Annual Report for Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd 2012/13

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd

annual report

2012/13

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd

A world-class organisation with a vision to engage the widest range of people with music in all its diversity.

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd (WAP Ltd) is a registered charity founded in 1969 by world-renowned jazz musicians Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth.

They began the realisation of their vision with the development of the The Stables Theatre in outbuildings at their home in Wavendon, Milton Keynes, as a venue for concerts and education activities.

The new Stables Theatre opened its doors in 2000, with a second phase of development opening in 2007. It is now home to two venues, the Jim Marshall Auditorium and Stage 2, and promotes around 350 concerts and 250 education sessions each year. In 2010, the The Stables produced the first Milton Keynes International Festival.

Education is central to WAP’s vision and encourages people of all ages, levels of ability and backgrounds to participate in music-making activities. Around 250 sessions are offered each year, ranging from interactive concerts for schools to participatory workshops and longer-term projects.

The Stables Theatre holds National Portfolio Organisation status with Arts Council England.

WAP oversees three wholly owned trading companies: the Stables Theatre Ltd, which carries out the day-to-day charitable activities on behalf of WAP; The Stables Trading Ltd, which carries out the commercial activities of the organisation and passes any profit to the Trust, and The Stables Events Ltd which promotes a range of events including IF: Milton Keynes International Festival.

2

I Welcome I Chairman’s Report

Chief Executive’s Report

Despite the wider economic climate, this has been another successful year across all of our activities: live music, education and Festival events. We can only achieve these results with the help and support of all of our staff and volunteers who make the organisation such an exciting one for customers and artists. As a promoter we continue to develop a diverse artistic programme of artistic events with the help of Arts Council England, Milton Keynes Council, trusts and foundations and our Friends and Founders.

2012/13 has been another busy year for the organisation.

Our programme of concerts and education work delivered at The Stables was enhanced by the second edition of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, together reaching a combined audience in excess of 160,000.

Looking forward, the Board is developing a number of strategies to invest the charity’s resources in order to further our vision of delivering great music for all. We have recently submitted plans to Arts Council England to develop the Stables in Wavendon, Milton Keynes, at a cost of £4 million. The plans will incorporate a new 120-capacity venue, providing additional education, concert, recording and conferencing facilities.

I thank our Life President, Dame Cleo Laine, and all of our trustees and directors who have given their valuable time in the past year.

Stephen P Clarke, Chairman

Once again an exceptional team of staff and volunteers has delivered a programme of internationally renowned artists while supporting the development of new and emerging talent, as well as encouraging an appreciation of all types of music through our extensive learning and participation programme.

We also commissioned and produced our first album, The Harbour of Songs, working with a range of established and new artists as part of our contribution to the extraordinary Boat Project, which formed part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

The Stables has continued its strategic support for the Milton Keynes and Bucks Music Hubs and entered into a range of partnerships to further extend our educational activities both at the Stables Theatre in Wavendon, Milton Keynes, and beyond.

The facilities in Wavendon, new in 2000, have now started to require attention, and significant funds have been expended on exceptional repairs and maintenance during the year.

Thanks to an Arts Council England Capital Lottery award we have also been able to embark on detailed feasibility work on the further extension and development of the facilities to ensure The Stables continues to be one of the most exciting and vibrant music venues in the country.

Ahead lies an array of opportunities to increase our fundraising thanks to the Arts Council England Catalyst award which will match-fund donations from individuals and companies to enable us to support new work. We also face the challenges of raising sufficient match-funding from trusts, foundations and individuals to deliver the building development plan at The Stables, which includes a new courtyard studio theatre, extended catering facilities, a recording studio, a digital media suite, additional office capacity and the introduction of sustainable energy.

My thanks go to everyone who has supported our vision of engaging the widest range of people with music in all its diversity and for helping us to look forward to the future with confidence.

Monica R Ferguson, Chief Executive

3

I The Stables Theatre Ltd I

In 2012/13 The Stables… … was ranked 4th in the UK’s top 100 music venues by the Performing Right Society. The top five looked like this: 1. South Bank Centre, London 2. Sage Gateshead, Tyne and Wear 3. O2 Academy, Birmingham

4. The Stables, Milton Keynes 5. Ronnie Scott’s, London More than 30% of the Top 100 music venues were in London, making this achievement all the more noteworthy.

Camille O’Sullivan

… promoted more than 350 concerts in the Jim Marshall Auditorium and Stage 2, attracting more than 76,000 concert-goers Highlights included concerts from Beth Orton, The Hoosiers, Thea Gilmore, Gretchen Peters, Camille O’Sullivan, Larry Carlton, Courtney Pine, Turin Brakes, The Be Good Tanyas and Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

4

‌ enjoyed fruitful artistic partnerships The Stables collaborated with BBC Radio 3 on a new live piano recital series, and continued to work with other leading music venues in the UK to present world music in the Making Tracks series and classical chamber music in the Music in The Round series.

‌ offered more than 250 separate learning and participation sessions attracting more than 9,000 people Learning and Participation projects included instrumental, vocal and technical workshops; three primary schools world music residencies with Musiko Musika in an economically and socially challenged area of Milton Keynes, and a masterclass by Dame Evelyn Glennie with Marching Youth Music UK.

Giulio Cesarefor

We formalised a partnership with the English Folk Dance and Song Society and successfully obtained Bridge funding for network activities including teacher tasters and Arts Awards as part of Milton Keynes Creative Learning Network.

The Stables also contributed to the strategic development of the Milton Keynes and Bucks Music Hubs.

We continued to offer music events for families with disabled children, for the second year receiving direct commissioning funding from our local authority to deliver one event. In addition our delivery partner, Create, selected The Stables to host another event which they had secured additional funds to deliver.

Courtney Pine

In partnership with National Youth Jazz Collective we held a series of monthly jazz ensemble workshops for players aged from 10 to 18. This project provided 25 young musicians from Milton Keynes and beyond with the opportunity to develop their improvisation and ensemble playing, and for the first time provided a progression route and sustained opportunity that delivered our role as a hub partner.

The National Youth Music Camps completed their 42nd year with 191 young people aged from 8 to 18 taking part in one of three weeks of residential, multi-faceted music-making programmes.

5

I Stables Events Ltd I

Gilded Lili @ Spiegeltent

IF: Milton Keynes International Festival has been transforming Central Milton Keynes with a world class, multi-arts programme of extraordinary events in unusual places and public spaces since 2010.

6

Produced by The Stables, the Festival is an important event that is now central to the organisation’s work, extending the venue’s reach into the city and beyond. While drawing on the Stables’ reputation as a world class music organisation, and benefiting from its relationships with the music industry, the Festival has achieved a distinct identity of its own.

Focusing on high-quality contemporary international and professional artistic endeavour, the Festival seeks to engage audiences with music and sound in surprising ways. Over 10 days, the programme features artists and companies from across the world and consists of large-scale outdoor events, international productions and a highly decorated Spiegeltent hosting comedy, cabaret and live music, as well as pop-up performances and events.

In 2012 the Festival featured more than 200 artists from 19 countries and presented 89 events and 35 exhibition days with four UK premieres and 18 new commissions. It also featured three 2012 Cultural Olympiad projects including Jeremy Deller’s Sacrilege, The Lone Twin Boat Project and Rouge from the Phare Ponleu Selpak performing art school in Cambodia. Audiences totalled more than 90,000.

“ The Festival is a key factor in driving the international development of Milton Keynes as one of the world’s most innovative new cities – helping to invigorate its cultural identity, build its reputation as a visitor and investor destination, and enhancing the local economy by more than £4 million per Festival.”

Dr Ann Limb OBE DL, Chair of the Stables Events Ltd

IF is delivered every two years with funding from Arts Council England and Milton Keynes Council, and support from businesses, trusts and foundations.

The 2014 Festival will run from 18 to 27 July. www.ifmiltonkeynes.org

Raghu Dixit Project

Wired Aerial Theatre

Photography: Mark McNulty

7

I Stables Trading Ltd I

Corporate hire The Stables offers an inspirational setting for a wide range of meetings, conferences and business-focused events.

With a professional team of event-planners, a number of flexible spaces, state-of-the-art sound and AV facilities and an in-house catering team, we regularly host business meetings, conferences, product launches, fashion shows, awards ceremonies and training days.

For large events and product launches, The Stables can be completely transformed with the removal of auditorium seating and bringing in additional lighting and video projection facilities.

In 2012/13, companies using our facilities included VW, Audi, PwC, Coutts, RBS, Skoda, Digital Annexe and Sequence UK Ltd.

Café in2 Café in2 is our in-house restaurant, open every concert night for customers to enjoy a pre-show meal or snack. Frequently booked to capacity, it has become a popular feature of The Stables’ offer.

8

“ Audi UK have held regular staff meetings at The Stables for a number of years now and on each occasion we have found the staff a delight to work with. Both during the pre-event build-up and then during the event itself, the team at The Stables have supported us to the highest standards.”

Jane Makings, Events Manager, Audi UK

I Looking to the future I Key objectives for the future include: - The completion of feasibility and planning to extend and improve the facilities at The Stables, with Theatre, Wavendon, with the support of a Lottery-funded Capital award from Arts Council England. We will engage in a large capital fundraising appeal for match-funding to deliver the plans. The scheme includes the development of a new courtyard studio theatre, extended catering facilities, a recording studio, a digital media suite, additional office capacity and the introduction of sustainable energy.

“ The Stables is a special music organisation that is wholly committed to investing in and developing the next generation of musicians and audiences. Being able to fund these much-needed improvements will be key to ensuring the organisation continues to provide the very best opportunities for people to make, discover and listen to great music.�

Dame Evelyn Glennie, Patron

- We will continue to present a wide range of world-class artists across all music genres while supporting emerging artists and encouraging artist and audience development.

- We will plan the next edition of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival for July 2014 and continue to invest in the development of this significant fledgling venture.

- We will continue to support an extensive programme of music education and community outreach work providing learning opportunities for children, young people and adults. We will work in partnership with the new Music Education Hubs with the aim of increasing our reach and communication with schools.

- To support our ongoing commitment to engaging people with music and, with the support of a Catalyst Award from Arts Council England, we will explore new ways of generating revenue, including the development of philanthropy.

9

I Financials I Wavendon Allmusic Plan Limited Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account) Year ended 31 March 2013 Unrestricted funds £ INCOMING RESOURCES Incoming resources from generated funds: Voluntary income Activities for generating funds Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES RESOURCES EXPENDED Costs of generating funds: Fundraising and trading Charitable activities Governance costs TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED NET MOVEMENT OF FUNDS IN YEAR Funds brought forward Funds carried forward

Restricted Year to 31 Mar funds £ 2013 £

Year to 31 Mar 2012 £

629,182 873,816 14,429 1,466,161 2,983,588

220,730 200 220,930

849,912 873,816 14,429 1,466,361 3,204,518

481,751 705,654 13,339 1,420,798 2,621,542

393,488 2,494,423 49,564 2,937,475 46,113 898,390 £944,503

120,719 120,719 100,211 2,002,999 £2,103,210

393,488 2,615,142 49,564 3,058,194 146,324 2,901,389 £3,047,713

384,932 2,111,893 34,406 2,531,231 90,311 2,811,078 £2,901,389

There are no recognised gains or losses other than the results for the period as set out above. All of the activities are classed as continuing.

Restricted Funds - Included in restricted funds at the year-end are funds received against two grants from Arts Council England: Capital Development Grant £133,000 (full award £140,000) and Catalyst £80,000 (full award £240,000) of which Restricted expenditure of £84,345 is recognised in the current year. At the year end the Board had identified and contracted with specialist providers to undertake the work funded by these grants with additional committed costs in relation to this work of £98,056.

These costs will be recognised in Restricted funds in the year to 31 March 2014 and 31st March 2015.

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Limited Consolidated Balance Sheet Year ended 31 March 2013 £ FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets CURRENT ASSETS Stock Debtors Cash at bank and in hand TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS CREDITORS: Amounts falling due within one year NET CURRENT ASSETS NET ASSETS FUNDS Restricted funds Unrestricted funds TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS

31 March 2013 £

£

2,361,326 21,816 209,235 1,268,258 1,499,309 812,922

31 March 2012 £ 2,404,716

17,805 247,658 1,498,388 1,763,851 1,267,178 686,387 3,047,713

496,673 2,901,389

2,103,210 944,503 £3,047,713

2,002,999 898,390 £2,901,389

These consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006. These consolidated financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 26th September 2013.

10

I Partners I The Stables Theatre

IF: Milton Keynes International Festival Trusts, Foundations & International Supporters

Venue Partners

Event Partners

Media Partners

Corporate Partners

Festival Supporters

And finally‌ Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd extends its thanks to the many individuals, organisations and companies, staff and volunteers for their many and varied contributions during the course of 2012/13.

11

The Stables Stockwell Lane Milton Keynes MK17 8LU T: 01908 280814 E: info@stables.org W: www.stables.org @StablesMK