with Baltic, Gateshead, and designed to tackle the isolation and marginalisation of early career disabled creatives in the wake of the pandemic and disruptions to the arts sector ecology. This project also supports one of our key organisational aims of bringing on a new generation of exciting artistic talent. Following a successful call out campaign, we were pleased to receive another strong pool of applicants for the Emergent programme. As with last year, we received around 100 applications, from which one main awardee and a shortlist of four artists were selected by the Shape and Baltic programme teams, with input from last year’s awardee Emma Bentley Fox, which was of great value to us, in particular when it came to assessing the best match for the on-site residency experience. All the selected artists are based in the North of England or Scotland, with the recipient of the three month residency and £5k bursary being Kerolaina Linkeviča. https://www.shapearts.org.uk/Blog/2024-emergent-cohort

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The resident: Kerolaina Linkeviča

Kerolaina was born in Daugavpils, Latvia and migrated to the UK at ten years old. Their childhood was deeply rooted in the forest, animism, magic, and a multiverse of computer games, all of which informs their art practice in the UK today. Laīna's work expresses and explores imaginary worlds, symbiotic entities, alternative subcultures, and virtual environments; each personifying a range of theories, mythos, and emotional histories, continuously evolving through the ecology of their imagination. Laīna seeks to inspire others to explore their inner worlds through tangible making, immersive questing, and generative play, enabling the creative apparatus of personal transformation that may be discovered, actuating more creative agency in our metamorphic lives.

The shortlist:

Oscar Marcus Boyle ‘‘oscar is cookin' up some work about Bread - Big Bright drawings: fun ruins, and crumblin' and fractured, like those fresco parts pulled off of some pompeiian's wall, which Andy.M texted over Some Time Ago. And ground up wheat in oil paint on an old breadboard. how can an image make connections even broken up [with history and its co-pilots] when words won't do OR if they do what are they actually made up of right now? he always ate the bread but started making the stories by accident: conversations turn into cycles of thought (Alchemy) and cycles of thought into being unable not to talk about it somehow. even if that's from more conversations, or asking everyone at the Bowls Club to hum and then leaving with a bin-bag full of rattling tins. do you/we do something after the art's gone home? (c. Lispector saying something about photographs of perfume, Celan saying something about snow and wheat and memories). oscar lives in Glasgow and loves it there/there could be too much rain, fewer motorways.’’ Image: Bread Tree Puts the Bakery Out of Business, Oscar Marcus Boyle. Courtesy of the artist.

Maya Rose Edwards

Maya Rose Edwards is a participatory public sculptor. They have worked in participatory settings for five years, creating ambitious public interventions with communities and their landscapes. In 2023, completing the Mount Stuart Artists Residency, their project TWOFOLD explored the connection between queer and rural identities on the Isle of Bute, resulting in a series of permanent, site-specific works. They are currently undertaking a 14-month placemaking commission along Stranraer's abandoned waterfront, co-designing an ecological-focused future landmark with communities along a post-industrial coastline. They are the recipient of the RSA New Contemporaries Selection 2023 for which they received the Chalmers Award, Creative Scotland Youth Arts Bursary 2022, Steven Palmer Travel Bursary 2023, and have just installed an interactive public artwork as part of the 13th edition of Sculpture in the City, supported by the City of London.

Liberty Hodes

Liberty Hodes is a multi-disciplinary artist and facilitator based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, primarily working in performance-making, video and sculpture. They work in a way which is fizzy and ideas-first, often stemming from a desire to embody and enact the non-human. Liberty's work often adopts the language of British Folk Culture and is pre-occupied by a sense of place and how humans see ourselves reflected in the landscape as it changes through demolition and re-

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building. They are interested in using historical tropes of performance to explore contemporary experiences.

Romi Sarfaty

Romi Sarfaty is a contemporary performance and visual artist. Her work is inspired by worlds of mythology and make-belief, associative streams of consciousness, iconography, and a raw, unashamed state of mind. In Romi's practice, she works with abstraction, absurdity, and melodrama. She is drawn to present, embody, and celebrate things in their most extreme, grotesque form. Romi's research delves into neurodivergent thinking, playing with and rearranging what exists in reality with an attention to what it triggers in the mind.

Inspired by psycho-magic and sustainable practices, Romi crafts her own costumes and sets, considering the visual the most crucial way of communicating. Her movement and writing practice are driven by body-mind frequencies and urges, inspired by Butoh, body-weather, and bodyarchive philosophies. Romi considers craft-making and use of bodies as forms of visual communication, aspiring to generate content that is authentic and led by the state of the self and its surroundings.

We met with the cohort from September 2024 onwards, when artist-curator Rosalind Davies, who has worked with Shape before in a mentoring capacity, led a group session inviting the artists to consider their brand, identity, messaging and artist statements. During fortnightly meetings we provided artists with information and advice to help shape their plans, and for each person we also assisted with a funding application (minimum of one per artist). In addition to another group session led by Jenny Tipton of Cabbage Arts, Glasgow, on understanding fundraising and sustaining a career, we gave focus to the artists’ access needs so that they would be in a better position to work more independently in the future. Emma Dean at Baltic also met with each artist to provide curatorial feedback and we provided artists with marketing support for their ongoing projects and activities.

Between mid-November and December, awardee Kerolaina Linkeviča undertook a month long residency on site at Baltic, connecting with the curatorial team led by Emma Dean and engaging with the institution as well as local artist groups. Owing to timings with a larger scale project Laina is devising, and for which we are supporting them to apply for funding, this event will take place in late 2025, with the working title Project Blue, which seeks to blend the night club experience with sensory experiences and 3D printed sculptures as part of Laina’s scenographer approach to live performance.

We were delighted to have a great range of external mentors agreeing to meet with the artists, building on the success of this strand in the last two years. Meetings between the Emergent artists and professional artist mentors were arranged for the final quarter of the year.

Feedback examples from initial sessions:

-Thank you so much for the wonderful meeting, I really appreciated your insights; truly helpful in working out a lot of brain puzzles.

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-Thanks so much for this, I had a bit of a deep dive after our session and have compiled a list of venues and organisations to reach out to, which I will begin to do over the next few days.

-I wanted to thank you for the session, I found it super helpful and informative and took a lot of notes into our application

We have put some evaluation feedback below, which includes some interesting learning points. We also asked artists what they wanted from the wider sector, and found that in each case it was a lack of flexibility and understanding of access needs at institutions that often held them back or caused frustration and disappointment.

Outcomes and analysis

Following previous feedback, we made clearer what kind of support areas the Shape team could offer, to provide more in the way of group activity, to balance the spread of practical advice (about approaching institutions and making applications) with strategic advice on how to link the learning to their medium and longer term goals. There was also more emphasis on strategic planning and aiming for win-win outcomes and maximising impact whilst reducing repetition. We believe this accounts for the uplift from circa 80% satisfaction rates in year 1, to 90%+ in year 2 and now 100% in year 3.

What were the most useful support areas you received during Emergent?

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without the support from Shape, this hopefully will allow me to continue my practice with integrated support in the future to avoid burnout.

Please describe how this mentoring might assist you with your career or practice?

When asked what their next steps might be as a result of their Emergent support, artists said: - It made me reflect and acknowledge what I can put into place within my practice in order to support me over my dynamic disability. I haven't had any support previously and often struggled through challenges with a lack of understanding, however now and through my residency I have taken the steps necessary to start setting up support e.g. access to work and reformulating my routines to take care of my needs. I also have a clearer understanding of what my practice is and a vision for its future culminations.

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When we asked the cohort what changes they wanted to see in the wider arts sector, artists said: - At least for my disability I felt like the programme was very supportive, and even made me understand better how to communicate my needs and what I deserve.

Summary:

This year’s programme was highly successful in terms of us being able to match artists’ access needs and career situations, with this reflected in the high feedback ratings. Part of this was due to us knowing better what to look for in candidates, and part of it was due to us making the offer clearer and having funds to provide access support at every stage. The choice of mentors, made through discussion and reflection on artist’s preferences and our own suggestions, was also a very successful aspect, as was the excellent support, advice and generous hosting made available to the awardee by Emma Dean and the team at Baltic.

Looking ahead, we have valuable sector-first materials to share with wider numbers of disabled creatives, and also have other notable organisations expressing an interest in partnering with us. We will maintain contact with our Emergent alumni, now growing in number, and see this as its own area of development, alongside us developing our networks of disabled mentors.

Writers

Following our 2024 call out we attracted 29 applicants for the Free Reads scheme, partnering for another successful year with The Literary Consultancy (TLC). Candidates applied from across the country, and as with our Emergent call out, the standard of entries was very high. TLC now provide subsidised options for editorial sesions or a 1:1 meeting with their team in addition to the usual option of having work read and critiqued. This resulted in us being able to place 13 disabled, low income writers with offers of support, including the mentoring scheme. Genres included screen and theatre scripts, poetry, including performance poetry, fictional novel and memoir, as well as short story format.

We met with TLC to discuss ways of developing our partnership and ensuring the right kind of support and advice is available for disabled writers who apply to the annual programme. Our website now signposts writers to some good resources on the TLC site, and we agreed that the new offer of editorial advice as well as more general 1:1 feedback was beneficial in catering for diverse support needs, and this was reflected in the feedback we received:

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Feedback included:

TLC commissions

Following discussions with TLC we were pleased to collaborate with them on a new cocommissioning opportunity for two disabled artists to make work in response to statements made by writers in a series of feedback sessions convend as part fo a report to Arts Council England. One commission focused on what it is to be a writer, and the other on wellbeing for writers, taking into account the isolated nature of writing and hazardous path to publication and recognition in today’s environment. The research, which aims to highlight the important contribution writers make to culture and wider society, and issues around sustainability, will result in written reports to be published in 2026. The point of the commissions is to make these reports come to life and attract attention across the sector, and be distributable in a sharable digital format. We met with the two artists we selected, Monique Jackson and Anne Teahan, to discuss the commissions in detail and provide them with support and critical feedback.

Monique Jackson is an illustration artist based in London who became well known as an advocate for disabled people living with Long Covid and its associated stigmas; she led on the Still Ill Coronavirus Diaries project to document and highlight issues surrounding the disease and its social impact. Monique is a Shape Open alumnus.

Anne Teahan’s art employs a range of two- and three-dimensional digital and physical processes, from drawing and painting to the construction of fragmented paper sculptures, often from torn printed drawings. Teahan, who lives in London, is interested in taking ordinary objects such as pots and shoes through visual transformations and variations. Anne is an ARA Shortlist, Tate Exchange and Free Reads alumnus.

Artist support and trajectories

Our flexible support for disabled creatives and companies, as well as those working with disability-led initiatives and wanting to improve their accessibility, continues to evolve as a vital source of advice, guidance and signposting for the sector, with the team covering areas such as project development, access curation, creative production, career and funding advice and mentoring, among others. Support for disabled creatives may take place during our development

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programmes, or as a result of enquiries from alumni or people new to us. Our contact with sector organisations is largely with those who want to know more about accessibility and inclusion strategies. However, as with TLC and Baltic, this may involve creative partnerships or cocommissions, co-production or other forms of partnership working.

Across our learning and participation programmes, we reached 180 cultural workers through audits and training at 17 institutions and 344 cultural workers in informal settings, including talks, workshops and information, advice and guidance sessions. This work was delivered across 253 sessions and the 331 figure was composed of (i) 225 attendances at talks, events and workshops and (ii) 106 1:1 sessions with individuals and small creative organisations across the UK, including large institutions, diverse start-ups and project-led groups. Examples include: Art School Plus, Hackney Libraries, Lewisham Arthouse, Kings College London, TLC, Access Group, Ugly Duck, Somerset House Upgrade Yourself Festival, Buckinghamshire Culture Archive, South London Gallery, arebyte, Cromwell Place, Pinhole, V&A, GLA & London Metropolitan Archives, Exchange Gallery, Josephs Garden, ACE, Scope, Komet Kashakeel, Stagetext, Buckinghamshire New University and Beyond The Visual. Of this latter figure, 97 were disabled artists and many of the delegates attending the talks and events were from marginalised groups including disabled people. Beneficaries were based across the UK, including districts such as Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, Cardiff, Chesterfield, Colchester, Coventry, Exeter, Glasgow, Hackney, Kingston, Leeds, Lewisham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Newham, Penzance, Scunthorpe, Sleaford, Surrey, Westminster and Yorkshire. In addition, we reached 345 children and young people across 21 sessions, with the majority of these taking place in Southwest of England settings with children with additional educational needs and the majority in underserved areas of the country in terms of cultural engagement.

Examples of IAG and creative support feedback include:

Sample feedback from artists includes:

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

-Through support from Shape Arts, I have been able to showcase my own work to display, as well as curate the work of numerous disabled artists from all over the country. What is key to all of the collaborative work that I have done with Shape Arts, is that it has always felt open and creatively invigorating.

Other examples include supporting Abi Palmer with audio description for her new exhibition Slime Mother which launched at Chapter, Cardiff, as well as the Further Afield project, led by Bella Milroy, for which we provided in kind advice as well as commissioning funds. The project was launched online via Level, Derby, highlighting issues faced by- disabled creatives living in rural isolation.

Events, workshops and sector impact

Speaking at the Upgrade Yourself festival at Somerset House, Shape digital and comms producer Eli Hayes led a panel discussion entitled ‘Forging Accessible Creative Careers with Shape Arts’ involving alumni from Emergent and the Shape Open. The talk explored the challenges and opportunties of beginning a career in the creative industries, with an emphasis on how to make the journey more accessible, and therefore sustainable, for disabled creatives. The event targeted early career participants, with over 60 people in attendance.

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/upgrade-yourself-festival/jun-2024

Making online environments accessible is as important as physical spaces and so it was good to be able to support a major digital developer The Access Group, who oversee digital platforms and websites for hundreds of third sector companies, including Shape. As part of an online learning event we presented insights into cultivating a more accessible and inclusive appoach to website engagement based on our own experiences and digital strategy.

Supporting Art School Plus and Hackney Libraries with the Art at The Heart project launched in July 2024, enabled us to connect with libraries across the country as well as support a valuable artist residency for ARA alumnus Jay Price. https://news.hackney.gov.uk/innovative-art-programme-to-transform-libraries-into-culturalhubs-with-training-for-artists/

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Trustees’ annual report

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The programme was hugely successful and benefited local residents and a cohort of participating artists alike, with an accessible approach embedded from the beginning, in line with best practice. There were multiple positive outcomes impacting local libraries across the borough, with plans for future artist commisioning to build on the creative interactions being just one of them.

Trajectories

Across the arts and cultural sectors, we find creatives supported by Shape flourishing in new roles, undertaking new commissions and opportunity, and taking up leadership positions. Disabled people face multiple barriers to advancement. Even with greater access provision available through key funders and inclusive organisations, it can take many additional years later to progress at the same level as non disabled peers. This underlines the need for consistent support and funding to be in place to enable organisations such as Shape to help cultivate conditions for these trajectories to happen. With the Shape Open and ARA programmes well established in our field, we find alumni of these programmes progressing across the UK and interntionally. We are also pleased to see evidence that Emergent artists are also going on to valuable next step opportunities, given that the project has only been running a few years.

We continue to develop a warm relationship with the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and were delighted that ARA alumnus Aaron McPeake’s artwork ‘Subjective Acuity’ is being exhibited as part of the Reverberations exhibition at the Design Museum of Chicago. This is the fifth iteration of the Voices Embodied series curated by disabled artist Alex Stark. Aaron’s artwork was co-commissioned by Shape working in collaboration with Kings College London for the Layers of Vision exhibition, 2023.

SAIC contacted us to share:

https://www.wbez.org/reset-with-sasha-ann-simons/2024/08/30/off-the-beaten-path-thedesign-museum-of-chicago

These trajectory stories are only a small example. After developing our visual arts programme in the last dozen years or so, we are beginning to see a stable of Shape-supported artists break through to achieve wider public recognition. Of particular note is ARA and Shape Open alumnus Jason Wilsher-Mills, who invited us to the launch of his epic solo exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. Following this he achieved significant publicity in the national media, including this Guardian feature (and recommended show listing), below, published on 9 April 2024: https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/09/jason-wilsher-mills-jason-and-theadventure-of-254-welcome-collection

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/12/caravaggio-shonibare-week-in-art

Over the course of the year, Jason’s exhibition attracted 170, 000 visitors, including many families impacted by disability who contacted Jason to share their stories and express their appreciation of the way he engages the public with his own story and expansive and cartoonish style of art.

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Wellcome Collection reported the public response and engagement on a level with their most popular shows in the pre-covid era. The show closed in February 2025 and will be toured in a varied format around the UK.

We were pleased that Emergent alumnus Belladonna Paloma was selected for the Foyle Visual Artists Residency with Hospitalfield: .https://hospitalfield.org.uk/introducing-the-artists-selected-for-the-foyle-visual-artistsresidency/

Shape Open and DAM In Venice alumnus Abi Palmer, who is one of our Emergent mentors this year, has taken her slug-focussed project Slime Mother to Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool. We supported Abi for this project through creating and recording audio description to boost engagement and accessibility

https://theguideliverpool.com/the-bluecoat-launches-new-season-celebrating-written-and- spoken word/

Another Shape Open alumnus, n:u, fka melissandre varin, exhibited Burned House Horizon at Mimosa House

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a1d61349f07f57a59258fe5/t/67810d46f93e1f21c85e0a 4a/1736510790851/BHH+Press+Release_design+%281%29.pdf

Also Shape Open and Layers of Vision alumnus Bianca Rafaella launched her first significant solo show at the prestigious Flowers Gallery in London, following an intensive residency experience at Tracey Emin’s studios in Margate.

https://www.flowersgallery.com/artists/1432-bianca-raffaella/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3e13v7zw7vo

https://www.flowersgallery.com/viewing-room/114-bianca-raffaella-faint-memories-audioguide/

Following quickly on his successful animation launch, Shape Open alumnus and ARA awardee 2023 James Lake was presented with the Nathan David Award for Sculpture at the Royal Society of British Artists annual show at the Mall Galleries, London.

Renowned sculptor and Shape Chair Tony Heaton OBE, likewise exhibiting at The DAM IN Venice exhibition this year, was announced as a finalist of the CREA Open 2025, continuing his international trajectory.

https://creavenice.com/so/1bPL_sYw3?languageTag=it&cid=faf5c101-a765-4717-abce43ee23c3c1e2

The National Disability Movement Archive and Collection (NDMAC)

Led by Shape CEO and National Disability Arts Collection and Archives (NDACA) Project Director David Hevey, NDMAC, is Shape’s large scale heritage project which is collecting and retelling the heritage story of the Disability Rights Movement, interpreting those heritage stories in films,

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

moving image works, a website, a catalogue of over 1,000 newly digitised works, learning resources, artists commissions, a repository and more.

During 2024-2025, NDACA had a significant presence in the DAM IN VENICE exhibition and tour, which achieved over 2M online and over 70k walk in audiences. NDMAC created a core for that show, exhibiting the Keith Armstrong Collection created by NDMAC. Other elements, such as the film making, oral history captures, thesauri building and more, were completed in 2024, too. NDMAC continues to go live in 2024 and 2025 and we believe we will achieve some 10M in users and audience for this project by 2030. This all based on the incredible and unique voices of the activists who fought for and delivered civil rights in the UK in the mid 1990s; this is the heritage story we are telling.

During the four-year 2022-2026 heritage project NDMAC will record and digitise these unique social history and heritage stories. These are being used to create an accessible and interactive website that is dedicated to their personal stories from the Disability Rights Movement in the UK. The website will digitise and preserve collections of key figures from the Disability Rights

During the third full delivery year of 2024/25 , Shape achieved significant advances in the project including:

The National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA)

The NDACA project continues to impact on a curator-less-digital-archive-in-cyber-space, with for example the NDACA Social Model Animation passing the half of a million views mark by the previous period. The NDACA Wing in Buckingham New University (BNU) continued to be used for appointments by scholars from the UK and abroad, supported by both the University staff and the NDACA Archivist, Alex Cowan MA. NDACA also supported THE DAM IN VENICE 2024-2025, providing deposited artworks such as the landmark Tanya Raabe-Webber series entitled Who’s Who, displayed in the landmark CRIP ARTE SPAZIO: THE DAM IN VENICE, curated and creatively directed by Shape CEO David Hevey, which went live in Venice in April 2024 and played until January 2025 on an extended run, before its English tour. NDACA continues to influence widely, too, in the heritage sector, with other outsider-heritage-projects reaching out for our NDACA

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support. The Accessions Committee also meets six monthly during the period of this report, commenting on the collection and making sure the collection remained open for new accessions.

On a day to day basis, NDACA continues to influence in the period, such as in the following ways:

Shape Presents The DAM In Venice 2024

Led by David Hevey as Curator and Creative Director, this year saw the going live year of CRIP ARTE SPAZIO: THE DAM IN VENICE , with the ‘Going Live in Venice’ occurring in April 2024 and a 9 month run extended to January 2025. This is the first major international exhibition of the UK's unique and radical Disability Arts Movement, showcasing seven of the leading radical disabled artists from this world-shaking arts movement that helped win rights for disabled people and create the same time a large and important artistic production around these themes. After Venice closed in January 2025, our UK tour commenced with DAM IN VENICE at the Attenborough Arts Centre from early to mid 2025.

The show achieved major press and was called ‘One of the Top Exhibitions In The World 2024’. It gained over 2M views online, major media profiles such as in Frieze, and achieved 73k walk in.

The assets then become significant elements of NDACA and NDMAC – the flags, the Keith Armstrong drapes, the films, etc – as part of the Rights Visibility elements of NDMAC. So allowing our projects to cross-fertilise, empower and uplift each other to wider audiences and users.

The medial picked up how the exhibition, supported by the British Council and Arts Council, conveys the enthusiasm and creativity of the DAM Movement, with press in the London Evening Standard, HyperAllergic, Frieze, etc., and with huge impact on social media

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Curated and Creatively Directed by David Hevey with exhibition design by Nina Shen, the more than 20 works are framed by enormous, witty and extraordinary protest banners, imposing comic strips describing the history of the DAM, and giant cinema screens showing films on artists directed by David. Even with our graphic novel Crip Arte Spazio, which shows the DAM blowing up Venice and winning the Golden Lion, CRIP ARTE SPAZIO: THE DAM IN VENICE conveys the sheer exuberance, joy and creative explosion of the great DAM Movement. In addition to works by artists Terence Birch, Tony Heaton OBE, Jameisha Prescod, Abi Palmer, Ker Wallwork, Tanya RaabeWebber, Jason Wilsher-Mills and Keith Armstrong (RIP), there were also the aforesaid graphic novels, films, radical rights heritage elements and more, in order to create and recreate that feeling of a joyous movement for change. During its stay at AAC, which commenced in February 2025, the show went onto have over 77 learning workshops alone, too, and for which we produced the CRIP ARTE SPAZIO: THE DAM IN VENICE catalogue, written by Shape CEO/Artistic Director David Hevey which included profiles and Hevey’s interviews with the artists, too.

The show was also featured in the ACE Annual Report-Review 2024/25 and noted as a ‘great success’ by ACE.

Shape Creative and Heritage Services

The marketing and underpinning tools to roll these elements out are still in place, including posters, marketing flyers and a microsite to join the main Shape website.

However, we still are unable to roll out Shape Creative and Heritage Services to market, largely because of the still post-Covid economic sluggishness and economic challenges facing the arts and creative sectors as they fight for their own survivals. There is also a well documented decline in arts and heritage organisational funding, so they are less likely to venture to out-source services. However, we still believe that Shape can develop positive disruption and change to the arts and their delivery models through Shape delivering business and content elements for other organisations’ needs, such as creative directing, digital services, inclusion strategies and so on. So, while we wait for new models of business opportunity to roll out our services, we are using the principles inhouse – such as digitising in house, producing podcasts inhouse, making full crew films in house, and so on, which allows us significant recharge income, so the models are live and generate incomes, but not yet rolled out to other organisations. These have been used in DAM IN VENICE and NDMAC, for example, seeing Shape thus recharge for services on these projects, both earning Shape an income and being significant value for money to the projects, too, as we deliver best quality at lowest prices.

Audiences – broadening arts inclusion and engagement

During the year we delivered 952 sessions of activity across all programme areas, including workshops, advice sessions and events. Of this figure, we delivered 677 days of exhibitions, residencies and screenings, directly producing the content our working in close partnership with other organisations. This provided us with a strong platform from which to reach diverse audiences across the UK and internationally, many of whom are disabled and marginalized people whose engagement with arts and culture fluctuates according to what is made accessible to them. We delivered content across multiple platforms including film, podcast, exhibitions, screenings

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and residency events. Additionally, we achieved 10K audiences for the Clerk and Dagger sustainability project, with 5K website visits and downloads and 5K social media shares.

Working closely with partners such as CREA (Venice), Baltic, Bucks New University, Kings College London, Beyond The Visual, Attenborough Arts Centre and Hotknife we were in a position to present a multifaceted programme giving new and innovative insights into the place, role and value of disabled people in society, enabling us to pivot from advocacy to illustrations of the talent, vision and originality of those creatives we support across a swathe of projects and programmes.

With the DAM In Venice exhibition touring to Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester, from its original Venice location, we reached over 35K walk in visitors for the year, and the exposure generated by the show enabled us to reach over 2M online across a variety of media outlets and digital attendances.

Reviews and features such as that by disabled artist and Shape alumnus Jamilla Prowse for Frieze ensured that this break out exhibition was recognised across the arts press. In her article, Prowse acknowledges the ambition of the work by saying: ‘Shape Arts Wants You to ‘Look Up to the Power of Crip’ - The exuberant history of resistance by the Disability Arts Movement gets a historic review in Venice.

https://www.frieze.com/article/shape-arts-DAM-in-venice

This figure of 2 million compares favourably with last year, where we had just under a million direct audiences and most of our impact was achieved through secondary audiences, (partnerships and third-party references to Shape’s work). The citing of Crip Arte Spazio as one of the top 50 exhibitions in the world as judged by Hyperallergic, a USA based online arts magazine, combines both critical praise and high-volume readership, which is exactly the combination of outcomes we are seeking in our audience development plan. This feature was boosted by its recognition by our partners CREA and others, with CREA making press announcements on the run up to the exhibition launch all the way to the closing in January 2025, where they said, “We are proud to have been part of this amazing adventure!”.

https://hyperallergic.com/974112/top-50-exhibitions-around-the-world-2024/

Hyperallergic has over one million unique readers per month and this figured is buoyed by our coverage through Artnet which has over 2 million monthly users from over 239 countries and territories. The fact that the exhibition was supported by the heritage wing of Shape whilst promoting artist trajectories for our programme alumni is also an excellent win-win outcome.

Other examples of diverse coverage for DAM In Venice include a post by renowned arts producers Artichoke promoting the exhibition: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_Si9m1o5mF/?hl=en

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Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Below is a link to a Disability Arts Online podcast episode in which Shape Chair and exhibiting artist Tony Heaton is interviewed about the exhibition:

https://disabilityarts.online/magazine/interviews/podcast-ep-61-disability-and-dam-in-venicewith-tony-heaton/

Below is a link and copy from publicity launched by Attenborough Arts Centre to promote the DAM In Venice exhibition as it opened in Leicester: https://attenborougharts.com/whats-on/crip-arte-spazio-the-disability-arts-movement-invenice/

The article begins:

‘‘Shape Arts has brought its landmark ‘Crip Arte Spazio: The Disability Arts Movement in Venice’ exhibition to Leicester, fresh from its presentation at the world-renowned Venice Biennale 2024. The Disability Arts Movement [DAM] aligned art with the fight for rights, broke barriers, and ultimately affected changes in UK law, while making great art about doing so. Previously on show at the 60th Venice Biennale, the exhibition is a joyous and exuberant celebration of the Disability Arts Movement, showcasing its dynamism, wit, and grandeur.

The title Crip Arte Spazio, translated as Crip Art Space, plays on Italian words while reclaiming slurs disabled people have historically and continue to face. We fully support the curators, artists and disabled people in the reclamation of these words. The exhibition’s presentation at the Venice Biennale 2024 was the first time that a major exhibition about the UK’s Disability Arts Movement had been presented internationally. Attenborough Arts Centre is proud to be the first UK touring venue for this historically important show’’.

Giving insight into his artist practice and the wider context of the exhibition and Disability Arts Movement, ARA alumnus Terence Birch also took part in a discussion with curator and Shape alumnus Rebbeca Wymant at CREA:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGK_BE4vMQ_/

Altogether, a combination of talks, blogs, essays and international and national press features covering the DAM In Venice and its impact helped to define this as a hugely significant year both for Shape Arts and the wider Disability Arts Movement.

Other examples of us reaching new audiences include though the launch of Another Day, the animation created by ARA awardee James Lake, who was interviewed by diverse outlets, each of whom had a different reason to explore his practice and promote him as an artist. As a result of this interest, James is being approached to attend screenings where Another Day will play for audiences around the country.

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/james-lake-another-day-animation-project-031224

Relating to this, our YouTube channel benefited from the year’s increase in publication of short films and animations, with an increase in subscribers occurring in tandem. Our figures rose from 49,838 in 2023-24 to 58,851 in 2024-25. This represents an 18% increase in views. Of this 58K

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views, 20K are attributable to new content being published during the year, and 38K views relating to legacy, or pre-existing content. Combined with our podcast and newsletter circulation, we reached 79.8K hits or views due to the delivery of original content and were delighted that James Lake’s film Another Day, created and produced through our Adam Reynolds Award programme, reached 18K audiences through online views, with over a thousand more people reached through screenings and workshops.

On the approach to the film’s launch, James and Shape were in contact with https://www.nsead.org / National Society for Education in Art & Design (NSEAD) regards featuring the film in their publication. The team at NSEAD got back with great enthusiasm about the film and went on to raise its profile among their members:

-The film has blown us all away it is quite incredible. There are stories and layers of learning throughout the film which are breath-taking.

Arising from discussions with James during the evaluation of his awardee year, we developed a blog which references James’ concerns about the imperilled state of art and creativity in education, and it was significant that when he was contacting one of the colleges he regularly visits, they informed him that they plan to close design courses on the basis that ‘in the future this will be done by AI’. We are currently supporting James with his plans to diversify his practice and make it more sustainmable on the back of the award and his recent experiences. https://www.shapearts.org.uk/Blog/catch-up-with-james-lake

ARA alumni continue to feature in high profile publicity and events across the globe. DAM In Venice exhibiting artist Jason Wilsher-Mills linked his trajectory story to Shape in his bio on the Balloon Museum website, upon presenting his large scale works there:

https://balloonmuseum.world/emotionair/ : “Since its debut in 2021, the Balloon Museum project has travelled the skies of the world and is recognized as a global phenomenon, welcoming over 7 million visitors. Balloon Museum is a format created by a curatorial team that designs and realizes contemporary art exhibitions with specific works in which ‘air’ is the distinctive element.”

Jason’s bio read: The transition from traditional to digital initially stirred Jason’s artistic conscience, challenging his classical training. However, in recent years, he has wholeheartedly “embraced the pixel,” expanding his portfolio to encompass interactive sculptures, 3D prints, lightboxes, and augmented reality experiences. Beyond his personal artistry, Jason actively engages in community projects, collaborating with diverse individuals. In 2020, he earned the prestigious Adam Reynolds Award from SHAPE Arts, leading to a commission for an interactive sculpture at the Folkestone Triennial, which was unveiled in September 2021, marking a pivotal moment in his career.

Reviews in the USA of the work of ARA alumnus Aaron McPeake at the School of the Arts Institute Chicago (SAIC) included: https://www.chicagotribune.com/events/#!/details/Voices-EmbodiedReverberations/13884454/2024-08-31T10

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https://www.wbez.org/reset-with-sasha-ann-simons/2024/08/30/off-the-beaten-path-thedesign-museum-of-chicago

https://www.instagram.com/designmuseumchi/p/C8xOKH4OkCM/?img_index=1 - https://fun4thedisabled.com/voices embodied/

Finally, demonstrating the diversity and range of our audience reach, we include our support through NDACA for INVISIBLE CABARET, the culmination of a 6 month project that brought together individual and collective artworks that connected social and political representations of disability with the artists’ personal and intimate concerns. The exhibition was supported by Bucks Culture with NDACA collaboration, for which Shape’s NPO team provided advice at planning stage.

The Collectives’ work explored themes of categorisation, body mechanics, mental gymnastics, navigating the world through visual impairment, the weight of words, perceptions and misconceptions of disability.

For this show, the artists explored the history of the Paralympics through the first-hand accounts of disabled athletes, the ephemera of items worn and documents that chart the history of the paralympic movement. The Collectives’ work champions the artists who were instrumental in the early days of the disability arts movement and is also inspired by the radical power of the movement itself.

Skills, Diversity and Leadership

In addition to the work and events listed above that support the Creative Case for Diversity, we also delivered formal access audits and consultancy sessions for individuals and organisations working across the cultural spectrum, including Arts Marketing Association, Dundee Contemporary, Greenwich Theatre, Royal Albert Hall and Henry Moore Foundation. This included formal access audits, consultancy and training delivered to 71 cultural workers. Our partnership with Goss Associates enabled us to reach 180 cultural workers over the year, with delivery covering training and auditing and reaching 17 cultural organisations around the UK. Additionally, we achieved 7,820 views of resources on our website, benefiting cultural organisations wishing to improve their accessibility and inclusivity as well as creatives, including disabled creatives, who are developing projects and programmes with disabled audiences in mind.

Our programme continued to reflect the diversity of the communities and regions in which we deliver our work and of the beneficiaries awarded grants through our programmes, over half were based outside of London. Our disability-led programme incorporated marginalised voices at every stage, as well as providing learning opportunities for sector organisations through diverse partners. Our call out for Emergent, for example, returned applications from diverse groups across the country, in particular the north of England and Scotland, with applicants with protected characteristics in numbers higher than the UK average. For example, less than a third of applicants identified as heterosexual and less than half identified as White British. A fifth of applicants identified as transgender and through our widening of reach to include re-emerging artists, we attracted 11% applicants over the age of 45. Our survey also identified class barriers as a specific

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Shape London

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obstacle to career progression and financial issues/ poverty combining with this to represent 17% of applicants.

This diversity of background was reflected in the selected cohort who likewise reflected diverse practice areas across performance, painting and fine art, digital media, mixed media and installation, theatre, craft, puppetry, music and film. We know that barriers around class as well as the other societal and systemic issues disabled creatives face result in stalled careers, issues with finances and debt and contribute to many leaving a creative career to take up a 'safer' non-creative occupation or not work at all. This was a pattern we found in common across other programme areas including the ARA Shortlist and TLC commissions and writer support programme.

Additionally, freelancers in Priority Places were engaged to support the Invisible cabaret exhibition we supported, led by Bucks Culture and commissioning disabled artists' responses to a provocation by disabled artist- activist Ellie Renton. Other disabled, BAME and marginalised workers were engaged to work on the de installation and transportation of Crip Arte Spazio.

In terms of team upskilling, learning and development, time and resource was invested into raising skill levels in digital media and production, with considerable time directed towards the editing and production of the Chris Laing film Silent Buttons (filmed by a deaf-led crew). The team increased its knowledge and experience of working in animation and image manipulation, which will help us to support disabled creatives in the future working in these fields. The NDMAC team gained new knowledge and experience in image grading using digital tools as well as in areas such as graphic design and website creation. New training in Google analytics supported by our web developer will enable us to better evaluate the impact of our work and where best to prioritise resources. Through investing in in-house skills, we are able to work across increasing varied areas of technical as well as curatorial practice and benefit disabled creatives by using our expertise in supporting the development and planning of their projects, with embedded access and inclusion strategies adding value and relevance to our support.

Children and Young People

Our work with children and young people aims to raise the aspirations of young disabled people who are contemplating their futures, and in helping them to formulate positive future plans, as well as to encourage wider arts and cultural engagement among young people. We prioritise engagements where young disabled people can connect with disabled artists who have a professional practice, and who can act as mentors and role models, and with arts organisations able to provide a high-quality offer in terms of cultural education and career progression routes, or the opportunity to experience and enjoy great art. In all cases, we prioritise these quality principles in our work with young people:

  1. Striving for excellence. 2. Being authentic. 3. Being exciting, inspiring and engaging.

  2. Ensuring a positive, child-centred experience. 5. Actively involving children and young people

  3. Providing a sense of personal progression. 7. Developing a sense of ownership and belonging

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Our delivery in schools and colleges focussed on helping young disabled students find their voice and confidence, inspired by creativity. This work was led by our 2023 Adam Reynolds Award recipient James Lake, whose practice has a focus on sculpture made with recycled cardboard. The workshops which James devised were structured around him showing his Shape-supported film Another Day, followed by a discussion, often in a Q and A format, about the film’s content, exploring how it was made as well as its main themes. This permitted the students to engage with the topic of disability in a manner of their choosing, given that the main character is visibly disabled (he has one leg) and the character is modelled on James himself. James informed us that this format yielded some of the richest and most varied conversations he has experienced as an artist engaging with young people, and because of the film’s emotional content, it permitted a deeper level of dicussion around what the young people felt in reponses to the themes. Much of this was then captured as James led the workshops into a making session, giving expert guidance on technique as the students created their own models, drawings and sculptures in response to the film and discussion.

Below we give examples selected from numerous workshops delivered over the summer and autumn months in educational settings in the South West of England, where James is based. In feedback James reflected to us how rewarding it has been to share the film and to be able to use it as a way to open up discussions about disability as well as creative /making processes.

At a school for students with additional needs, James led with explorations of how he created the bird shown in Another Day, demonstrating and engaging students in the 2D and 3D processes that overlap in the different stages of design.

At a coeducational secondary school and sixth form, James worked with a group of year 10 students on portraiture, using the animation for inspiration. Samples of their feedback include:

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Shape London

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A class in another school used the animation and bird sculpture as the focus of the creative learning, as shown below:

James Lake – Lifeworks and Enrichment Week

During our recent Enrichment Week, we were fortunate enough to have a day of workshops delivered by James Lake who is a Sculptor of cardboard and an artist with a disability! In the morning, students had the opportunity to interview James about his life as an artist, what materials he uses and even what his favourite sculpture is - which turns out to be one of his father!

Each student made their own bee sculpture after being given a pack of materials! James talked through each step, and there was plenty of folding and rolling to create the bees! Each student created their own bee and could then decorate them using a variety of materials, including shiny paper, decoupage paper, cardboard and pastels!

After the session we asked students for their feedback and this is what they told us: - I thought it was lots of fun making the birds out of cardboard and I thought they turned out really cute. The birds weren't too complicated to make. It was cool how everyone's birds turned out different in the end.

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Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Reflecting on the year, we are delighted that James has continued to reach hundreds of children and young people, many of them disabled, with his film, and that it has been the catalyst for so much creative learning in addition to being a vehicle for James’s art practice.

Transforming Leadership (TL)

Post ACE funding, which ended in September 2022, in 2024/25 we continued to make available the TL Drop In Model, in which the cohort could book sessions with David Hevey, Project Director, to underpin their previous 24 months of learning.

We also continued the visibility phase and pioneered a number of radical new approaches to visibility such as using disruptive merch, radical blogs, manifestos and so on, as well as pushing each of the cohort to write their own business canvas - a short version of a business plan with the sustainability and viability phases to continue until 2025, per the funding agreement.

As a result of our skills and strategy support for diverse and marginalised creative enterprises, Bomb Factory had over 100 artists by 2024/25 and derived significant income from our support and connecting them to funding models.

Our Transforming Leadership Post Funding Phase also delivered post funding advice services included supporting DYSPLA and other Transforming Leadership participating organisations post Funding on their strategies to develop business and income generating opportunities for Bomb Factory and HOP Projects, among others.

The visibility phase of the TL programme will continue into 2025, as per our funding agreement, with films and other productions from partners (with Shape TL funding and credit) set to go live in 2025/26.

Financial review

Shape reports overall income of £715,283 in 2024/25 compared with £874,150 in 2023/24 and overall expenditure of £705,459 compared to £981,977 in 2023/24. The overall result for the year reports net incoming resources of £9,824 (2023/24 net outgoing resources £107,827) as shown in the charity’s Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA). The overall financial performance reflects the following key aspects:

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Arts and Partnerships’ financial performance reports income of £365,854 (2023/24 £524,366) and expenditure of £654,683 (2023/24 £914,829). This includes the completion of DAM (Disability Arts Movement) in Venice, continued delivery phase for National Disabilty Movement Archive and Collection (NDMAC) during the year, and continued delivery of Adam Reynolds Award and Shortlist, Shape Open, and other art programme activities.

The financial performance of Audience and Engagement reports income of £nil (2023/24 £nil) and expenditure of £32,975 (2023/24 £39,669). Activity includes a wide range of engagement and content activity as described in the 2024/25 performance.

The financial performance for Skills, Diversity and Leadership reports income of £4,548 (2023/24 £2,555) reflecting work with schools, consultancy, access and training and expenditure of £17,801 (2023/24 £27,479) which includes delivery, management time and support providing the range of activity described in the 2024/25 activity.

During the year Shape secured a total of £88,722 (2023/2024 £59,051) of contributed income from Trusts, Foundations, other organisations and individuals which contributed financial support to the delivery of the programme and added value through specific project funding. As in previous years, Shape also benefits from ‘in kind’ support from a range of partners.

Expenditure attributed to generating new voluntary and charitable funds was £nil (2023/24 £nil). This continues to reflect that Shape does not have a separate fundraising team and allocates income generation responsibilities across the whole organisation and portfolio of activity. Focused resources were invested internally in 2023/24 and 2024/25 as shown by the successful new projects secured to start from 1 April 2023.

Total expenditure attributed to governance costs associated with meeting the charity’s strategic administration and statutory requirements was £24,435 (2023/24 £19,616).

Overall funds stand at £181,093 at 31 March 2025 compared to £171,269 at 31 March 2024.

Unrestricted reserves stand at £163,000 (2023/24 £112,103) comprising of designated reserves of £45,995 (2023/24 £4,810) and general reserves of £117,005 (2023/24 £107,293). The increase in total reserves of £9,824, comprises unrestricted funds net income of £70,059 (2023/24 net income of £16,023) before transfers and restricted funds net outgoings of £60,235 (2023/24 net outgoing of £123,850) before transfers. Transfers from unrestricted funds of £19,162 (2023/24 £40,875) were made to restricted funds to provide internal match funds to NDMAC.

The Senior Management Team (SMT) reports to the Finance, HR and Risk Committee quarterly ahead of the quarterly Board meetings and the level of unrestricted reserves have been scrutinised carefully throughout 2024/25 consistent with the steps outlined.

Restricted funds report net outgoings of £60,235 (2023/24 net outgoings £123,850) and, as in previous years, this represents timing differences between grants received during the year and the actual delivery over the multi-year life of the programme. DAM in Venice was fully funded from

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

secured funding sources. NDMAC was mainly funded from secured funding sources and Shape provided match funding from its general reserves to meet targets. Both made positive contributions to core costs in 2024/25.

Overall financial performance comprises separate funds and further details on the financial position can be gained by reference to the balance and movements on each fund which are described in the Reserves Policy and Note 15.

Principal Funding Sources

During the year Shape continued to be funded by ACE with 2024/25 being the second year of the National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) business plan for the period 2023-2025, now extended to March 2028. Shape also received ACE funding for DAM in Venice and Feasibility transfer out of London; Creative Scotland funding for DAM in Venice, Heritage Lottery funding for NDMAC, Foyle Foundation for Adam Reynolds Award and Fenton Arts Trust for Emerging project.

Our funding continues to come from a diverse range of sources including statutory, Lottery, and a range of charitable trusts and foundations, corporate and individual supporters.

Earned income is derived from a range of services including consultancy, training and access reviews. This has continued to be adversely impacted during 2024/25 due to post Covid-19 legacy impact and economic uncertainties to develop opportunities.

Shape would like to take this opportunity to record its immense appreciation to all its funders and stakeholders for their continued funding support and partnership. Shape also records its grateful thanks for all ‘in kind’ support provided from a wide range of partners.

Investment Policy

Apart from aiming to retain a prudent amount in reserves each year most of the charity’s funds are intended to be spent in the short term so there are few cash funds for long-term investment. As and when funds become available the Board of Trustees will seek professional advice on the most appropriate and financially beneficial policy.

Fundraising

Most of Shape’s income comes from statutory and major grants, ably supported by amounts from Trusts and donations. We undertake very little public fund raising and do not use professional fundraisers or commercial participators. Shape nevertheless observes and complies with the relevant fundraising regulations and codes. During the year there was no non-compliance of these regulations and codes and Shape received no complaints relating to its fundraising practice.

Reserves Policy and Going Concern

The Board of Trustees considers the aim of holding of general reserves, in conjunction with relevant designated and restricted reserves available to support Shape’s delivery, equivalent to a range of between three to six months (2023/24: between three to six months) of key operating costs to be a prudent financial policy. Shape’s current general reserves of £117,005 together with relevant

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

designated reserves represent three months of key operating costs. The Board has extended the range up to six months to allow for risk management whilst the post Covid-19 financial environment and its implications for Shape are further clarified. It is hoped that once the financial outlook is more stable and predictable, the target and level of general reserves can be reduced back between three to four months. This will be monitored and controlled by long term forecasts which advise on the level of committed funds compared to funds to be raised and reported quarterly to the Board.

Where there have been shortfalls in general income, Shape has used appropriate designated and general reserves to support its activities. The Board of Trustees regularly consider Shape’s financial position and future funding position. Strategic reviews are regularly and thoroughly monitored and developed to ensure that sufficient reserves are maintained in the prevailing circumstances on an on-going basis. An overview and update of the Rebuilding Reserves plan is covered under Plans for the future below. The Trustees have reviewed budgets and forecasts to 31 March 2027 taking into account the impact of the current economic environment. These budgets and forecasts have been stress-tested to identify if Shape would continue to have positive cash during the going concern period if none of the unsecured forecast income in the period was to materialise. The results of this testing confirmed that Shape would continue to have positive cash in the going concern period even if this worst-case scenario arose without the need to model the impact of any mitigations (which management would perform if this scenario was to occur). Therefore the Trustees consider there to be no material uncertainties that need to be referenced and it is appropriate to prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis.

Details of the various reserves are as follows and are set out in more detail in Note 15 Movement of Funds.

Restricted Income Funds

These funds represent grants and donations provided to fund specific expenditure in agreed areas of work. Restricted funds at 31 March 2024 of £59,166 were received and held ahead of delivery in 2024/25. Incoming resources were £303,431 and outgoing resources were £363,666. A transfer of £19,162 was received from unrestricted general funds for NDMAC, leaving a balance of funds to carry forward of £18,093 at 31 March 2025. Note 15 provides further details of the transfer.

Unrestricted Funds

Designated Funds: These are funds which the Board of Trustees has designated to meet future liabilities and commitments as part of its strategic vision and risk assessment for sustainability. The funds currently include investment in office IT equipment and furniture and funds held for Programme Strategic delivery and development . Net transfers amounting to £41,185 were made from unrestricted general funds. This transfer comprised £4,255 from the tangible fixed assets fund (reflecting depreciation during 2024/25) and £45,440 into the Programme Strategic delivery and development fund to support programme direct delivery during 2025 - 2027. The balance of these funds at the end of the year was £45,995 (2023/24 £4,810).

General Funds: These funds represent the free reserves available to the charity which can be used for any purpose within its charitable objects. Such costs can include programme, fund-raising,

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

management and administration as well as the cost of meeting any future shortfalls in restricted fund activities. At 31 March 2025 General Funds showed a balance of £117,005 compared to funds of £107,293 at 31 March 2024. The performance of Shape’s General Funds reflects the additional contributions to core from funded projects and voluntary donations in 2024/25. The commitment to strong financial management operated by the Board and the Senior Management Team continues to be followed to take account of the difficult economic environment.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Board of Trustees has examined external risks to Shape in considerable detail during the past year and has regularly updated its risk register to reflect business planning and delivery. The Board shares with ACE our risk-register on a quarterly basis and, in particular, the risk to Reserves has been monitored closely.

Given all cultural organisations, not just Shape, operate in an increasingly uncertain and difficult financial environment, the Board endorses the multi-strand strategy of controlling reserves, internal charging for services, internal multiskilling approaches, while examining costs and continuing funding bids, as parts of the Risk Mitigation around this Risk.

We also monitor the wider Post- Covid Landscape as a main risk, too, with our Shape Programme in 2024/25 continuing its hybrid digital-first approaches, with the exponential growth of online audiences continuing, also a factor of post-Coronavirus impact as more of our users and audiences remain online and walk in audiences still less than pre-Covid.

The risk register is regularly reviewed by the Senior Management Team, Finance, HR and Risk Committee and the Board of Trustees. The register includes both strategic and operational risks.

Key risks identified and their management are:-

In terms of wider barriers to disabled people and the impact of the pandemic / return to ‘normality’ for disabled people, Shape sees a range of financial and other difficulties being presented, with studies showing that disabled people are the last group to return to functioning as pre pandemic – with this ‘left behind’ feeling compounded by seven key tenets including: 1) economic, such as changes to Universal Credit, Access to Work, PIP and other benefits, 2) social care changes, 3) difficult funding landscape and other economic factors; 4) work place and employment, 5) access to culture - both as artists for employment

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

As part of our NPO Programme funded by Arts Council England, we also monitor two risks identified by ACE . One concerns the levels of our Reserves and mirrors our existing Risk table element, and the second concerns how we migrate out of London as an NPOT (T meaning Transfer)

Plans for the future

As we move into 2025-26 delivery, our third of the NPO-T Programme integrated with Arts Council England Let’s Create Principles, supporting Creative People and Creative Communities, we reflect on the success and broad appeal of the DAM In Venice exhibition which was visited by walk in audiences of around 35K people and around 2M online, with major articles and reviews in the arts press bringing new audiences to our work and disability-led media outlets taking the opportunity to examine with a fresh perspective the value and legacy of the Disability Arts Movement. Several thousand of these walk-in visitors experienced the show at Attenborough Arts

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Centre at the University of Leicester, marking a significant opportunity for UK audiences to connect with the work and explores the history of activism for which the Disability Arts Movement is renowned. This overlapping of disability rights history with an out of London location is also significant in itself by way of linking with our plans for the coming year, with our NPO programme and Heritage wings likewise due to overlap as we look to explore through a contemporary lens the legacy of disability rights at a time of severe threat to livelihood and wellbeing to many disabled people across the country.

While there are always natural links between our programme and project areas, this year we aim to solidify some of these links through delivery of our Shape Open exhibition in a new venue owned and overseen by Buckinghams New University (BNU) close to where our new office is located and our NDACA and NDMAC archives are based, both of which are hosted on BNU grounds. Building on existing relationships with local partners such as Bucks Culture and National Paralympic Heritage Trust, we look forward to developing links with the local creative communities through exhibition and learning opportunities, most notably a planned Art of Rights NDMAC exhibition as well as the Shape Open exhibition, both due to take place at the Engine Shed adjacent to High Wycombe station. This will be the second consecutive physical Shape Open exhibition since the pandemic, following our successful show at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Brixton, in January 2024. Whilst analogue in format, as we made note of last year, our approach will be to programme with audiences in mind who are unable to attend in person. Although this poses challenges in terms of resource, it means that a digital or broadcast element will be an integral part of the exhibition, paving the way for us to capture the show’s key elements for our legacy. When we reflect on how important it has been to have a legacy to refer to in order to understand and appreciate the value of the disability rights protests of the 1980s and 90s, as well as their continuing relevance to disabled people,

The Shed, built in the era of Brunel, aims to be the largest cultural venue in the county of Buckinghamshire, and we are pleased to be supporting the drive of local Bucks organisations to make Bucks the most accessible county in the country. In addition to linking the Shape Open with our heritage wing through NDMAC support, we also aim to develop our ARA Shortlist programme through reference to the disability rights agenda. These commissioned artists, identifying as midcareer disabled creatives, will address issues relevant to disabled and marginalised people as they experience life in our times, with particular focus on the barriers they face in a time of cuts and adversity. These new commissions will also be complemented by the release of films made by ARA Shortlist artists in the past year, which are now coming out of post-production. We look forward to reaching new audiences through screenings of these films in Cardiff, London and Surrey, as well as online.

In planning these activities, as well as our wider programme, we aim to continue to invest in upskilling our staff team so as to be as self-sufficient and cost effective as possible with our hybrid delivery model, moving effectively between digital and analogue formats, and also to provide opportunities to diverse and marginalised freelancers where possible, contracted from locations local to the sites where our activities are based. In this way we aim to make a positive contribution to the Creative Case for Diversity through investment, networking and planning our

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

out of London work with these marginalised workers in mind, and well as through a monitoring and evaluation process with regard to targeting support for the artists and other disabled beneficiaries we support. Last year we referenced our awareness of the encroachment of AI into arts programming and content, and although the past year did not raise concerns for us in this context, we are progressing carefully in terms of the way in which we utilise AI tools in our work, and in the ways in which creatives we support are doing likewise within their practice. We have published blogs and podcasts focussing on some of the positive uses of this new technology, where it saves time and energy in a way that may of great benefit for disabled people, but at the same time we are aware that the creative industries are struggling to understand what the underlying results of increased AI tech may be, in particular where it may impact on the careers (or future careers) of those who make and deliver creative content.

Across our programme we expect to have strong links to out of London locations, continuing our longstanding partnership with Baltic (Gateshead) for our Emergent programme, designed to tackle the isolation and challenges faced by disabled creatives within the first five years of their practice. We were delighted with the outcomes for last year’s cohort as well as seeing project alumni start to take up new opportunities across the sector, and we will continue to discuss the project’s development with prospective partners across the country who can add to the overall offer, take part in fundraising, and provide participants with a chance to connect with their staff and facilities, knowledge and networks. With our main ARA award, we look forward to connecting with Beyond The Visual, who plan to exhibit sculptural work by blind and partially sighted artists at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds during 2025-26. This work complements our input into legacy programmes led by Kings College London with whom we partnered for the Layers of Vision exhibition in 202223, leading to new opportunities to develop policies and best practice guidance for the arts and cultural sector in terms of their offer for blind and partially sighted people across their staff teams and creative programmes.

This in turn links to our wider support for disabled people across the UK, in particular disabled creatives at all career stages as well as children and young people. Each year we provide advice and consultancy to disabled individuals as well as disabled-led startups and organisations, in the form of production and curatorial support, access consultancy and general advice on project development, planning, fundraising and strategizing. Much of this advice is provided in the form of in-kind support, and if we combine our input along with the awards provided to creatives over the year as well as grants and other awards these supported creatives achieve, we generate around 100K of value into the arts ecology. In the coming year we look forward to supporting another tranche of beneficiaries, and reaching new audiences in the process, usually through partnership working. In the coming year we look forward to supporting Flarewave Festival in Brighton, reaching deaf communities attending a wide variety of cultural exchange, performance and exhibitions, including creative workshops led by Deaf practitioners with a focus on families and young people. Alongside this support, we will continue to provide formal learning and access consultancy through our partnership with Goss Consulting Ltd, with whom we have worked for over a decade. Through this partnership approach we are able to reach a diverse range of venues across the country, from historical sites to small theatres to dance halls, bringing vast experience and cutting-edge knowledge and insight into access and inclusion strategies that will continue to open

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

up the richness of arts and culture for disabled people as audiences, workers, leaders and creatives. Through constant and ongoing dialogue with disabled communities, including artists working with new technology and creative tools, we are able to bring innovative ideas to the fore and ensure that our work is relevant to the lives and priorities of disabled people, whilst working to change and challenge negative perceptions of disability in the public realm. Although we find increasing numbers of funders pausing grant applications, or stopping altogether, and with our beneficiaries and peers facing the threat of cuts and changes to career support through funds such as Access to Work, we believe our ability to adapt and innovate and grow new partnerships will give us the best possible chance of sustaining our work in the year to come, as well as the longer term.

More Future plans:

NPO FUNDING UNTIL 2028

This continues to underwrite Shape significantly, with the Uplift allowing us to drive display out of London, including exhibition in BNU Goods Shed, High Wycombe, in 2025, with the Shape Open at the BNU Goods Shed, too, in 2025.

SHAPE AT 50 bid to go in during 2025

We also began research in 2024/25 for a Shape At 50 National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) bid. This will collect and tell the heritage story of Shape as a pioneering and hugely influential organisation in diversity, disability and engagement.

CRIPS UNDER COVID bid to go in during 2026.

This has been developed in the 2024/25 period and will be submitted as Development Phase bid in early-mid 2026 to the NLHF, with a development phase budget (2026- 2027) and a Delivery Phase (2028-2032).

NDMAC GOING LIVE process – more going live in 2025 and 2026,

including NDMAC supporting the Shape Open and ARA shortlist in 2025, and the www.ndmac.org website going live in 2026, including more NDMAC exhibiting, and also publishing graphic novels, video games, table top role play games and much more in or by 2026.

A word of warning – bids success rates increasingly challenging .

There is evidence of increasing bid levels from more and more arts organisations to a decreasing number of arts charities, trusts and funders. Shape seeks to make its bids in a manner that reflects relevant specific guidance from the awarding body and our own distinct position We will continue also, within our successful bids, to continue to offer our services from in-house talent, at cheaper and higher quality than the market provides. Also, constant cost benefit analysis interrogation needs to continue, particularly in digital, such as in IT costs, Commissioning approaches and models, website hosting costs, and so on.

But, despite the challenges on many fronts, Shape is adjusting well to the Post- or Long-shadow Pandemic landscape but we are also mindful that there continues to be several adverse

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

undercurrents, such as the long term slow re-entry of disabled people into the creative communities and into society in general, and whether or not those wider communities will continue to be open, accessible and engage with disabled creatives and users.

Added to that, is the clear long-term negative-economic effect of Covid-19, and, with recent economic and political instability, a prospect that less funds may be available, with digital driving down price, and with a corresponding pressure to leave London due to declining arts funding in the Capital, and yet where they may be less funding outside of London.

One other longer term Covid-19 effect is the now permanent presence of digital-first approaches, but with high-end bespoke physical events also in the picture. Again, Shape is monitoring cultural trends and we will continue to make interventions, commissions creatives and build projects which respond to the way we live now, which is again one of the secrets of our success – we remain relevant by holding up the creative mirror to the modern world.

As referred to in the Financial Review and Reserves Policy section, we will continue to focus on improving our financial sustainability and maintaining our general reserves. The Reserves Plan requires that all delivery commitments are fully funded from the diverse range of income sources which Shape has access to, rather than being partly funded from general reserves. This was set out in our plans for new income generating prospects developed from the Culture Recovery Plans for Shape Creative and Heritage services which will contribute towards maintaining general reserves in the longer term, as just one tenet of this approach.

Shape continues to develop and apply for new project funding taking into account how our delivery might take place in the future creative world including e-commerce and a range of digital delivery. We will be looking to invest in our infrastructure to ensure we have appropriate IT and other digital resources to support this direction. All new bids include full cost recovery and charging for services delivered by Shape.

It is expected that these future plans will support Shape to maintain its general reserves and consolidate its sustainability and future resilience.

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 20 December 1979 and registered as a charity on 20 December 1979.

The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association.

The company's registered name is Shape London. The Articles of Association were reviewed in September 2021.

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees are aware that the Charity Governance Code was updated in December 2020. They reviewed the Code in May 2023 and consider the organisation is compliant with the spirt of the Code. The trustees are aware of a few areas where the organisation is not fully aligned and are looking into the feasibility and proportionality of being fully compliant.

All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 6 to the accounts.

Appointment of trustees

Members are Trustees for the purpose of charity law and Directors for the purpose of company law and under the company’s Articles are known as members of the Board of Directors. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, at each Annual General Meeting, onethird of the Directors for the time being shall retire from the office. A retiring Director shall then be eligible for re-election.

Due to the nature of Shape’s programme and the involvement of disabled people, the charity aims to ensure that the Board of Trustees is as diverse as possible in terms of disability, gender, and ethnicity.

In order to ensure a broad representation of skills and experience across the Board an annual Skills Audit is carried out. This is used as a tool in providing training and recruiting new members to ensure a broad balance is maintained and the Board is able to sustain quality decision making.

In order to further support the development of Shape’s work and to ensure the direct involvement of artists, people who use our services and other professional expertise, Shape has established a committee structure. Each department head and their team benefit from the support of a committee as follows:

The Programme and Development Committee and the Finance, HR and Risk Committee each meet four times a year. Both have appropriate delegated authorities. Minutes of these meetings are provided to the Board. A written report is also made to the Board on any specific delegated tasks or work undertaken. Terms of reference are available and reviewed at regular intervals.

Day to day management of operations is delegated to the Senior Management Team. In 2024/25 this comprised:

Chief Executive David Hevey Head of Programme Jeff Rowlings

From 1 April 2023, the Finance function was restructured with David Hevey assuming SMT responsibility. Finance services are provided by Shape’s virtual-office accountants, PEM, supported by a senior finance freelancer (Sally Yarwood).

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Trustee induction and training

All new Trustees are given a Board Trustees' Handbook with background information about Shape, including the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and information regarding the role of being a charity Trustee. They also attend briefing sessions with the Chair and Chief Executive and are offered other induction support.

Board members are kept up to date with key business and compliance issues, the operating environment and any relevant key changes in company and charity regulations and are offered training opportunities as they arise.

Related parties and relationships with other organisations

There are no related parties and relationships between Shape and other organisations. There are related party transactions as disclosed in Note 8.

Shape has a policy to review and scrutinise any related party transaction at Committee level and report to the Board. There is full and transparent disclosure of the decision-making process to the Board and to funders where relevant.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Remuneration for key management personnel is based on attracting suitably qualified people for the roles whilst taking account of available funding. All salaries are reviewed on an annual basis and the Board decides whether any uplift should be applied. Salaries were last uplifted in April 2024. All staff are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, unless they chose to opt out or remain under the previous scheme. Shape does not operate a bonus scheme.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of Shape London for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report including the strategic report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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Shape London

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2025 was 9 (2023/24:10). The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Members of the Board of Trustees, who are Directors for the purposes of company law and Trustees for the purposes of charity law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on the Reference and Administrative page.

Auditors

Sayer Vincent LLP was re-appointed as the charitable company's auditor during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

The trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

The trustees’ annual report has been approved by the trustees on 1 December 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Tony Heaton Chair

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Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Shape London

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Shape London (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Shape London's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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Independent auditor’s report

Shape London

To the members of

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied

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Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Shape London

that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

46

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

Shape London

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Noelia Serrano (Senior statutory auditor)

Date: 17 December 2025

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor 110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

47

Shape London

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Note
Income from:
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
15
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Skills, Diversity & Leadership
Interest receivable
Total income
Expenditure on:
Arts and Partnerships
Voluntary grants and donations
Charitable activities
Arts and Partnerships
Audiences and Engagement
Raising funds
Net income /(expenditure) for
the year
Total expenditure
Charitable activities
Skills, Diversity & Leadership
Total funds carried forward
Total funds brought forward
Transfers between funds		 Unrestricted
£
343,106
62,423
4,548
1,775		 Restricted
£
-
303,431
-
-		 2025
Total
£
343,106
365,854
4,548
1,775		 Unrestricted
£
344,208
27,141
2,555
3,021		 Restricted
£
-
497,225
-
-		 2024
Total
£
344,208
524,366
2,555
3,021
411,852 303,431 715,283 376,925 497,225 874,150
-
291,017
32,975
17,801		 -
363,666
-
-		 -
654,683
32,975
17,801		 -
293,754
39,669
27,479		 -
621,075
-
-		 -
914,829
39,669
27,479
341,793 363,666 705,459 360,902 621,075 981,977
70,059
(19,162)
50,897
112,103		 (60,235)
19,162
(41,073)
59,166		 9,824
-
9,824
171,269		 16,023
(40,875)
(24,852)
136,955		 (123,850)
40,875
(82,975)
142,141		 (107,827)
-
(107,827)
279,096
163,000 18,093 181,093 112,103 59,166 171,269

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movement in funds are disclosed in Note 15 to the financial statements.

48

Shape London

Balance sheet

Balance sheet Balance sheet
As at 31 March 2025 Company number: 01468164
Note
£
Fixed assets:
10
Current assets:
11
134,970
122,406
257,376
Liabilities:
12
(76,838)
14
15
45,995
117,005
Total unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Debtors
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets
Total net assets
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds		 2025
£
555
555
180,538
181,093
18,093
163,000
181,093		 £
186,345
134,121		 2024
£
4,810
4,810
166,459
257,376
(76,838)		 320,466
(154,007)
45,995
117,005		 4,810
107,293
171,269
59,166
112,103
171,269

Approved by the trustees on 1 December 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Tony Heaton Chair

Jon Tibbits-Smyth Treasurer

49

Shape London

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Investment income
Depreciation charges
Loss on disposal of fixed assets
Decrease / (increase) in debtors
(Decrease) / increase in creditors
Investment income
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash provided by investing activities
Cash flows from investing activities:		 £
£
9,824
(1,775)
4,255
-
51,375
(77,169)
(13,490)
1,775
1,775
(11,715)
134,121
122,406
2025		 £
£
9,824
(1,775)
4,255
-
51,375
(77,169)
(13,490)
1,775
1,775
(11,715)
134,121
122,406
2025		 £
£
(107,827)
(3,021)
7,456
690
(31,392)
100,578
(33,516)
3,021
3,021
(30,495)
164,616
134,121
2024		 £
£
(107,827)
(3,021)
7,456
690
(31,392)
100,578
(33,516)
3,021
3,021
(30,495)
164,616
134,121
2024
1,775 3,021
1,775 3,021
(11,715)
134,121		 (30,495)
164,616
122,406 134,121

There is no reconciliation of net movement in funds as only cash is held.

50

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

Shape London is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address is Room E1:14, Bucks Culture Office, Buckinghamshire New University, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 2JZ.

b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The trustees have reviewed budgets and forecasts to 31 March 2027 taking into account the impact of the current economic environment and consider there to be no material uncertainties about Shape’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

e) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

g) Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

51

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

h) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other income received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.

i) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

The charity deregistered from VAT from 1 January 2024.

j) Allocation of support costs

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the following basis which are an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity.

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure.

the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expen
Raising funds 0%
Arts and Partnerships 75%
Audiences 14%
Skills, Diversity and Leadership 7%
Support costs 2%
Governance costs 2%

Support and governance costs are re-allocated to each of the activities on the following basis which is an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity:

Arts and Partnerships 78%
Audiences 15%
Skills, Diversity and Leadership 7%

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

52

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

l) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are normally capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £250. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

m) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

n) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

o) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

p) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

q) Pensions

The charity provides an auto-enrolment pension scheme to which all employees are enrolled unless they choose to opt out. The charity previously offered a defined contribution scheme where employees could contribute either an amount or percentage of salary.

2 Voluntary grants and donations

Voluntary grants and donations
Grants receivable
Arts Council England - National Portfolio Organisation
Donations
Other grants and donations		 2025
Total
£
341,824
1,282
343,106		 2024
Total
£
341,824
2,384
344,208

All grants and donations are unrestricted (2023/24: all unrestricted).

53

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025 For the year ended 31 March 2025
3
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
55,440
6,500
483
62,423
4,548
4,548
66,971
Foyle Foundation
Fenton Arts Trust
Corporate donations
ACE - Disability Arts Movement (DAM) in Venice
Total income from charitable activities
Skills, Diversity and Leadership
Sub-total for Skills, Diversity and Leadership
Garfield Weston Foundation
Other grants and donations
National Heritage Lottery Fund - National Disability
Movement Archive and Collection (NDMAC) Delivery
phase
Sub-total for Arts and Partnerships
Pop up galleries
ACE - Feasibility
Creative Scotland - Disability Arts Movement (DAM) in
Venice
Sales and fees charged for services
Arts and Partnerships
Income from charitable activities		 Restricted
£
49,500
3,500
5,000
219,931
-
20,000
5,500
-
-		 2025
Total
£
49,500
3,500
5,000
219,931
-
20,000
5,500
55,440
6,500
483		 Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
16,667
474		 Restricted
£
178,000
31,500
15,000
242,725
30,000
-
-
-
-
497,225
-
-
497,225		 2024
Total
£
178,000
31,500
15,000
242,725
30,000
-
-
10,000
16,667
474
524,366
2,555
2,555
526,921
62,423 303,431 365,854 27,141
4,548 - 4,548 2,555
4,548 - 4,548 2,555
66,971 303,431 370,402 29,696

54

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

4a Analysis of expenditure (current year)

Analysis of expenditure (current year)
Staff costs (Note 6)
Recruitment, training and other staff costs
Rent, insurance and services
Depreciation and loss on disposals
Communications and IT
Printing, stationery and postage
Sundry administration costs
Auditor's fees
Other professional fees
Banking, financial and bad debt provisions
Services provided - interpreters, note takers
Programme materials, delivery, access and marketing
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2025
Total expenditure 2024		 Cost of
raising funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Charitable activities Governance
costs
£
8,744
159
-
-
-
-
1,422
12,112
572
30
895
501
24,435
-
(24,435)
-
-		 Support costs
£
37,466
1,106
21,536
4,257
19,446
390
835
-
30,834
558
-
-
116,428
(116,428)
-
-
-		 2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
308,862
290,551
1,265
815
21,536
23,798
4,257
8,146
59,247
53,642
425
2,674
2,257
4,374
12,112
11,556
31,406
36,690
1,042
1,511
3,930
9,642
259,120
538,578
705,459
981,977
-
-
-
-
705,459
981,977
Arts and
partnerships
£
233,877
-
-
-
39,801
35
-
-
-
454
3,035
258,019		 Audiences
£
18,708
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
18,708
10,691
3,576
32,975
39,669		 Skills,
Diversity and
Leadership
£
10,067
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
600
10,667
5,346
1,788
17,801
27,479
535,221
100,391
19,071
654,683
914,829

55

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Analysis of expenditure (prior year)
Staff costs (Note 6)
Recruitment, training and other staff costs
Rent, insurance and services
Depreciation and loss on disposals
Communications and IT
Printing, stationery and postage
Sundry administration costs
Auditor's fees
Other professional fees
Banking, financial and bad debt provisions
Services provided - interpreters, note takers
Programme materials, delivery, access and marketing
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2024		 Cost of
raising funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Charitable activities Governance
costs
£
6,723
-
-
-
-
-
617
11,556
-
-
720
-
19,616
-
(19,616)
-		 Support costs
2024
Total
£
£
60,325
290,551
758
815
22,266
23,798
8,146
8,146
21,220
53,642
2,661
2,674
3,769
4,374
-
11,556
34,730
36,690
477
1,511
-
9,642
1,057
538,578
155,409
981,977
(155,409)
-
-
-
-
981,977
Arts and
partnerships
£
198,142
57
1,532
-
32,422
13
(12)
-
1,960
1,034
8,922
537,521		 Audiences
£
14,704
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
14,704
21,254
3,711
39,669		 Skills,
Diversity and
Leadership
£
10,657
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,657
14,701
2,121
27,479
781,591
119,454
13,784
914,829

56

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

5 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

This is stated after charging / (crediting):
2025 2024
£ £
Depreciation 4,255 7,456
Loss on disposal of fixed assets - 690
Trustees' reimbursed expenses 1,084 -
Operating lease rentals:
Property - Peckham 12,209 17,175
Printer / photocopier 282 1,301
Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit fee 2024/25 (Previous year 2023/24) 10,100 9,630

6

Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Redundancy and termination costs
Pension costs
Contract / temporary staff
Social security costs		 2025
£
219,931
-
65,901
19,389
3,641		 2024
£
202,267
6,404
61,500
16,469
3,911
308,862 290,551

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) during the year between:

£70,000 - £79,999
£60,000 - £69,999		 2025
No.
-
1		 2024
No.
1
-

No pension contributions (2023/24: £nil) were made to a defined contribution scheme for the above member of staff during the year. The staff member left the pension scheme in September 2021.

The total employee benefits including pension contributions and employer's national insurance of the key management personnel were £142,547 (2023/24: £136,969). Key management personnel comprise the Chief Executive and the Head of Programme on the grounds that they hold significant decision-making and delegation control.

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2023/24: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2023/24: £nil).

During the year, seven trustees received reimbursement of expenses during the year amounting to £1,084 (2023/24: £nil). The expenses related to travel, accommodation and subsistence to attend Board meetings.

57

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

7 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

2025
2024
No.
No.
4.8
5.1
3.2
2.6
0.6
0.7
0.3
0.4
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.1
4.3
4.0
Governance
The average weekly number of staff (expressed as full-time equivalents) during the year was as follows:
Skills, Diversity and Leadership
Audiences and Engagement
Arts and Partnerships
Support		 2025
No.
4.8		 2024
No.
5.1
4.3 4.0

8 Related party transactions

The Chief Executive rents space in Folkestone and during 2024/25 the whole space provided a production base for DAM in Venice and NDMAC. Shape's Programme and Projects contributed £6,000 being 100% of the total rent charge in respect of the area for the period from 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025 (2023/24: £5,400). During the year, the charity contributed £1,500 towards the cost of the refurbishment of the kitchen and toilet facilities to support the delivery of the charity's activities at the improved space in Folkestone.

The Chief Executive's son, Liam Roden, acted as a freelancer who Shape engaged on various projects during 2024/25 on flexible contracts. In 2024/25 fees of £18,473 (2023/24: £40,350) and reimbursed delivery expenses of £341 (2023/24: £2,842) were paid in respect of the period to 12 July 2024. From 15 July 2024, Liam Roden was employed by Shape as Lead Content Producer,NDMAC on a full time fixed-term contract to 31 March 2026, earning £28,780 in salary and receiving £1,548 in employee expense reimbursements during 2024/25. Liam was appointed to this post following an open recruitment process. He was identified as the suitable appointee and the Trustees and the Funder approved both the process and appointment. At the year-end, no amount was due to Liam Roden (2023/24: £2,100).

The Chief Executive's partner (Nina Shen - CT20 Projects CIC) is a delivery partner who was engaged on DAM in Venice, NDMAC, Feasibility and NPO Uplift. In 2024/25, fees amounting to £10,684 were paid to CT20 Projects CIC (2023/24: £33,740).

During the year, the Chief Executive travelled to São Paulo in Brazil to undertake research work for approved Shape programme delivery. Nina Shen also went for work funded by her own organisation (CT20 Projects CIC). Relevant travel and accommodation costs funded by her on behalf of the Chief Executive were recharged to the charity

From October 2024, the charity has licensed storage space at Nina Shen's Honor Oak freehold premises. The monthly rent is £250 plus an appropriate share of bills of about £150. The licence is for an initial period of 6 months, to be extended on a consecutive calender month basis until notice is given.

Tony Heaton (Chair of the trustees) received a £1,000 Shape grant (second instalment) and a £5,645 reimbursement of travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses for participating in the DAM in Venice project, including two visits to Venice to represent Shape at the exhibition of artwork at Crip Arte Spazio!, Venice (2023/24: £4,000 grant first instalment).

Tony Heaton (Chair of the trustees) did not receive any student mentoring honorariums during 2024/25 (2023/24: £500).

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

9 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

58

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

10 Tangible fixed assets

10
Tangible fixed assets
11
12
13
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year
Charge for the year
Depreciation
Grants receivable
Prepayments
Trade creditors
At the end of the year
Disposals
Trade debtors
Cost or valuation
At the start and end of the year
At the end of the year
Additions
At the start of the year
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net book value
At the start of the year
Debtors
At the end of the year
Disposals
Deferred income (Note 13)
Taxation and social security
Accruals
Deferred income comprises:
Deferred income
Other creditors		 IT equipment
and software
£
41,572
-
(1,440)		 Furniture,
fittings and
equipment
£
28,647
-
(27,077)		 Total
£
70,219
-
(28,517)
40,132 1,570 41,702
36,994
4,023
(1,440)		 28,415
232
(27,077)		 65,409
4,255
(28,517)
39,577 1,570 41,147
555 - 555
4,578 232 4,810
Grants in
advance
-
2,000		 2025
£
989
12,745
121,236		 2024
£
318
15,170
170,857
134,970 186,345
2025
£
1,192
6,555
15,426
51,665
2,000		 2024
£
87,493
5,242
9,439
51,833
-
76,838 154,007
2025
£
-
-
2,000		 2024
£
-
-
-
2,000 2,000 -

Deferred income relates to a grant received in advance for the 2025/2026 Adam Reynolds Award.

59

Shape London

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

14a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

14b
15a
At 1 April 2024
£
59,166
Total restricted funds
59,166
4,810
-
Total designated funds
4,810
General funds
107,293
112,103
171,269
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Net current assets
Tangible fixed assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Movements in funds (current year)
Arts and Partnerships
Programme - Strategic delivery and
development
Tangible fixed assets
Unrestricted funds:
Restricted funds:
Net assets at the end of the year
Designated funds:
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 14b
15a
At 1 April 2024
£
59,166
Total restricted funds
59,166
4,810
-
Total designated funds
4,810
General funds
107,293
112,103
171,269
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Net current assets
Tangible fixed assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Movements in funds (current year)
Arts and Partnerships
Programme - Strategic delivery and
development
Tangible fixed assets
Unrestricted funds:
Restricted funds:
Net assets at the end of the year
Designated funds:
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 General
unrestricted
£
-
117,005		 £
555
45,440
Designated		 Restricted
£
-
18,093		 Total funds
£
555
180,538
117,005 45,995 18,093 181,093
General
unrestricted
£
-
107,293		 £
4,810
-
Designated		 Restricted
£
-
59,166		 Total funds
£
4,810
166,459
107,293 4,810 59,166 171,269
Income and
gains
£
303,431		 Expenditure
and losses
£
(363,666)		 Transfers
£
19,162		 At 31 March
2025
£
18,093
59,166 303,431 (363,666) 19,162 18,093
4,810
-
 -
-		 -
-		 (4,255)
45,440		 555
45,440
4,810 - - 41,185 45,995
107,293 411,852 (341,793) (60,347) 117,005
112,103 411,852 (341,793) (19,162) 163,000
171,269 715,283 (705,459) - 181,093

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Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

15b Movements in funds (prior year)

Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds
Total funds
Restricted funds:
Arts and Partnerships
Programme - Strategic delivery and
development
Designated funds:
Total unrestricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Tangible fixed assets
Skills, Diversity and Leadership		 At 1 April 2023
£
142,141
-		 Income and
gains
£
497,225
-		 Expenditure
and losses
£
(621,075)
-		 Transfers
£
40,875
-		 At 31 March
2024
£
59,166
-
142,141 497,225 (621,075) 40,875 59,166
12,956
22,049
 -
-		 -
-		 (8,146)
(22,049)		 4,810
-
35,005 - - (30,195) 4,810
101,950 376,925 (360,902) (10,680) 107,293
136,955 376,925 (360,902) (40,875) 112,103
279,096 874,150 (981,977) - 171,269

Purposes of funds

Restricted funds - £18,093 are funds which represent monies given for specific purposes and projects as described below:

Arts and Partnerships

NDMAC £17,909 - a transfer of £19,162 from General funds was made to the NDMAC (National Disability Movement Archive and Collection) project to fund the deficit, both current and future to end of project, arising from the lack of third-party match funding. Remaining balance £184 for Programme.

Designated funds - £45,995 are funds which the Board of Trustees has designated to meet future commitments and liabilities as part of their vision and risk assessment for sustainability:

Tangible fixed assets - £555 represents funds for office tangible fixed assets. Transfers in respect of associated depreciation was made to General Funds.

Programme: Strategic delivery and development £45,440 - the Board designated £45,440 on 31 March 2025 to ensure the strategic delivery and development of the Programme whilst new projects and their funding are being secured. It aims to provide 'going concern' assurance that internal resources are designated to support any funding shortfalls during 2025/26 and 2026/27.

General Funds £117,005 - these are free reserves of the charity which can be used for any purpose within its charitable objects. The Reserves Policy is set out in the Trustees' annual report. A transfer of £19,162 was made to the NDMAC project held in restricted funds to fund the deficit, both current and future to end of project, arising from the lack of third-party match funding.

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Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

15 Movements in funds (continued)

Heritage Lottery Fund - funding disclosure statement

At the start of
the year
£
-
(15,115)
-
(25,760)
(40,875)
In Kind - Volunteers
-
In Kind - Other
-
(40,875)
-
Arts Council England - funding disclosure statements
At the start of
the year
£
400,500
-
15,000
(372,055)
43,445
At the start of
the year
£
31,500
(15,963)
15,537
Heritage Lottery Fund (receivable) - 2024/25
Heritage
Lottery
Fund
(receivable)
-
grant
adjustment for 2022/23 and 2023/24
Match funds contribution:(to be secured)
Expenditure to be met from General Reserves as
third-party match funds not secured
Creative Scotland
Other delivery - Non cash
Total Delivery Phase delivery
40,875
ACE Feasibility
Arts Council England
Delivery expenditure
DAM ( Disability Arts Movement) in Venice
(commenced 1 April 2022 to March 2025)
National Disability Movement Archive and Collection
(NDMAC) Delivery Phase - commenced December
2022 to November 2026
Arts Council England - Project grant
Delivery expenditure
Arts Council England - Private View contribution
Unrestricted General reserves transfer to provide
internal match funding as third-party match funds
not secured. Intended to meet current and forecast
deficit to end of project.		 At the start of
the year
£
-
(15,115)
-
(25,760)		 Income
£
204,816
15,115
-
-		 Expenditure
£
(204,816)
-
(16,368)		 At the end of
the year
£
-
-
-
(42,128)
(40,875) 219,931 (221,184) (42,128)
-
-		 -
-		 -
-		 -
-
(40,875) 219,931 (221,184) (42,128)
40,875 19,162 - 60,037
- 239,093 (221,184) 17,909
Income
£
44,500
5,000
5,000
-		 Expenditure
£
-
-
-
(97,945)		 At the end of
the year
£
445,000
5,000
20,000
(470,000)
43,445 54,500 (97,945) -
At the start of
the year
£
31,500
(15,963)		 Income
£
3,500		 Expenditure
£
(19,037)		 At the end of
the year
£
35,000
(35,000)
15,537 3,500 (19,037) -

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Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

16 Operating lease commitments

Property - the Charity vacated its office in Peckham on 23 October 2024. Since this time, it has licenced hot desks at Buckinghamshire New University. The arrangement is expected to last for three years from September 2024. No financial obligations require disclosure.

The Charity also licenses storage space at Honor Oak Park, London. The initial licence period ran for six months from 15 October 2024 to 14 April 2025 with a one calender month extension consecutively thereafter until notice is given. The minimum commitment in respect of this licence is £243, being rent and appropriate share of business rates.

Unit B, 67 Tontine Street, Folkestone - Shape signed a Tenancy at Will with Creative Folkestone on 21 November 2022 for a storage space. After six months (21 May 2023), the Landlord and Tenant acknowledge that the agreement extends by one calendar month consecutively thereafter unless notice is given. There is no agreement for lease. No financial obligations require disclosing.

17 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

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