PERFORMANCE COLLECTIVE STRANRAER
Annual Report & Financial Statements
For the Period Ended
31 March 2020
Scottish Charity No SC049147 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
CONTENTS
Trustees’ Annual Report………………………………………………………………………………. 3 - 6
Independent Examiner’s Report…………………………………………………………………… 7
Statement of Receipts & Payments………………………………………………………………. 8
Statement of Balances…………………………………………………………………………………. 9
Notes to the Accounts…………………………………………………………………………………… 10
2 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
The Trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements and the independent examiner’s report for the period ended 31 March 2020.
Reference & Administrative Information
Charity Name Performance Collective Stranraer
Charity is Known As PCS
Charity No SC049147
Address c/o Meikle Knox House, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway, DG7 1NS
Current Trustees
Chairperson Vice-Chairperson Treasurer Community Liaison
Structure Governance & Management
Constitution The Charity is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (a SCIO). It was registered in its current legal form on 20 March 2019.
The assets of the unincorporated association were transferred to the SCIO on 20 March 2019.
Appointment of Trustees The individuals present at the time of the charity’s incorporation and who signed the declaration forms shall be deemed to have been appointed by the members as charity trustees with effect from the date of incorporation of the organisation.
Anyone who is a member of the charity will be eligible to be elected/appointed as a charity trustee. Elections shall take place at each AGM of the charity but trustees can appoint members onto the board at any time throughout the year.
At each AGM, all of the charity trustees elected/appointed shall retire from office – but shall then be eligible for re-election.
3 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
Objectives & Activities
Charitable purposes To promote and ensure the advancement of the arts, heritage and culture in Wigtownshire and Dumfries and Galloway, through work with professional theatre makers, artists and craftspeople in Scotland. In furtherance, the organisation will promote equal access for all to the performing arts in Stranraer, Wigtownshire, and Dumfries and Galloway and promote and ensure equal opportunities to participation in theatre making by providing opportunities and activities for those who do not easily have access to drama workshops, theatre and performance.
Achievements & Performance
Having become a registered charity on 20 March 2020, we now have 28 members and 4 board members and have seven volunteers who have worked with us over the year. PCS has members with a wide range of skills and abilities, who form a diverse community including LGBTQ, BAME, neurodivergent and physically challenged individuals, all able to fully participate in every aspect of our activities. From June to the end of August 2019, we prioritised fund raising and recruitment. PCS ran two stalls giving information and collecting in names and contacts – one at YouthBeaz (June) and one on Douglas Day at Castle Douglas (July). For the show Unsupervised Adulting, the assistant director/producer (a PCS member) secured £1,000 from the Holywood Trust towards accommodation and transport. PCS members collectively raised just over £1,000 through our first attempt at crowdfunding. Another member secured £750 from ICC funding towards her working with another member’s new theatre company Rural Riches, to run workshops for young people in Crossmichael Village Hall, with a windfarm community award of £500.
Theatre Trips and Go-See Fun As part of our mentoring scheme PCS members had 15 theatre trips, to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dumfries. Four PCS members attended the Just Start Here, National Theatre of Scotland’s 2-day festival with The Stove, Dumfries.
Mentoring Scheme The 1st cohort of 10 PCS members and 10 mentors finished the programme in August 2019. Feedback from mentors and mentees was one hundred percent very good or excellent. A 2nd Cohort has enrolled 10 new PCS members. Training of mentors and the pairing mentors and mentees took place in January 2020. The mentoring programme became digital in March during lockdown and will finish in September 2020. The 3rd cohort of 20 mentees is planned to start in January 2021.
Artistic Development Labs The 1st Lab Residential Development Lab was held in Wigtown in December with 10 young people. The 2nd Lab Residential took place in January with 13 young artists coming together to train, hone their skills, gain new skills, and develop their own ideas for productions. The labs are run by PCS Artistic Director and 2 of Scotland’s leading theatre artists and . Alas, the 3rd Lab (fully booked with 19 young theatre practitioners) was planned for May 2020 but was cancelled due to the government lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
4 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
Achievements & Performance Cont.
Workshops ran a devising contemporary theatre workshop for PCS members in May.
PCS Members’ Achievements. Our members have cited PCS as instrumental in giving them the confidence, skills and fellowship to aspire and achieve in the Performing Arts. We celebrate their achievements which include: a PCS member making his London Debut in the cast of National Theatre’s Peter Gynt; a member making her debut as a director of Much Taboo about Nothing at The Rum Shack in Glasgow; two members plus eight other young Scottish actors selected to join Scottish Youth Theatre's company in an international collaboration with theatre companies from Portugal and Poland; three members gaining agents; one member graduated with a BA in Acting from New College Lanarkshire (QMU); one member took his show to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 and was also cast in Love’s Labour Lost, Theatre in The Garden, under the direction of ; two members set up 1875 Theatre Collective, their mission statement “A new theatre collective taking the initiative to celebrate equality in theatre”; another member also set up her own theatre company, Rural Riches; two members joined Gridiron’s The Network Ensemble for the show The Brunch Club which had a successful run at Edinburgh Fringe festival 2019 and awarded the Fringe Bright Spark Award which recognises outstanding emerging Scottish talent; a member ran Fox and Hound Cubs summer school in Crossmichael and another member made her debut as a BSL translator at their end of summer school performance for parents and friends; a member won a YTAS Bursary to attend the National Convention of Youth Drama in March 2019 at The Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow and we have a member who has been cast in TV’s River City and also Scottish Youth Theatre’s 2020 Stories: The View From Here, a digital lockdown performance series.
Governance – PCS Board Meetings Meetings were held on 13 June 2019 to review the business plan; a remote Board meeting was held in May 2020 to review the COVID-19 response and an AGM is planned for July, when we hope to be able to hold public meetings.
PCS Productions Out of our Lab Residentials came the show Unsupervised Adulting, which premiered at the Theatre Royal and then twice at The Wigtown Book Festival (September). All three performances were sold out. A rehearsed reading of Undertakers by PCS member also took place at the Wigtown Book Festival, performed by members of PCS. was awarded £750 from DGU’s ICC fund towards this professional reading.
PCS liaised with Edinburgh-based company Sonnet Youth to bring show Thick Skin, Elastic Heart to Annan, as part of the Creative Scotland funded rural touring programme. Internationally renowned actor, dramaturg and youth theatre leader worked with f4b female PCS members over 3 days to create a ‘scratch’ show for Youth Theatre Arts Scotland Emergence Festival. The show was performed at The Travers Theatre in Edinburgh to a full house of mainly young people.
5 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
Achievements & Performance Cont.
COVID-19 Response In April, the Creative Director initiated bi-weekly zoom meetings for our members, alongside weekly phone calls and emails to each member. We also had a Town Hall meeting to consult about the future and created our first digital Art Guide. Art Guides are videos designed to give PCS members an insight into the working practice of artists living in Scotland right now. We adapted the first of these to make it available to the public through You Tube.
Plans for the Future DG Arts Live has awarded PCS £5,000 plus £2,000 ‘in-kind’ to expand the show Unsupervised Adulting for rural touring across Dumfries and Galloway as soon as theatre restrictions are lifted, possibly in Autumn 2020.
The PCS environmental policy is being drafted. Whilst we acknowledge the vast distances needed for travel across Dumfries and Galloway we want to encourage as much communal travel as possible, minimising our carbon footprint and fostering a sense of community with our artist cohort.
We an application to The Holywood Trust for a new project, PCS: Cultivate, a professional development initiative designed to further professionalise our rural young performing artists, helping improve their employability through a bespoke programme of one to one mentoring and skills development activities. Financial Review
All funds are unrestricted. Total Receipts were £33,188 and payments for the year were £25,130, resulting in a surplus for the year of £8,058.
Reserves Policy The Board recognise that they do not have an operating reserves policy. However, the charity operates on a project to project basis and only initiate new projects once the full funding requirements are secured.
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Approved by the trustees on 30 April 2020 and signed on their behalf by:
Chairperson
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STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS For the Period Ended 31 March 2020
Receipts Note 2020
Donations 3 4,338 Grants 4 27,900 Performance Shows 450 Other – Trustee Loan 500 Total Receipts 33,188
Payments (relating to charitable activities)
Commission 9,163 Creative Director Expenses 3,364 Residential Labs 3,193 Mentor Programme 1,394 PCS Members Professional Fees 5,936 Production Costs 894 Governance/ Administration 686 Other – Trustee Loan Repayment 500 Total Payments 25,130
Surplus/(Deficit) for the year 8,058
8 STATEMENT OF BALANCES As at 31 March 2020
Funds Reconciliation Note 2020
Cash at Bank & In Hand 20/03/19 - Surplus/(Deficit) for year 8,058 Cash at Bank & In Hand – 31/03/2020 8,058
Bank & Cash Balances Bank of Scotland Current Account 8,058 Cash in Hand - 8,058
9 NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS As at 31 March 2020
1. Basis of Accounting
These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance with the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) regulations 2006 (as amended).
2. Nature and Purpose of Funds
Unrestricted funds are those that may be used at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objects of the charity. All of the charity funds are unrestricted.
3. Donations 2020
PCS Donation 2,011 Crowdfund 1,162 Swallow Theatre Association 1,165 4,338
The PCS Donation was the transfer of the assets from the unincorporated association to the charity in its new legal form at 20 March 2019.
4. Grants 2020
The Holywood Trust 18,150 ICC - D&G Unlimited 750 Barfil Trust 9,000 27,900
Approved by the trustees on 30 April 2020 and signed on their behalf by:
Chairperson
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