Trustees, Annual Report for the period Period start date 0110412017 Period end date 31103118 Charity name: D'sign Charlty registration number 105202 Objectives and Activities Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its goveming document D'sign Arts was fomied in 2016 and is a charity aimed for Deaf people. the har(1 of hearing. CODAS {Children of Deaf Adults) and hearing people with an interest in the arts to come together to create devised theatre and attend Workshops on a range of topics from Art and Drama to Yoga and Wellbeing. We aim to achieve equality of access of all arts and culture to Sign Language users and promot8 equality for Deaf performers as well as Deaf audiences. We also aim to accomplish the mixing of Deaf and Hearing arknsts improving integration between the two communities and promoting Deaf Awareness. All of this in tum aims to empower Deaf people. the hard of hearing. CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) and hearing people with an interest in the arts & Deaf communty for the purpose of personal growth and helping them realise their abilities and potential. Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for th8 public benefit, in particular. the activities, projects or S8rvices id8ntifi8d in the accounts. D'sign Arts Quiz night Friday 19th May 2017 at Errigle Inn. About 50 people took part with lots of exlIent prtzes for raffle from local companies sw)nsors and donate in Nl. We raised around 400 pounds for D'sign Arts for workshops events. 10 of D'sign arts went to Festlval Clln d'oell, France 6th July 2017 to Sunday 9th July 2017. To see other Deaf arts groups and the possibilities for our own charity. D'sign arts Wltches project vth Megan, Paula and Becky in BE Unique Drama group Coleraine and Sound friends family Part, Portadown. BSL V*lltches sttyelling tour in Belfast city centre. This was all Voluntary Work. It VRS extremely well received. This Project lead us to believe that it is very important for D'sign arts to continue development for children and young people. D'sign goes to Morocco. On Saturday 10th February 2018. Kevin Blair. Becky CneY and Paula Clarke from D'sns Arts Group where inv()Ived in delivering pèrfomance arts workshops to deaf thildren at a deaf school in Ouarzazate for a week. The projects aim was to understand the ability to teach the kids how to express emotions, confidence-building and leam from potsVe deaf rol8 modds.
St8tement ConfiIng whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charty CommissK)n on public bènefit We have nplied Yth our duty to have due regard to the Commission's public benefft guTrdan when exerosing any powers or duties to vthich the guidan is relevanL Achievements and Perfonnance Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference tha charity's work has made to the cirCumstanS of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole. Quiz Nlght D'sign first ever pub quiz was in the Errigle Inn. The fundraising team did a great job promoting the event on facebwk and around 50 people attended. The qutz was in Sign language and spoken english so all participants could understand. Everyone enjoyed themselves. it was a very close scores wise. The raffle prizes where donated from local companies and D'sign Members. The funding team had come up with a very clever way to select who won the prizes through popping balloons. We raise £489.70 for our fijture VrkshOps. The pub quiz was such a successful event we would definrtely do this type of event again. Clln d'oell Festlval D'sign Arts was cyeated in 2015 after Malathy had been to Clin d'oeil Festival and realised the severity of the lack of accessibility to the arts for Deaf audiences and theatre makers. This experience was so integral in the creation of D'sign Arts that the Board decided to take a selection of members to the Festival to See what is possib5e to achieve in the arts sector. Clin d'oeil Festival is a festival in Fran wthere Deaf artist come from all over the World to perform. We were at the festival from 2nd -5th July 2017 as where 6,000 other people. 5 members of D'sign Arts went to Clin d'oeil Festival in Reims,France to experience what Malachy felt his first time Ihere 1¢h inspired him to create D'sign Arts. Clin d'oeil Festival is a role mcKlel for D'sign Arts as they attract Deaf performers from all over the wodd and the festival is completely Deaf accessible. In Northem Ireland there are next to no deaf accessible perfomiances in our theatres and the ones that are labeled as Deaf accessible either have subtitles or a translator at the side of stage both of which split your focus and you miss vital parts of the performance. We aim to provid8 training io Deaf and Hearing perfomiers to create theatre that is accessible to all. We vUld love in the future to invite perfomiers and theatre maker5 vtho have perfOned at Clin d'oeil Festival to come and run workshops through D'sign Arts to help us eate more accessible theatre in Northem Ireland. Drama was not the only creative outlet showcased at Clin d'oeil Festival. there was also professional Deaf people making and sdling Iheir own crafts at stalls around the festival, this has inspired us to not only support acSsIble drama workshops but arts and crafts also. We aim to have crafts workshops for our
[rlberS in the next year. Clin d'oeil Festival also showcased Deaf Cinema, short films made by Deaf directors from different countries that show Deaf actors performing in them. This is another area of entertainment that is lacking Deaf accessibilty in Northem Ireland. In the future y would like to provide media training for Deaf filmmakers perhaps training in edit film, Direction and Lighting. We also attend a Big music disco event, the perfomiance consisted of a Deaf DJ and Deaf Dancers from Australia and Japan. Over 6.C(10 people attended This was beneficial to us as we met people and used intemational sign language to communicate with people who were professional actor6 , directors. artists and media film makers this was a great networking opportunty for us and it was also very inspiring for our group who all have their own creattve ambitions. D'sign Wrtches The D'sign Witches where are main outreach project in this time period. This project was aimed at young people, Hearing. Deaf. SitIngs of Deaf Children and Children interested in Sign Language. We first took them to Be Unique Drama school in Coleraine with the aim to get the children interested in Sign Language and also given them some Deaf awar8ness skills, we were extremely well received by both the 12 Children in the class and their parerrts. Here is a quote from the Teacher of Be Unique Drama on how sh8 f81t the Wit(*18s benefited the children ords cannot begin to descrtbe how amazingly beautiful and fantastic the Witches performance was... all of the children were thoroughly engaged from start to finish and really enjoyed the Halloween games after too! However, the BEST part most definÉtely was how the children got to observe and leam for themselves tons of sign language... it was such a fantastic opportunty for iyJr kiddies to get invoEved in leaming and carrying out sign language, helping the witches make their spells in time for Halloween!" Our second perfomance was for a charity called Sound Friends set up by Hearing Parents of Deaf Children. This Gan be a very intimidating circumstance when possible the first ever Deaf person you have met is your own chiltj. The D'sign Wrtches came crashing into their Halloween party with games and a Macbeth based PerfOnanCe th8r8 w8r8 15 childr8n present with a beautiful range of sign language users, hearing and Deaf children and a wide range in age from babies to 9 year olds. so the chall8ng8 for us was to make sur6 there where multiple parttcipation levels where every child could excel and make sure that we were communication in all languages so we were understood by all. We exceeded our own expectations and the parents were very happy and the children had a blasL Here is a quot8 from one of the mothers
Vthavs special aut me is my deafness and my language, I love sign language!" Well now all love d'sign witches and my favourite quote of the day above is an example of why. engaging and entertaining as well as bringing deaf awareness all of sound friends loved meeting d'sign witch8S today and can't wait to meet again in the future. We then on Hallowèen day went into Best Cty Center to perfom the Witches spell from Macbeth in Sign Language and sp)ken english we had lots of people coming up to us and asking how they could get involved in leaming Sign Language we also had Deaf children and Adult coming over delighted to see buskers using their Language which we would love to do more of and bring better Sign Language awareness to the streets. Morocco We knew before we arrived in MorCcO that thère would be quite a big age range (4-18) so it was important to adapt perforManS to each indtvidual levd. Such as the little group (4-9) depending on the child's ability. Older group (10-18}. And then we had a final group that consisted of 6 thildren all gids that wanted something different so we scripted another pie for them The women's script was to tackle stigma of being a woman and Deaf within Muslim culture. We wanted to show families and friends creative pieces that reflected real lrfe experiences for the children. We worked with the children to adapt scripts and tharaders and took all of their ideas and incorporated them into the perf0mlan. We also worked on expressK)n through physicality (this was with all groups). We used animals as a guide lo help the children understand their ovm emotions. We created depth wtth this exercise with the der children. Another aim was to encourage the children to step outside of their comfort zone and to see hearing and Deaf people working together in hamiony as well as having a femate director instead of a male.The children (4-9) were just given script that was based on anirnals. This was just to encourage the children to experiment with theatre and to leam. We found the younger group were a lot more restrictive than the older children. The older group expressed their interest in perfomiing piece about deafness. So for us it was about assessing and adapting to what the chrfdren needed and wanted and making sure we htt the ojectives of confidence building, creative thinking, expression, understanding emotions, characterisation . demonstrating the Importan of mental health in a child friendly way, understanding deafness and creative outlet for
Flnanclal Revlew Review of the charity's financial F)051tion at the end of the eriod statement explaining the policy for holding reseNes stating they are held Tha Charity is in profit of £982. at the end of the financial period 01.04.2017- 31.03.2018 As we do not have any monthty expenses due to the fact that we do not have a premises etc. and V only incur expenses when worf<shops or perfomances are organised we JIrenuY do not hold any reserves and therefore only raise money as and when needed. This is something we plan to change in the coming year however at the mornt we have been unable to as we are suth a small Chari 0.00 We do not have any monthly expenses due to the fact that we do not have a premises etc. and w8 only incur expenses when workshops or performances are organised we Jrrently do not hold any reserves and therefore only raise mone as and when needed. NIA Amount of reserves hdd Reasons for holding zero reserves Details of fijnd materially in deficit ExFAanation of any uncertaintie5 about the charity continuing as a going con¢em We are currentty struggling to get any funding due to communication dFffiuJlties, our board is made up of only Deaf people and therefore being able to fill OLrt fomis written in English which is our second language is difficult and we are unable to phone for guidance. We aim to rectfy this in the coming year by putting some hearing people on our LK)ard to help with these problems. Structure. Governance and Management Description of chaiitys trusts= Type of goveming document I'"lJ<:. (Jttr.," How is the charity constituted? - j I lilj Tr.n,-rporated aibOL1.I', Constitution Unincorporated charttable association Trustee soledion methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees Trustees are elected at the AGM by a vote which is seconded.
Reference and Administrative details Charity Name: D'sign Other names the Charity uses: D'sign Arts Charity Number: 105202 Charity's principal Address: 33 MarK)r Drive. Lisbum, County Antrirn, BT28 1 JH Name of Charlty Trustees who manage the charlty Truslee name Office (If any) Dates acted Megan Keenan Chairperson 30111118 - Present Hazel Wilson 30111118 - Present Malachy McBurney Treasurer 01109r2017 - Present Robert Skelty Vlce Chairperson 30111118 - Present Paula Clarke Tntstee 30111118 - Present Paul Keenan Trustee 30111118 - prenI Bemie Cooney Trustee 30111118 - Present Name of Charity Trustees who managed the charity in the year in question Trustee name Office (If any) Dates acted Malachy McBurney Chairperson 01104120164)110912017 Paula Clarke Secretsry 01104120174011112018 Marie Franklin Treasurer 011041201641110912017 Robert Skelly Chairperson 0110912017- 3011112018 Malachy McBumey Treasurer 01109120174•resent Paul Stewart Trustee 0110412016 - 0110912017 Kevln Blalr Trustee 0110412016 - 3011112018
Declarations The board declare that they have approved the truslees, report above. Signed on behalf of the charity's Board Trustee name Office (rf any) Signature Megan Keenan Chairperson Hazel Wilson Secretary Malachy McBumey Treasurer Robert Skelly Irice Chalrperson