for the Period Ended 28 February 2024
Directors report | |
Balance sheet | |
Additional notes | |
Balance sheet notes | |
Community Interest Report |
Directors' report period ended
The directors present their report with the financial statements of the company for the period ended 28 February 2024
Principal activities of the company
Directors
The directors shown below have held office during the whole of the period from
1 March 2023
to
28 February 2024
The above report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions in part 15 of the Companies Act 2006
This report was approved by the board of directors on
And signed on behalf of the board by:
Name:
Status: Director
As at
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Fixed assets | |||
Intangible assets: |
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Tangible assets: |
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Investments: |
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Total fixed assets: |
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Current assets | |||
Stocks: |
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Debtors: | 3 |
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Cash at bank and in hand: |
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Investments: |
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Total current assets: |
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Creditors: amounts falling due within one year: | 4 |
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Net current assets (liabilities): |
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Total assets less current liabilities: |
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Total net assets (liabilities): |
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Members' funds | |||
Profit and loss account: |
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Total members' funds: |
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The notes form part of these financial statements
The directors have chosen not to file a copy of the company's profit and loss account.
This report was approved by the board of directors on
and signed on behalf of the board by:
Name:
Status: Director
The notes form part of these financial statements
for the Period Ended 28 February 2024
Basis of measurement and preparation
Turnover policy
for the Period Ended 28 February 2024
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Average number of employees during the period |
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for the Period Ended 28 February 2024
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Trade debtors |
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Prepayments and accrued income |
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Other debtors |
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Total |
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Debtors due after more than one year: |
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for the Period Ended 28 February 2024
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Taxation and social security |
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Other creditors |
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Total |
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Starling Arts promotes group singing for wellbeing. This work is primarily carried out through our community choirs (the Starling Voices), our partnership with the musical Wicked, and other community singing projects. Throughout the 2023-24 period, The Starling Voices maintained good membership numbers, with 60 - 70 members across the two community choirs. The year saw the return of our popular Cabaret nights. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, these had been an integral part of our choir calendar, so it was fantastic to get back to producing these events for and with our community. We hosted a Cabaret in March and November 2023, both held at The Spice Of Life in Soho. We also hosted a summer Fete at the community venue Wheatsheaf Hall, which featured performances, games, a fundraising raffle and refreshments. All events included members of Flock, our alumni choir, and the Starling Voices and were free for our members to attend. Our members vary in age, background and gather from across London and beyond and report that they have found community, support and friendship as part of the sessions and events. In July 2023, 31 of our members joined us for a ‘Get Away’ weekend in Devon. The trip included workshops with community singing leaders, team-building activities, walks on Dartmoor, and a concert for the local community of Chagford, the town we stayed in. The event was hugely popular and a wonderful way to bring our core community together. In December 2023, our choir and Flock members enjoyed singing carols in aid of the London Bubble Theatre and Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, as well as singing as part of a festive concert for the Mayhew animal welfare charity. Sing For Better Breathing, our weekly online singing group for people living with lung conditions, continued. An average of 5 people attend the session each week, with around 10 regular attendees. In November 2023 we were contacted by a music student at the University of Cambridge wishing to observe our participants and interview them as part of her research on ‘Accessibility and the imagined participating body’. Feedback from the study echoed much of what our members report about the impact of the sessions: Sing for Better Breathing improves members’ breath control and symptom management, as well as providing a community space and improving wellbeing. Some of our members have to be very careful socially due to weakened immune systems and being clinically vulnerable, and comment that the sessions provide a safe space for them each week to feel connected and have fun. The sessions continue to operate free of charge, with profits from our other endeavors helping to fund the group. Some members pay a small optional contribution to take part. At the end of the 2022-23 financial year we announced a partnership with the West End musical Wicked to design and deliver Official Wicked Workshops as part of the production’s Wicked Active Learning offering. These include workshops in Wellbeing, Anti-Bullying and Musical Theatre. We enjoyed a successful inaugural year delivering around 20 workshops for schools, reaching over 700 children and young people in the process, as well as offering a free workshop as part of Kids Week, the Society of London Theatre’s scheme to get young people into theatre. In the summer of 2023 we developed and filmed a virtual workshop for young people exploring the topic of Anti-Bullying. This is now available free of charge, along with an accompanying Teacher Resource Pack we put together, for primary schools across the country to access. In February 2024 we enjoyed being the opening act leading a warm up workshop at the annual Music and Drama Education Expo, as well as speaking to hundreds of teachers about our Wicked offering across the event. The partnership goes from strength to strength and allows us to reach more participants with affordable, arts based activities. Feedback from students and teachers alike has been extremely positive. The partnership with Wicked has allowed us to expand our team of freelance community arts practitioners, providing them with training and support to help our core team deliver our work. Throughout the autumn term of 2023 we worked with an Applied Theatre student from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, offering them an opportunity to shadow our work and gain valuable experience in the world of community arts. The 2023-24 financial year also saw us delivering two workshops for patients at Horatio's Garden, a spinal injury unit at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. As participants are inpatients for a series of weeks or sometimes months, having the opportunity to bring a unique and fun activity into their daily routine was hugely beneficial for both participants and practitioner alike.
Starling Arts’ stakeholders include the members of the Starling Voices, Flock, Sing for Better Breathing, and our Official Wicked Workshop and other community workshop participants. Other stakeholders in our work include the freelance facilitators and musicians we work with, audience members, medical professionals, students on work placements with us or conducting research in areas of common interest, the Wicked Active Learning and Wicked marketing teams, and staff from other organisations we work with in our mission to use singing as a tool for connecting communities and improving wellbeing. In the summer of 2023, all members of the Starling Voices were invited to offer feedback on the future of our choir activities, how they find the experience of singing with us, and to suggest any improvements we can make or support we can offer. Members were also asked to provide anonymous information as part of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion monitoring. This feedback also included members’ thoughts on the value for money of our projects (where applicable), quality of delivery, and other useful information that help us to shape the way we develop our work for the benefit of the community. The feedback was very useful and positive, and has aided our future planning and decision making. All members who joined us in Devon for our Get Away weekend were also consulted for their feedback on the trip, its activities, content, value for money, etc. The group were really pleased with the opportunity, and enjoyed the mix of singing and social activities. Following each Official Wicked Workshop we deliver, teachers and group leaders are asked to share their feedback via an online form to assess the quality of the workshop content, delivery, value for money, and share any feedback from students and participants. This has been invaluable in helping us to shape the way we deliver our programme.
No remuneration was received
No transfer of assets other than for full consideration
This report was approved by the board of directors on
25 November 2024
And signed on behalf of the board by:
Name: Miss A Shields
Status: Director