This year, in response to feedback from Arts Council England on our unsuccessful National Portfolio Application, and further in response to a contraction in arts funding within the creative sector, we made the decision to focus more on organisational development. At the same time, we successfully applied for funding from Bristol City Council for Imagination funding. This enabled us to run three project strands designed to make our organisation’s governance and internal processes more robust. The three strands focused on: our work with interns, the creation of an oversight group (a board of sorts), and a focus group aimed at ensuring that our creative work was as accessible and inclusive as possible. Internship Strand: We began by inviting people who had previously interned with Compass or had engaged with us through stewarding at events or helping informally, to take part in a workshop. This workshop explored their experiences of engaging with the organisation, from invitation to completion, considering their ongoing engagement with the organisation and the legacy we left for them. After completing this review, we applied the learnings to our new intern engagement strategy. Following a successful recruitment drive, we recruited two new interns who worked with the company at Wilderness Festival on our "Teleconfusions" installation. Both interns have continued to work with the company subsequently. Focus Group Strand: For the second strand, we recruited a focus group of individuals who self-identified as being underserved by culture in Bristol. The resulting group met monthly and workshopped various aspects of our creative work, providing feedback and advice on how to ensure its inclusivity and accessibility to their peers. Oversight Group Strand: The final strand of Imagination funding was dedicated to establishing an oversight group. This group was composed of professionals from industries within or adjacent to the cultural sector. Recruited individuals brought key skills that would benefit Compass in an advisory capacity. In addition, we were successful in gaining entry to a business development scheme called Create Growth. This involved regular training sessions, panel workshops, and discussions with experts from across the creative sector. It also provided a small amount of funding for mentorship. One of the experts was a theatre touring professional who used her network in the theatre world to help us develop our "Foley Grail" show and plan a tour. The newly developed show had its first public performance at MAST Theatre in Southampton as part of the region’s Film Festival. This training also enabled us to access mentorship around board development. Our continued involvement with Shambala Festival included attending a training weekend for area managers. This gave us opportunities to engage in CPD related to climate and social justice, as well as representation and inclusion, benefitting our leadership and wider team.. Our ongoing residency at Pervasive Media Studio provided us with additional support for training. For example, we designed and offered a bespoke training workshop for our board and all our producers focused on community co-creation through Strike-A-Light.. The company’s Managing Director (MD) was also successful in her application to join Bristol’s Culture Board, which has raised awareness of developments across the city and placed our organisation in a role of greater connectivity and influence. Compass engaged with Bristol City Council’s cultural investment survey, which requested detailed information about our organisation to help produce extensive data on the value our work brings to the city, both socially and economically. We also worked with a development professional to create a pitch deck so that we can start talking to prospective funders and collaborators and demonstrate clearly the value of our work, our ethics and our ethos. The commission to work with SPIN (an academic network dedicated to themes of secrecy from a social justice perspective) allowed us to develop ideas for a confession booth alongside our focus group. We also found a prototype test audience at Magnetic Fields Festival in India. We received further funding from Bristol City Council and WECA (West of England Combined Authority) through the "High Streets Recovery and Renewal Programme." This funding supported a series of free public events using arts and culture to increase footfall to local businesses in key areas of Bristol, specifically - for us - in the neighborhood of Stokes Croft. The format of this application process responded to feedback Compass had provided to Bristol City Council about the need for consultation before ideas were formed. The process shifted emphasis to focus on community delivery approaches, with a ring-fenced consultation budget. The resulting event, “Stokes Croft Calling,” received buy-in from numerous community organisations, businesses, and local residents. The event was a street festival that took place over two weekends in the summer. Performances included mannequins dancing in shop windows, a re-enactment of Banksy’s “Mild, Mild West” featuring Bristol Capoeira, with policeman combat dancing with a Molotov-cocktail-brandishing teddy bear, also workshops in synth shops, treasure hunts along the street, and circus and fire-breathing performances in a pub courtyard. In addition to the festival format, there was also a promenade performance where audiences were led around to experience exhibits in a “show” format. Groups moved in tandem and ended together in a big event at the local music school. We worked with residents of the local flats to design and advise on aspects of the program. We built on our existing network of volunteers. Volunteers received free training, meals, and tickets to an independent cinema as thanks for their hard work. Some went on to do paid producing work for us after the events. Members of the Imagination-funded internship and focus group strands also did paid work on this show, developing into the org in more formal capacities. Shambala Festival & Other Events: The summer also saw us host our annual tent and area at Shambala Festival. This event regularly extends our creative community, and through programming work, we come into contact with a wide range of artists via festival applications and performances. These connections enrich our work throughout the year and help us grow our national community of creatives and audience members. We also ran our "Teleconfusions" interactive installation at Wilderness Festival and Magnetic Fields Festival in Rajasthan. We expanded our work with Mag Fields, adding a message board, a postal service, and a confession booth (part of the development of the SPIN project). This further enriched our international connections, widened our creative network, and ensured we continued engaging with a diverse array of artistic disciplines. By the end of the accounting year, we received follow-up funding to extend the successful "Stokes Croft Calling" event, with planning already underway.

Compass CIC’s stakeholders include our audience, the local community, artists and performers contributing to our events, local creatives who support our R&D or consultancy work via Pervasive Media Studio, local businesses providing services or advertising, and local and national institutions (e.g., University of Leeds, University of Exeter, University of the West of England, Bristol and Bath Universities, Plymouth Arts College, City of Bristol College) with whom we have academic exchanges and from which we source volunteers and interns. These institutions also benefit from our mentorship programs. Additionally, funding bodies providing sponsorship disseminate our work and evaluations into the wider arts and cultural community. We also engage with cultural and arts organisations that donate in-kind goods, services, or expertise, as well as the company’s core team, broader networks, and our volunteer base. The Pervasive Media Studio community, of which we are a part, and affiliated creative and technological networks, are integral to the cultural ecology of the communities in which we operate. We benefit greatly from the high level of discourse available through these networks. Peer and focus group consultation is the main method by which we engage with key stakeholders. We also consult with key organisations and professionals who have specific expertise in aspects of our artistic and organisational delivery as part of our R&D processes. Artist and academic contributors are often approached individually for consultation and feedback. We also use our social media platforms as consultative tools. We have a dedicated e-communicator who tracks feedback on these platforms to gather information, maintain excellence, and ensure we are achieving our internal goals and those set by our funders. Our partnerships with youth training charities and community groups, via local authority community education, are rich sources of diverse focus group members and opportunities for community engagement. This diversity of input ensures our events and processes remain relevant and accessible. Imagination funding has allowed us to formalize and expand the ways in which we work with people from diverse backgrounds, including underserved communities in Bristol and within our organisation. Our work around community co-creation and power-sharing has led to a more informed and ambitious approach to inclusion in our work. Developing our work in India and collaborating with new organisations in Bristol, including academics, artists, and audiences, has introduced us to more professionals and creatives. This has allowed us to deepen our existing links in both places and enrich our community.

Any remuneration received was for work specifically dedicated to the artistic and community priorities of Compass Film CIC, as outlined in our company memorandum and articles of association, and as specified in our CIC community pledge. Remuneration for work done by the management committee is complemented by in-kind donations of time. Duties associated with the company’s directorships were performed voluntarily. Other payments to directors or company staff were reimbursements for expenses paid out by staff on behalf of the company, serving as a cash flow mechanism. These expenses are clearly accounted for. Any profits arising from this year’s activities have been reinvested into the company’s activities and development. We have maintained rent at the same level while growing our network of paid artists for specific events, creating value and opportunities within the creative sector. We are now able to offer more diverse ways to pay staff, which will support the ongoing growth of the company. This financial year marks the continuation of our stable operating capacity. Our income and output grew, and next year, we aim to undertake organisational development to strengthen our position when applying for core funding. Compass remains a solvent, well-run, and well-governed company.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration