Wonder Fools (SCIO) Charity Number: SC047673 Annual Report 2017 – 2018 Trustees: Contents • Charity Information – 3 • Structure, Governance and Management – 4 • ObjeCtives and Activities – 4 • Chair Statement – 5 • Programme of Work – 6 • Programme Details – 9 • Feedback – 12 • Financial Review – 15 • Looking Forward – 15 • Thank Yous – 15 • Closing Statement – 16 • Independent EXaminer’s Report – 17 • ReCeipts and Payments AcCount – 18 • Statement of Balances – 19 • Notes to the AcCounts – 20-22 2 Charity Information The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the finanCial statements for the year ended 31st August 2018. Reference and Administrative Information: Charity name Wonder Fools SCIO Charity no SC047673 Address 3/1 17 Cumming Drive Glasgow G42 9AE Current Trustees – Chair – Secretary –Treasurer resigned 11/1/2018 3 Structure, Governance and Management Constitution The Charity is a Scottish Charitable InCorporated Organisation (a SCIO). It was registered in its current legal form on 24th August 2017. It has a single tier structure and as such the trustees are the members of the Charity. Appointment of trustees Wonder Fools (SCIO)’s board is made up of the Charity’s trustees. Trustees are eleCted at the annual general meeting. There must be a minimum of three and a maximum of twelve trustees. Volunteer Hours of Trustees The running of our Charity depends on a high amount of volunteer hours throughout the year in order to deliver our different projeCts. These hours include administration, faCilitation, performing and produCing. In 2017/18 charity trustees and recorded a total of 639 volunteer hours each, with a monthly average of 53.25 hours. recorded a total of 54 hours volunteer work. who performed in The Coolidge EffeCt, reCorded a total of 62 hours. reCorded 40 hours. Objectives and Activities Charitable purposes Our Charitable purpose is from SeCtion G of the 2005 ACt. Our Charitable purpose is the advanCement of the arts and Culture. Activities Our primary aCtivity is to Create and produCe theatre produCtions. As a Company we are interested in eXploring different forms and subjeCt matters, as well as different proCesses of making work. By curating our programme in this way we believe our SCIO reaches a broad and a diverse range of audienCes. Each Wonder Fools produCtion has an acCompanying Creative Learning programme for young people, adults with learning diffiCulties and Community groups, dealing with the different themes explored in our performanCes. In addition to the main programme of theatre produCtions and Creative Learning, we produce performance installations that Can be toured outside traditional theatre venues by targeting community events and arts festivals, reaching different audiences through these events. We Curate and produCe an ongoing Contemporary variety night to fuse different art forms and audienCes in one exCiting night of new work. The nights place an emphasis on programming emerging artists in different fields suCh as poetry, performanCe, musiC, theatre, film and visual arts. 4 Chair’s Statement We have had a produCtive and engaging first year as a registered Charity at Wonder Fools. We have enjoyed developing existing work further, Creating exCiting new performanCes, Collaborating with artists both familiar and new, and Championing the untold stories of historiCal and Contemporary Scotland. Our work strives to prioritise engaging with both traditional and non-traditional theatre audienCes and we are proud to place this Core aim at the heart of how we program, Create and deliver work. Following our formation as a SCIO, 2017/18 has been our most productive year to date as a company. We have pursued our charitable aims – the advanCement of the arts and Culture – through a variety of theatre produCtions and Creative learning workshops. Wonder Fools’ production of The Coolidge Effect undertook its first professional tour to the Tron Theatre, Glasgow; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling and the New Diorama, London. Alongside the produCtion was a Creative learning paCkage for a variety of different groups. The show returned for dates in Glasgow at the Citizens Theatre and then at New Diorama again and HOME, ManChester as part of INCOMING Festival in June/July 2018. In November 2017, Wonder Fools produCed an eXisting work for the first time – Lampedusa. The show was a Citizens Theatre production in association with Wonder Fools and ran from 8 – 18 November. Alongside the produCtion was a post-show talk and an afternoon celebrating the riCh diversity and Culture of Glasgow with musiC, poetry and dance. Lampedusa was a fantastiC demonstration of the Company’s Commitment to engaging new audiences in a myriad of ways and we would like to thank our Co-producers Citizens Theatre. After almost three years of development, including researChing and interviewing family members of the people involved, Wonder Fools debuted 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War in February 2018. A true representation of what the Company is all about, the play was developed in the Prestonpans Community, where the play begins, and was first performed in the town hall there to speCifiCally engage audienCes in the area who might not otherwise attend. Following this, the play transferred to the Citizens Theatre and the more Conventional theatre spaCe of the CirCle Studio. Both shows sold out over a month in advance, demonstrating the significant resonance the story has and we look forward to taking this work further and wider in 2018/19. We would like to thank all of the funders and Contributors who made the performanCes possible. Finally, Wonder Fools would like to thank all of the inCredible artists, audienCes and partiCipants we have ConneCted with aCross the year. It has been a privilege to undertake such a wide-ranging and successful first year as Wonder Fools (SCIO) and we look forward to the future. Chair 5 Programme of Work The period of 2017/18 saw Wonder Fools foCus on simultaneously producing three different productions on a professional level, along with aCCompanying Creative learning programmes. Alongside our three main productions, in total we ran 13 workshops, developed 2 new shows, worked with 27 different artists, and our productions had a total audienCe of 1919 people. 1919 13 workshops 2 27 audience members developments collaborators We undertook the first professional tour of The Coolidge Effect to venues aCross SCotland and down to London. The Coolidge EffeCt is an interaCtive performanCe that uses storytelling, poetry and sCience to eXamine how pornography affects our mental health and sexual experienCes. The tour began at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh before transferring to the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, the Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling and the New Diorama Theatre, London as part of the showcase for the companies involved in the New Diorama’s Graduate Emerging Companies sCheme. The tour was a natural progression for a produCtion that had begun life at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as and degree show, then went on be developed at scratch performances and one-off performances before being delivered to this wider audienCe in the winter of 2017. The Coolidge Effect’s life Continued into 2018. The The Coolidge Effect – Tron Theatre, Glasgow – September 2017 themes of this show – around mental health, the internet and pornography – remain topiCal and the Company is keen to do as many performanCes as possible as long as the issues remain relevant. In addition, the show involves only two performers, travels on publiC transport, and everything needed to perform it travels in a suitcase – this is to be environmentally sustainable and to enable us to perform anywhere. Taking that all into acCount, Wonder Fools began 2018 with a performanCe in a shipping Container at Big Burns Supper, Dumfries. As well as performing to an intimate and engaged audience, the Conversations after the show were 6 fruitful and involved speaking to the NHS Dumfries and Galloway and we look forward to ConneCting with them in the future. Wonder Fools were invited to partiCipate at INCOMING Festival, a Curation of the best emerging companies in the UK, in the Summer of 2018. Alongside this we planned a couple of “home” shows in Glasgow which took plaCe at the Citizens Theatre. INCOMING itself took us to New Diorama Theatre, London – for the seCond time in eight months – and to HOME, ManChester. It was a fantastiC platform for the Company to perform The Coolidge EffeCt, a privilege to be seleCted and involved, and invaluable to participate and conneCt with other likeminded artists and organisations. In November 2017, the Citizens Theatre in assoCiation with Wonder Fools staged the SCottish premiere of Lampedusa by . This was the first time the Company had taCkled an eXisting teXt by another playwright and it was a thrill to Collaborate with who is also a politiCal aCtivist. The play itself is a pair of intertwining monologues about the migrant crisis, one about an Italian fisherman who ColleCts the bodies of migrants trying to Cross Lampedusa – Citizens Theatre, Glasgow – November 2017 the Mediterranean and the other about a miXed-raCe woman from Leeds trying to fund her degree by working for a payday loan Company. The produCtion was on for two weeks. There was a post-show talk with direCtor (ACtivist, Theatre Maker and Community Development Worker) and (ResearCher, Practitioner and ACtivist who also lectures at Glasgow University). In addition, there was a Creative learning workshop at St Andrew’s RC Secondary in Glasgow and an open doors afternoon inside the Citizens Lampedusa Celebration Afternoon – Citizens Theatre – 17 November celebrating the culture and diversity of Glasgow. The afternoon involved inCluded performanCes of Albanian singing, Indian stick danCing, spoken word, Bollywood danCing, Persian / FlamenCo danCing, and Composer of Lampedusa, , singing songs. Over 60 people attended throughout the day and the event aChieved what we wanted it to: to highlight and spark a conversation about the migrant crisis and we did this in a hugely positive way, by celebrating the riCh Culture and diversity of Glasgow.