meals distributed through the Children’s Holiday Food and Activity Programme visits made to the arts centre attended our outdoor family summer festival events artists supported across all strands of activity of all available tickets sold for Cinderella generating the highest box office income for a single production since the building opened
Who we are
Glasgow East Arts Company [GEAC] is an independent charity registered with OSCR – the regulatory board for charities in Scotland.
GEAC is based at The Bridge, an award-winning building home to a variety of public services including Glasgow Kelvin College’s Easterhouse campus and a public library and swimming pool both managed by Glasgow Life.
A variety of spaces at the facility including the Auditorium, Studio Theatre, several offices, workshops and storage spaces comprise Platform - the arts centre at The Bridge.
GEAC manages Platform and programmes workshops, classes and live events in the arts centre and across North East Glasgow.
Why we exist
GEAC exists in order to:
• Advance the arts and culture, primarily within North East Glasgow
• Advance education throughout the promotion of the arts, particularly among residents of North East Glasgow and the promotion of training with particular relevance to skills associated in the cultural industries
• Provide recreational facilities and activities, with the object of improving the conditions of life
• Advance citizenship and community development
• Support other similar projects and programmes which further charitable purposes for the benefit of the community
How we do it
In order to achieve these objectives, our activity is planned and delivered in three main strands:
Taking Part
our programme of workshops and classes for all ages and a range of access needs
Creative Programme includes all the gigs, exhibitions and performances we host at Platform each year
Outreach the programme of workshops and live events we deliver outside the arts centre, across North East Glasgow
The Bridge Fun Day | Image by Iain McLean Photography
Taking Part
With most classes and workshops reaching well over 75% of capacity and some, like Drums and Monday Night Drama, becoming fully booked with waiting lists in operation at various point across the year; we looked to fundraise to support a greater number of sessions to be delivered. In total 1,140 Taking Part workshops and classes were recorded during the year –over three hundred more sessions than were delivered the previous year. These ranged from larger youth theatre and drama groups which regularly had over twenty-five in attendance to one-to-one music lessons and tutorials.
All weekly classes and workshops continue to be offered on a ‘pay what you like’ basis designed to reduce barriers to access.
Overall, spend on Taking Part activities accounts for just over a third of the £542,389 we spent on charitable activities in 2023/2024. This expenditure was achieved through core funding from Glasgow City Council and Creative Scotland, augmented by the generation of income through ticket sales and ancillary hires. During 2023/24 these costs were further supported by the Communities Fund, a designated reserve fund established following an award from Creative Scotland’s Covid Recovery Fund in 2022. Donations from those participating in weekly sessions also contributed to the operating cost of Taking Part activity with £7,402 received, more than double than the previous year.
The total attendance across Taking Part activity was the highest figure returned in five years, a welcome return to pre-pandemic levels and the percentage of those attending coming from local links postcodes the highest they have been for almost a decade.
During the course of the year we worked with city centre based collective Print Clan, supporting the group to collaborate with adults meeting weekly at Platform as part of Art Factory to develop new and original artworks that will be exhibited as part of the Creative Programme next year. Adults of all ages and a range of access needs were able to try screen printing, building on existing skills and developing new ones supported at each step by highly experienced specialists in the field. Together they created works of scale, ambition and quality and we look forward to sharing and celebrating their work.
People Dancing, a brand-new production was created by Platform Associate Artist Eoin McKenzie in close collaboration with Thursday Night Drama, an intergeneration performance group that meet weekly at the arts centre. The performance headlined the Made in Easterhouse Festival staged in April 2023; the first multiartform festival Platform has been able to host since 2019. The line-up on the day featured music, performance, dance and visual art and was well attended and positively reviewed by audiences and critics alike.
The participatory music programme at Platform continues to prove popular with demand leading GEAC to offer a further two days of drumming classes, two new group workshops for beginners looking to learn the fiddle and guitar. GEAC also worked closely with partners from Glasgow Kelvin College to refresh the onsite Recording Studios, modernising the equipment and ensuring all elements are working with a view to supporting bands, community groups and individuals to make use of the facilities.
The Bridge Fun Day Image by Iain McLean Photography
The Bridge Fun Day
Image by Iain McLean Photography
Creative Programme
A tremendous effort across the staff team saw Cinderella break all attendance and box office records at the venue. 99% of all available tickets were sold generating over £33k in ticket income from a total attendance of 5,563 for an average ticket price of £5.90.
Live music programming made a very welcome return to Platform with memorable gigs delivered in partnership with the OK Pal and Lost Map record labels. Music also formed a key part of both editions of the Made in Easterhouse multi-artform festivals staged in 2023 with performances from Free Love, BRENDA, Butho the Warrior and Junglehussi.
The April edition of the festival saw the longawaited launch of East End Portraits, a series of photographic portraits by Saskia Coulson & Colin Tennant. Originally commissioned at the height of the pandemic, the exhibition featured
groups and individuals who played an active role in supporting communities throughout the public health crisis. One of the images, a photograph of Ruchazie Pantry Manager Tina Blakely was nominated for British Photographic Portrait of the Year.
The summer saw the launch of The Brolly, a stunning sculpture from visual artist Maria Gondek designed in response to Platform and the surrounding area. The work was created as part of a unique commissioning model with GEAC, Blairtummock Housing Association (BHA) and Scottish Sculpture Placement Group that, following exhibition at Platform, will see the work permanently exhibited within the BHA estate.
Cinderella Image by Euan Robertson
Despite hosting slightly fewer ticketed events across the year, every other indicator rose with total attendance, capacity and local links ticket holders all up on levels set during the previous twelve months. At just shy of £48k and boosted by Cinderella, income generated through ticket sales has never been higher for the venue. Important to note that financial barriers to access remain low with the average ticket price across ticketed events at Platform still just over £5.
Junglehussi/Made in Easterhouse
Image by Euan Robertson
Outreach
Our capacity to support Outreach activity remains significantly reduced from pre-pandemic heights but delivering activity outside the arts centre remains crucial as we look to establish new pathways to the venue and strengthen links and networks already formed.
Our output in this area remained consistent with the previous twelve months, a slight increase in the number of sessions and events resulting in a slight increase in attendance.
Further support from GCVS’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund allowed us to visit numerous community venues across the north east of the city bringing pop-up jazz concerts, festive gigs, workshops and small scale touring theatre to lunch clubs and groups.
The most well attended outreach activities were the family festival days in Alexandra Park and The Bridge. We had been apprehensive about running the event in Alexandra Park without the traditional carnival procession to open the festival but these fears proved unfounded as attendance on the day remained consistent with previous years, aided by some welcome good weather.
Ashanti Harris delivered ‘A Carnival of Overlapping Histories’ as the commissioned artist for the Made in Easterhouse Festival held in September. This new and original artwork celebrates the cultures and family histories of the Caribbean, Africa and Asia - and explores how these have entangled with Scotland’s own. Ashanti worked closely with individuals based across North East Glasgow in a series of outreach workshops. The beautiful sculptures and textile banners created were exhibited in the arts centre in the autumn and throughout the winter as part of the creative programme.
We worked with contemporary classical music company Red Note Ensemble on the development of their new production Flock a performance for children and families which was presented in the venue and schools across the local area. Illustrator, artist and facilitator Cara Rooney was commissioned in partnership with Seven Lochs and the Pavillion to create an activity trail for Blairtummock Park. To develop the trail Cara collaborated closely with children and families incorporating their ideas and creations into her final design.
Our ongoing partnership with Celtic Foundation also continued and saw us provide creative workshops for children in a range of artforms throughout the Easter, Summer and October school holidays.
Creative activity during the school holidays was also delivered from The Bridge as part of our ongoing partnership with Glasgow City Council to deliver the Children’s Holiday Food and Activity programme. Workshops, games and film screenings were all offered alongside breakfast, lunch and snacks with just under 8,000 meals provided during the Easter, summer and October week breaks.
The Bridge Fun Day Image by Iain McLean Photography
x x image byxxx
The Bridge Fun Day
Image by Iain McLean Photography
Ticket sales, earned and other income
Public funding – core
Glasgow City Council – Glasgow Communities Fund
Public funding – core
Creative Scotland – Regularly Funded Organisation
Public funding – project funding
HMRC Creative Tax Relief
Investment from Reserves
Expenditure
Charitable Activities
Support costs, Café Purchases and Overheads
Marketing
Charitable Activity Breakdown
Creative Programme
Taking Part Outreach
Glasgow East Arts Company Staff Team 2023/2024
– full-time, part-time, casuals and volunteers
Anna Hodgart*
Arrabella Carmona
Becky Lennox
Ben Templeton
Dana Waugh
David Bratchpiece*
Dominic Falcon
Donna-Marie MacAvoy
Duncan McLaren
Elise Prentice
Elaine Liddell
Finn Milligan
Hamish Wards
James Grieg
James Mattear
Jennifer Muir
Jonathan McMahon
Kit Glover
Khalid Lamki*
Laura Brandie*
Lloyd Darko
Marco Tomlie
Margaret McCormick*
Marlene Finnigan
Mary Higgins*
Matt Addicott*
Matthew Docherty
Melissa Clifford
Matthew Lenaghan
Natalie Dawson
Natalie Welch
Peter Masambuku
Precious Ezuego
Robbie Fraser*
Seyed Ashkan Mehdipour
Sharon Taylor*
Shaun Cassidy*
Stephanie James
Tighe Wylie-Freegard
Viola Fowler
Winnie Oki
Wiktoria Morawska
Zara Yasin*
*Core staff team
Artists employed to lead and assist Taking Part programmes, classes and workshops
Alice Dansey-Wright
Audrey O’Brien
Bishop May Down
Carmen Berbel Lapaz
Celine Donoghue
David Culbert
Eoin McKenzie
Elena Xanthoudakis
Emma Lewis Jones
Geraldine Heaney
Joanne Lee
Julia Darrouy
Katie Muir
Keira McLean
Kit Glover
Kit Rodman Orr
Laura Aldridge
Laurie Elliott
Marco Rea
Martin Johnston
Nick Paget-Tomlinson
Pearl Kinnear
Rachel Hynes
Rebecca Fraser
Sally Charlton
Sarah Coleman
Sarah Henderson
Sean McGarvey
Roller Disco at The Bridge Fun Day Image by Iain McLean Photography
Glasgow East Arts Company Limited
(A company limited by guarantee with charitable status)
Legal And Administrative Information
Charity Name: Glasgow East Arts Company Limited
Registered Office: Platform
The Bridge 1000 Westerhouse Road
Glasgow G34 9JW
Scottish Charity Number: SCO34201
Company Number: SC245379
Trustees:
Glasgow City Council Councillor Laura Doherty, Chairperson
Councillor Alex Kerr
Bailie Sharon Greer
Glasgow Kelvin College
Visual Statement
Co-opted Directors
Derek Smeall, Principal & Chief Executive
Andy Allan, Director of Learning Innovation and Curriculum
Jeanette Carver (resigned 13 February 2024)
Wendy Niblock
Bruce Kiloh
Ros McInnes
Secretary: Sharon Taylor, Finance and Business Manager
Senior Management: Matt Addicott, Artistic Director
Auditors: Martin Aitken and Company, 89 Seaward St, Glasgow G41 1HJ
Bankers: Bank of Scotland, 167-201 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G2 8BU
Glasgow East Arts Company Ltd is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Articles of Association dated 10 March 2003 and amended to allow for the current governance arrangement at the AGM of 7 November 2023. Glasgow East Arts Company is registered as a charity with the Inland Revenue with effect from 10 March 2003.
Appointment of Trustees
The Chairperson is appointed by the board of Directors with her / himself being a Director of the Company. In addition:
- Glasgow City Council nominates up to 3 trustees
- Two trustees are nominated by Glasgow Kelvin College
- The trustees currently have the power to co-opt up to 6 members to fill specialist roles
Trustees automatically cease to be a member on the conclusion of each AGM. Trustees may be renominated for membership by the unincorporated body, which previously nominated her / him for membership. When considering co-opting trustees, the Board may identify any specialist skills or themes not already represented on the board. Nominees appointed by the member organisations are subject to the appointment processes of those bodies and the guidelines on the appointment to public office as they apply to Local Government nominees.
Trustee Induction and Training Pack
An induction process and pack is in place for new trustees and commences with an opportunity to visit the venue and meet staff. The pack includes the legal obligations of being a trustee and background information on the Company and its activities.
Organisation
The Board, which can have up to 15 members, excluding its Secretary, administers the Charity. The Artistic Director has delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the trustees, for operational matters including finance, employment and the arts programme.
Related Parties
The Bridge is the overarching name for four interlinking facilities:
- Glasgow City Council’s swimming pool and leisure suite managed via Glasgow Life
- Glasgow City Council’s library managed via Glasgow Life
- Glasgow Kelvin College [GKC]
- Glasgow East Arts Company [GEAC]; the charity which operates Platform
Glasgow East Arts Company works in partnership with the organisations listed above to manage the overall facility and to deliver an arts-based programme across The Bridge and North East Glasgow.
Furthermore, GEAC Trading Limited was established as a private company registered in Scotland, 429340, on 30 July 2012 to take over the management of The Bridge Café Bar, which was formerly operated by Jobs and Business Glasgow.
GEAC Trading Limited is a subsidiary of Glasgow East Arts Company. Having been dormant following the pandemic, GEAC Trading Limited returned to trading in January 2024.
Reserves Policy
The trustees consider it prudent to establish both a general reserve and designated reserves for specific purposes and obligations, both present and future. Designated reserves have been set aside as follows:
• Communities Investment Fund – supported in part by funding from the Creative Scotland Recover Fund, this fund will support charitable and strategic aims of the charity as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and supports the community in which it operates (at 31 March 2024: £31,500)
• Extraordinary Maintenance – a fund which ensures unexpected costs relating to the charity’s physical assets including rehearsal and performance space can be met or mitigated to ensure these remain operational (at 31 March 2024: £10,219)
• Capital Investment – a fund which supports the improvement and investment in physical equipment and assets (at 31 March 2024: £17,000)
• Environmental and Sustainability – a fund to support the strategic aims of the organisation to develop more sustainable and efficient working practices (at 31 March 2024: £7,000)
In addition to these designated funds the charity holds a general reserve of £144,348 at 31 March 2024. The value of this fund has been set with reference to the three main areas of expenditure which the charity would need to support in the event of a complete loss of funding. These include obligations to staff, three months Programme costs, and three months Overhead costs. This calculation will be renewed and reviewed annually to ensure the level of reserves is sufficient.
Risk Management
The trustees have a Risk Register, which is reviewed by the Board annually and by the Staffing and Finance Sub Committee 3 times each year. The Risk Register outlines control measures to mitigate risks identified and to identify any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise.
Image by Matt Addicott
The Bridge Fun Day
Image by Iain McLean Photography
of respondents to our post-show surveys described our tickets as ‘affordable’
of all tickets sold for Cinderella were bought by residents living in the local area up from 60% for Sleeping Beauty the previous year of Taking Part participants would recommend Platform’s classes and workshops to their family or friends
total attendance from 1,651 individuals for Taking Part activities
