The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2020.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “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)” (effective 1 January 2019) .
In setting our objectives and activities the Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.
The Trustees sum up Corali's charitable purposes, as defined in its Memorandum, as the following: Corali uses dance to engage and inspire people with a learning disability by putting on original performance works and by offering ongoing professional development, engagement and training opportunities. Corali removes barriers by using dance to enable people with a learning disability to contribute meaningfully to cultural activities, positively raise awareness of disability and support them to lead full and healthy lifestyles.
The charity's objectives are:
To present high quality public performances created by dancers with a learning disability .
To provide professional and personal development opportunities in dance for people with a learning disability .
To work in partnership with other organisations to forward methodologies and promote best practice.
The Trustees felt that our purposes were best achieved by continuing our core programme, alongside strengthening our infrastructure and existing partnerships.
Our core programme consists of:
An artistic programme made up of a core company delivering UK-wide public performances and regular dancer professional development .
An engagement and outreach programme made up of a youth company, adult community class, outreach workshops, and training for external organisations and professionals .
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding which activities the charity should undertake.
Artistic programme
In March 2020, the world entered unprecedented and uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are relieved to report that Corali has been able to navigate these challenges with minimal negative impact, at least for the short-term. It feels necessary to mention this upfront and understand the context of this report, which is informed by what came after. With this in mind, we are pleased to share the successes of the previous year, 2019-20.
“Corali are a joy to work with; their rigour, dedication and progressive approach to dance as an art form is an inspiration.” Daniel Hay-Gordon 2019, Dancer, Choreographer, Filmmaker, Co-Founder of dance duo Thick & Tight .
2019 was Corali’s 30th anniversary and it was a year of great success. Our anniversary activities provided an opportunity for whole company reflection and celebration alongside high-profile presentation opportunities.
Thanks to core financial support from Arts Council England (ACE) as a National Portfolio Organsation (NPO), additional income from ACE strategic funds, Catalyst and Elevate, and donations from the Vandervell Foundation and the RTR Foundation, Corali consolidated its position as a sector leader and extended its arts programme both in the UK and internationally.
Key highlights of the year include:
being programmed in the International Mime Festival 2020 at Sadler’s Wells, London, performing Adieu in collaboration with dance duo Thick & Tight, January 2020
being commissioned by Tate to create a film, Dancing to Art, November 2019
delivering a 5-day dance-performance residency as part of the Djakarta Theater festival platform in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 2019
a national tour of our ensemble work Technicolour Everyday in April 2019, as part of the Rural Touring Dance Initiative (RTDI)
More people saw our live work than the previous year , with a total 1,662 audience members . We also continued to extend our reach through film screenings and digital work, with 26,397 digital viewings of our film work.
Kick Up, our youth company, also continued to flourish. 518 people saw its work: Bowled Over at the Bonnie Bird theatre, Laban, London in April 2019 and Sounds Good to Me at The Place theatre, London in February 2020.
Our Professional Development Class (PDC) for dancers with a learning disability continued to offer nine dancers a chance to build their skills. Last year a PDC dancer gained a place at the national Centre for Advanced Training.
“Saturday’s performance was wonderful and it was so great to see the energy and confidence that all the dancers had. It was a very uplifting evening.” Audience member, Kick Up 2019 .
Engagement programme
In July 2019, we heard the good news that our National Lottery Community Fund application had been successful. The 3-year grant will fund our new schools programme, A Chance to Shine, and enable the continued development of our community class, Corali Explore and youth company, Kick Up. Together with funding from Lambeth Community Fund and the Brian Murtagh Charitable Trust we can develop our youth company skills and extend our engagement programme.
Alongside our regular engagement activities, Corali delivered several key projects in partnership with other organisations. These included:
An open public workshop, ‘Testing, Testing, Testing’, Tate, November 2019
A family dance day for young people, The Place theatre, July 2019
A summer school for children at Pavillion Dance South West, July 2019
An inclusive practice training day for dance teachers, The Place theatre, September 2019
Unfortunately, activities planned to take place in March 2020 with the Royal Academy of Dance, Tate and A New Direction were all cancelled. We hope we will be able to deliver these projects remotely or next year.
A total of 336 people took part in our Engagement and Outreach programme last year and we worked in London, Hertfordshire, Cornwall, Dorset and Leicester.
Developing our sustainability and structure
Thanks to funding from the CriSeren Foundation, in 2019 Corali commissioned Flow Associates to write the company’s first externally created impact report. The process included internal consultation with artists, participants, associates and audiences from all strands of Corali’s activity and coinciding with our 30th anniversary provided a key moment for reflection and future planning.
We are in an excellent position to develop our engagement programme, thanks to our successful application to National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF), a grant of £153,919 over 3 years . The grant also funds our new staff position of Engagement and Outreach Manager. We a re delighted to report that Andrea Swainson, formerly Corali’s Participation Officer, has taken up the post following an internal recruitment process.
In January 2020, we said goodbye to our office at Ovalhouse theatre, where we had been based for over a decade. This was because the theatre was re-locating to a new, purpose-built venue in Brixton. The new theatre is planned to open in the summer of 2021, rebranded as Brixton House. We have been invited to move alongside Brixton House next year and continue our long relationship with the theatre. In the meantime, we have been lucky to find new office space at Tripod, a shared workspace with other arts and social charities based in the heart of Brixton, at Lambeth Town Hall.
In 2021 we hope to pilot our new advisory group, “Corali Voice” , which would be made up of representatives from all aspects of Corali’s activity - youth company members, main company performers and participants. We are consulting with our current membership around Corali Voice having voting rights, which would allow the group to play an active role in company decision-making.
This year marked Corali’s second year as an Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). This provides us with a grant of £100,000 per year for four years, until March 2022 , now extended until March 2023 due to COVID-19. Corali’s NPO status raises the company’s profile within the dance and arts world and enables us to step up our sector leadership position.
This core income, together with our National Lottery Community Fund grant, provides a firm financial foundation from which to build and enables us to deliver the ambitions of our business plan. 2019 also marked the third and final year of Corali’s funding from two key ACE strategic grants: Elevate and Catalyst: Evolve. Both funds were awarded in August 2016 on a partnership basis and have made an important and very positive impact on Corali. The last four years have been an incredibly important developmental phase for the company: we have extended both our artistic and engagement programmes, as well as developing strategically to increase our resilience and sustainability. This is particularly relevant as we move into unknown economic challenges.
For a third year running, Corali has been delighted to receive funding from the Brian Murtagh Charitable Trust and the Vandervell Foundation. We are very grateful to both foundations for their continued support that has enabled Corali’s young dancers to develop leadership roles and supported key partnerships within our artistic programme.
Corali has managed its resources and funding well, with the aid of sound financial management and the support of both its staff and trustees. The net movement in funds amounted to a surplus of £24,627. The retained reserves at 31 March 2020 were £165,676 , made up of £64,802 in restricted funds and £100,874 in unrestricted funds, in line with our reserves policy.
Reserves Policy
The reserves policy agreed by the Trustees is a minimum of three months’ running costs (25% of Corali’s total annual budget for the year). This provides a target of approximately £50,000 for free reserves. The aim is to build from this minimum level to increase reserves and at 31 March 2020 free reserves of £56,333 were held (excluding designated reserves and fixed assets). The r eserves are to cover core activity in the event of a period of unforeseen difficulty or needing to wind up the charitable company in an ordered and proper fashion. The company is aware of uncertain economic times ahead as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and are holding higher free reserves in anticipation of a downturn in income in the forthcoming financial year. Corali’s reserves policy is reviewed and updated annually by the Finance Subcommittee and approved by the board.
Risk
The Trustees regularly review the major risks to which Corali is exposed. Where appropriate, systems or procedures have been established to mitigate any risks faced by the organisation. Internal control risks are minimised through clear authorisation procedures for all projects, activities and financial transactions. Procedures are also in place to ensure the safeguarding and health and safety of staff, participants and visitors.
Plans for the future
As mentioned at the start of this report, in March 2020 the UK went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term repercussions of this incredibly challenging and unsettling time have yet to become known, but what is clear is that they will be wide-reaching and profound. What is also clear is that certain communities and industries have been, and will continue to be, hit harder than others. These groups include people with a learning disability, and the arts and performance sectors.
We will need to give ourselves time to plan for the future in this new social, economic and industry context. Research and reflection time for our artistic programme will be expanded so we can develop new models of practice that include digital elements alongside innovative audience and venue relationships. We will need to make sure the connection to our audience in its broadest terms is live and meaningful. We will need to be flexible and resilient. Corali’s staff team, trustees, associates, artists and participants and their families have already demonstrated that they have the creativity and commitment to realise this, and to support each other. We are grateful to everyone and optimistic that our future plans continue to work towards our vision - for people with a learning disability to be valued for their place in the arts and society - and that as a company we continue to inspire and influence, and positively change perceptions of disability.
Corali has heard the good news that we are about to begin a new project with our key artistic partners, dance duo Thick & Tight. Thanks to a research grant from Dorset initiative Surf the Wave, in the autumn of 2020 Corali and Thick & Tight will explore new ways that artists with a learning disability can create video work on an equal platform to their non-disabled peers.
During lockdown, Corali took up the challenge to adapt a film project, due to be shot on location, to take place remotely. The new work, Park Wanderings, was made in partnership with dance theatre company Impermanence, and is a solo by Corali dancer Bethan Kendrick. The film was supported by our ACE Elevate grant, commissioned by Southwark Park Galleries (SPG) and will be launched at SPG in September 2020.
During the summer of 2020, Corali adapted its regular programme of weekly classes to an online offer. In October 2020, we aim to pilot some face-to-face classes that are smaller in size and shorter in length , whilst the pandemic continues.
In the summer of 2021 we plan to move to our new home at Brixton House. We have already had some exciting discussions with the new Artistic Director, Gbolahan Obisesan, to look at ways we can work together. These discussions include basing our youth company classes in the new theatre’s state-of-the-art studio spaces, and continuing to offer our partnership weekend and holiday project, Demonstrate!, with Brixton House.
Discussions with Lambeth Council are also buoyant and we are hoping that we can offer some “pop-up” performances for council employees in the courtyard of our current home, Lambeth Town Hall.
Rehearsals for our first family show, Super, Hot Hot Dog! (working title), were halted due to the pandemic. We hope to begin these again in 2021, for a spring 2022 premiere, and look forward to sharing more details with you soon.
Corali Dance Company ("Corali") is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 13 January 1998 and registered as a charity on 29 January 1998. Corali 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. In the event of the charitable company's winding up each member may be required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
As set out in the Articles of Association, the Chair and new trustees are nominated and elected by members of the Board. The Chair must stand down for re-election after every three-year term and, set on rotation according to election dates, a third of trustees must stand down for re-election each year.
Prospective trustees have an initial meeting with a senior member of staff and an existing trustee and are provided with induction information that outlines their legal obligations under charity and company law. They are also updated on the charitable company's current finances and activities. Before formal election, they are invited to observe a board meeting, providing an opportunity for them to meet the full board and vice versa.
During this period, Lou Errington stood down as a trustee. Following a period of acting chairship, Simon Jarrett was formally elected as Chair in February 2020.
The Board of Trustees (which can have up to 10 members) administers the charitable company, and meets four times a year, in addition to an Annual General Meeting. Sub-committees (such as finance or development) are set up when appropriate and necessary. An Artistic Director, General Manager and other staff members are recruited by the Board to manage the charitable company's day-to-day activities.
The Trustees' r eport was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Corali Dance Company (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2020.
As the Trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) . In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
FCCA ACA
Donations and legacies (including Gift Aid)
Income from c haritable activities
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. Unrestricted fund levels are in line with our reserves policy (see page 4).
Corali Dance Company is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Tripod, LB of Lambeth, PO Box 734, Winchester, SO23 5DG, United Kingdom.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "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) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are donations and other incomes received or generated for the objects of the organisation without further specified purpose and are available for general funds.
Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is identified to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.
Revenue grants are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities on the earlier date of when they are received or when they are receivable, unless they relate to a specific future period, in which case they are included on the balance sheet as deferred income to be recognised in the future accounting period. Grants received for specific purposes are accounted for as restricted funds in the Statement of Financial Activities.
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been included under expense categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Donations and legacies (including Gift Aid)
Grants
Income from c haritable activities
Income from charitable activities - see detail below
|
Restricted
|
Unrestricted
|
Total 2020
|
Total 2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
Engagement fees |
- |
7,003 |
7,003 |
5,897 |
Performance fees |
- |
12,750 |
12,750 |
4,711 |
Training fees |
- |
350 |
350 |
- |
Merchandise sales |
- |
195 |
195 |
- |
Other |
- |
197 |
197 |
- |
Total charitable income |
- |
20,495 |
20,495 |
10,608 |
Fees and commissions to artists
Transport costs
Rehearsal costs
Materials, props and costumes
Rent
Insurance
Telephone and postage
Printing and stationery
Artistic activity costs
Consultancy
Subscriptions and publications
Sundries
Description of charitable activities
Corali provides performance and engagement activities for adults, children and young people with a learning disability, mainly in London but also UK-wide .
Marketing
Payroll administration
Meeting costs
Accountancy
Governance costs include payments to the independent examiner of £ 1,510 (2019 - £ 1,465 ) for independent examination f ees.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
There were no employees whose annual remuneration was £60,000 or more.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £2,440 (2019 - £1,372).
National Lottery Community Fund
Funding for the engagement and outreach programme
Brian Mutagh Charitable Trust
Funding for Kick Up and leadership projects
Catalyst (Arts Council England)
Funding for organisational development and a private giving incentive scheme with planned legacy activities
Vandervell Foundation
Funding for the annual performance programme
The Funding Network
Funding for the Chance to Shine schools programme
Arts Council England National Portfolio
Funding for the delivery of the artistic programme, as well as associated staff and administrative costs to ensure its smooth running.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2019 - none).