The principal activity of Lancaster Music Festival CIC during the year was to produce and promote the annual multi-venue Lancaster Music Festival, with associated community projects, which once again brought significant benefits to the community which included: - The music festival attracted an increased footfall of 52,930 in Lancaster city centre for the 2024 festival, providing an economic benefit to the city of approximately £1.9 million. - 80.2% of the £42k festival production budget (excluding performance and workshop fees) was spent within the Lancaster city district, 13.5% in the wider North West area. Including performance and workshop fees, 69% was spent in the Lancaster city district, 17% in the North West, - Music workshops and programmes run in the build up to the festival engaged with members of the ethnic communities, in particular the Chinese communities. - Local children and youths attended workshops produced by the company. - We worked with over 40 local organisations and freelancers and 66 volunteers to deliver 83 participation events in which a total of 3,125 people took part - 334 acts performed at the festival, 87% of them local, in 536 performances, with an estimated 1,218 musicians in total - As a member of the Lancaster Arts Partnership we collaborated with other arts organisations in the area (most of which are publicly funded) and provided an alternative commercial viewpoint towards a more sustainable organisational model.

Local Funders (Lancaster BID, LU Confucius Institute and School of Global Affairs, Lancaster City Council Community Fund, Banks Lyon Memorial Fund, FC Scott Charitable Trust, Pots of Possibility): we received £26.9k in funding from these local funders towards the cost of producing performances in the city’s squares and workshops for young people and ethnic communities during the festival. We produced evaluation reports to show how the funding was spent and statistics regarding footfall and economic benefit. We met with BID several times in advance of the festival to assess improvements we could make to generate the maximum footfall in the open spaces during the festival. Corporate sponsors: 8.7% of revenue in 2024 came from local corporate sponsorship. We met with sponsors following the festival to discuss how they benefited from sponsoring the festival and how sponsorship could work for them at subsequent festivals. Venues: there are more than 60 venues involved in the festival, primarily businesses (such as pubs, cafes, shops) as well as public buildings (the library, council spaces etc) and Lancaster Castle (owned by the Duchy of Lancaster). We consult with venues on an on-going basis throughout the year via face-to-face meetings, a monthly newsletter, open meetings and artist evaluation sessions where venue representatives have the chance to listen to and select artists to appear at their venues. Lancaster City Council: although we receive no direct funding from the council the council are a major partner and we consult with them throughout the year. These meetings cover not only practical issues regarding the festival (licensing, safety etc) but more recently have included commercial discussions on how the company can produce events at council venues, to the benefit of both us and the council. Festival-goers: we engage with festival-goers via social media through the year and, following the festival, via a questionnaire to evaluate what the audience liked and what could be improved. The 2024 questionnaire revealed 85.7% rated enjoyment/satisfaction as 5/5, 13.2% as 4. Other Organisations: we are an active member of the Lancaster District Arts Partnership, an un-constituted partnership of local arts organisations (theatres, dance groups, artists, local council etc). We work together to promote the arts in Lancaster, to raise awareness of the rich cultural offering in the city to a wider audience and to increase visitor numbers to Lancaster.

The aggregate amount of emoluments paid to or receivable by directors (4) in respect of qualifying services was £18,000 (2023 = £32,965). There were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for director’s loss of office, which require to be disclosed.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration