2025-10-31-annual-report - Northern Ireland Group for Art as Therapy (NIGAT)

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Trustee Annual Report

Charity Name NIGAT (Northern Ireland Group for Art as Therapy) Charity no. 103671

This report relates to financial year ending 31[st] October 2025

The principal address of the charity is as follows: Rita Simon Reading Room. 224 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 2AW

The names of all charity trustees on the date the report was approved and all individuals who served as charity trustees during the year were as follows:

Trustee 1 Colin Sims (New Chairperson) Trustee 2 Frank Holmes (Active) Trustee 3 Caryl Sibbett (Active) Trustee 4 Eileen McCourt (Active) Trustee 5 Aine Farrell (Active) Trustee 6 Leoro Sotto (Active) Trustee 7 Brian Wallace (Active)

Trustee 8 Bridget Nugent (Outgoing Chairperson) Trustee 9 Sarah Roundtree (Resigned) Trustee 10 Mary Mawhinney (Resigned) Trustee 11 Katherine Penney (Resigned) Trustee 12 Kathryn Goodwin (Resigned)

The Charity was formed in 1999. It is governed by a Constitution, Trust deed, Memorandum and Articles of Association.

A summary of the charity’s: main activities to further its purposes for the public benefit

The Charitable purposes of the charity: The advancement of arts, culture, heritage or science.

The advancement of education

The advancement of citizenship or community development.

To further these purposes for the public benefit, we carried out the following activities:

Annual art as therapy summer school. Presentations and workshops provided by creative art therapists.
Three Day meetings a year, providing a presentation and facilitating reflecting artmaking.
AGM where our membership and members of the public can network, join the committee or discuss recent developments in art and therapy world.
NIGAT reading room is made available for members, counsellors, art therapists and students. Books are available to browse on a non-lending basis.

There are no private benefits incurred from our activities.

Committee Meetings

The committee met once every 6-8 weeks over the past year to ensure all planning of events was done in a timely fashion and to discuss any matters that required voting or further attention. Eileen McCourt is kindly joining our meetings to offer any additional support; this was welcomed and very much appreciated by the committee. There were also additional meetings held with Eileen McCourt, Caryl Sibbett and Colin Sims to discuss the roles needing filled as committee members are stepping down.

Art Therapy Summer School

The committee worked very hard on planning on NIGAT’s 32[nd] Art Therapy Summer School (1-3 August) in De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Belfast, with the theme ‘Relief, Reset, Repeat!’ This year we changed the number of facilitators to accommodate the numbers and space. On the Sunday we had just one closed workshop and the presentation due to lower numbers attending. We also changed the agenda for each day to allocate more time to art making.

Donations

Donations of £1,990 were received during the year (2024: £1,539). We would like to thank Eileen McCourt and Alice Graham for their generous donations at the Summer School. Committee members also made donations to support the Summer School. We are very grateful for these donations. We also wish to thank Deirdre Bannon (long-term NIGAT member) for her gift of a large number of Art Therapy books which will be put to good use, as will those from Duncan Wallace (former long-term member) delivered to the Summer School.

Membership

Our current membership is 28 members

Update of NIGAT Constitution

NIGAT have been working on some updates to the Constitution to ensure we are consistent with Companies House and The Charities Commission requirements. Thank you to Caryl Sibbett, Colin Sims and Eileen McCourt for your hard work and support with this. The changes will be voted on during this AGM.

NIGAT hosting a group of Art Therapy students from New Jersey

NIGAT will be hosting a workshop/presentation for a group of Art Therapy students from Caldwell University, New Jersey, in May 2026. Course tutors contacted NIGAT inquiring about a visit to the Rita Simon Reading Room during their study visit to Ireland. Details will be confirmed closer to the time of the visit. Additional Zoom meetings took place to meet with the tutors virtually to discuss and plan. Eileen McCourt and Caryl Sibbett also attended these meetings.

NIGAT and BAAT NI working together

BAAT NI Committee contacted NIGAT ahead of the AGM to request that the newly elected NIGAT committee meet with BAAT NI to discuss how we might collaborate closely for the mutual purpose of promoting good quality art therapy / art psychotherapy, to promote art therapy in its truest form. They have requested to meet sometime before the BAAT NI AGM (before March 2026).

Conclusion

I would like to thank all the committee for their hard work over the past year – it has been very busy and I appreciate the time everyone has dedicated to this. I want to thank Mags and Clare for their work on the committee, as both members stepped down during the year. I would also like to thank Mary ( Secretary) and Sarah (Treasurer) for all their hard work over the past number of years. They will both be stepping down from the committee this year as will I, Bridget Nugent.

I would like to wish the new committee all the best for the 50[th] anniversary of NIGAT.

Bridget Nugent (Outgoing Chairperson)

The trustees have read the Commission’s Public Benefit requirement statutory guidance.

In the financial year 2024 to 2025, the Charity had an income of £4,590 and an expenditure of £3,618 resulting in a net surplus of £972.

The Charity does not have a reserves policy.

	ColinSins
Signature	Colin Sins
Print Name	Colin Sims (Chairperson)