Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From Period start date To Period end date
Day01 Month04 Year2013 Day31 Month03 Year2014
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Arty Party Limited
Other names charity is known by Arty Party
Arty Party
Registered charity number 1142517
Charity’s principal address at the time of this report
Park Lane Centre, Park Lane, Woodside
Telford TF7 5QZ
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole year Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
1 Julia Dean-Richards Chair
2 Mike Jones Secretary
3 Paul Tudor Treasurer
4 Jan Bridges
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
Managed by Julia Dean-Richards
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document
(eg. trust deed, constitution) Memorandum and Articles
How the charity is constituted
(eg. trust, association, company) Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustee selection methods
(eg. appointed by, elected by) Appointed by the Board / Elected by Members
Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document To improve the quality of life of people with disabilities within Shropshire and its surrounding areas, by promoting education and the arts, and through this improving individual health, social wellbeing and economic stability. Also to promote social integration and community cohesion, building trust, confidence and communication between people with disabilities and the wider community through the medium of the arts.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)
Ensuring our work delivers our aims
We will review our aims, objectives and activities each year, considering our achievements and the outcomes of our work in the previous 12 months. We will refer to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning future activities. In particular, the Trustees will consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
Arty Party is a membership arts organisation that works with adults with learning disabilities to create art, performance, craft, writing, film and music.
The Arty Party Able Events Team is a group trained to run art and social events, including the Dancing Hippo Club that many of our members enjoy.
Our Art Studio is for people who wish to be artists – discovering their own style and exhibiting and selling their art.
Our Physical Theatre group meets regularly, and makes stunning performance pieces.
Our Market Art Enterprise Team runs weekly art and craft market stalls at the Wellington and Shrewsbury Indoor Markets. Our stalls sell the work of artists, writers and crafters, with a focus on the work of people with learning disabilities.
Our Members Committee makes decisions and we learn and work together.
- Membership, Teams and Committees
We have over 90 members. 12 members are elected onto the members committee. This committee makes decisions about future activities and fundraising, and is chaired and minuted by its members. 2 committee members represent the committee at Board meetings.
The Able Events Team is a team of 11 members who, funded by the Big Lottery, have been trained to organise and run social events. This team are trained in Front of House, Communication, Disability Awareness, Accessible Venue Set-up and Customer Service.
Publicity and Marketing
We do this through two facebook pages, a twitter account, newsletters four times a year, flyers for events and info at market stalls. We have also generated newspaper articles – recently in Shropshire star and Chronicle, and have talked on BBC Shropshire Radio, including a feature called spotlight on Arty Party. Members are involved in all aspects of publicity, from poetry and reports in newsletters to radio interviews.
Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
Activity 2013 – 2014
We ran two weekly indoor market stalls – Wellington on Fridays and Shrewsbury on Tuesday. These stalls focussed on selling the arts and crafts of learning disabled adults. We also worked with local crafters and artists, who helped the team to learn new skills. The Market Art Enterprise team set up and ran the stalls, supported by Julia Dean-Richards.
Shrewsbury team was Jamie, Jonathan and Sean. Wellington team is Georgie, Becky, Ricky, David and Nathan. Suppliers are paid 80%, generating 20% towards Arty Party stall rental and overheads. The stalls are self-sustainable.
All relevant skills were covered ‘on the job’ – the stalls are multi-functional – great hubs in the community, with local people contacting us, coming for a chat and donating their own hand-made goods. The stalls were lively and welcoming, and a focus for anyone who wanted to get involved. We have been asked to run stalls at other events and are taking a stall to Asda, Shrewsbury, on 3rd April.
We also used the market stalls as places in which to produce art. One member is working on a book and an animation, Nathan knitted at the stall and Georgie learned how to make hats and bracelets on a loom. Jamie, Jonathan and Sean made (and sold) gift boxes and mirrors. Michael has two books on sale and David also had a book on sale. Members who visited the stall often stayed to write a poem or paint. We published the poetry on facebook.
We launched Blue Cat Creations – a venture which involves our artists producing paintings of people’s pets, which were then purchased by the person who commissioned the piece. The venture was led by Tanya Raabe, a Shropshire artist with a national reputation for disability art. Tanya has been involved with Arty Party from the outset.
We ran C.A.T. classes. Our Logo is a Blue Cat, designed by one of our members. C.A.T. stands for Craft, Art and Theatre. These classes generated members’ work to sell on the market stalls – leading to the involvement of more members, and increased confidence as their items are sold.
We ran Physical Theatre sessions at the Lantern Community Centre in Shrewsbury. The day long sessions were attended by ten learning disabled adults. The sessions ran at cost price and insurance was covered by fundraising. The sessions were run in partnership with Shropshire Inclusive Dance, facilitated by Ray Jacobs and Rachel Liggitt, who have many years experience of working with learning disabled performers. Ray Jacobs has worked with Arty Party since it was founded. Following an initial phase of self funded sessions, we extended this opportunity, so sessions will continue in April, May and June.
Our performers have two performances planned for 2014 – one commissioned by Bethphage, and the other, the creation of a new performance piece about ‘home’, working with the community in Woodside, Telford, funded by the BBC Performing Arts Fund.
The Able Events Team has been funded to run 3 large scale events during 2013/14. These have included a performance showcase event, a live band event and a mini disability film festival, due to take place on March 28th in Wellington. We will be showing films made by learning disabled people, submitted by groups and individuals locally and nationally. The Able Events team launched The Dancing Hippo Club, as the platform for these and future Arty Party events. The team now has its own uniform and identity, and is taking responsibility for the success of the events – including the production of flyers and making contact with local businesses for sponsorship and raffle prizes.
When funds are available we put on transport for those members who otherwise would not access social activities. Support is provided, to enable greater independence at events.
To inspire our members to create, to build confidence, and to include people in a variety of activities, we periodically organise trips to art galleries, theatres and film festivals. This year we visited Wolverhampton Art Gallery to see an installation that questions perceptions about learning disabled people.
The work of Arty Party artists was placed on display in a hairdresser’s shop in Shrewsbury.
Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves
Arty Party is a small charity, dependent upon small grants and fundraising, as well as earnings, to sustain its operations and to run activities. Our reserves policy reflects the fact that we do not currently employ permanent paid staff, but must cover insurances and essential core costs in order to sustain any activity. We have therefore calculated the amount of reserves needed to run the organisation for 6 months without income, during which we would focus upon fundraising activities.
Details of any funds materially in deficit
N/A
Section F Other optional information
N/A
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Julia Dean-Richards
Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Chair
Date 01/11/2014