Membership Report Autumn 2022

TABLE OF

EDUCATION

LECTURING

We have 391 accredited Lecturers, 369 of whom are active in the Directory and available for bookings.

12 lecturers have been recruited so far in 2022 from 9 selection sessions. 10 of these newly accredited lecturers have already attended an online Welcome Briefing run by the Education Department and the others will do so later this year. A further three selection sessions are scheduled for 2022.

Since 1 March we have received 1344 reviews (out of an estimated 2,650 possible events), on 95 study days, 7 study courses, 1239 lectures and 3 virtual tours. Of these events, 298 were hybrids, 900 took place in person and 146 were online events. The gradings are shown below and are in line with previous years. We encourage all Society and Area committees to return reviews on all their lectures and other events as these reviews underpin The Arts Society’s accreditation scheme and are of help to both programme planners and lecturers.

LECTURES

Outstanding 363 Excellent 648

Very Good 182

Good 39

Passable 4 Poor 3

STUDY COURSES

Outstanding 6 Very Good 1

STUDY DAYS

Outstanding 48 Excellent 39 Very Good 8

VIRTUAL TOURS

Outstanding 1 Excellent 1

Passable 1

The number of reviews received represent 51% of the total lecturers. This means that there is a lot of information which we aren’t able to capture so we would urge all Societies to help keep the ratings meaningful and accurate by sending reviews.

DIRECTORY DAY 2023

Planning has begun for Directory Day 2023. Building on the success of the 2021 and 2022 Directory Days where we experimented with the format of the event and incorporated an online element into the proceedings, for the first time in the event’s history it will be held completely online as a live event. This will enable us to involve many more Society committee members and lecturers in the event whilst lessening our environmental impact and financial outgoings. The event will be held over two days, another new initiative, in October 2023. Committee members will be invited to listen to live presentations from accredited lecturers and to meet with other Societies in social settings. Presentations will be recorded and will be available for committee members to view for up to a year after the event so those who are unable to listen live will not miss out. We will gather feedback from participants after the event to assess satisfaction levels and to inform and determine the future of the event.

VOLUNTEERING

239 130 29 60 10 13

Society Arts Volunteering Representatives

Society Heritage Volunteering Representatives

Society Trails Representatives

Arts Volunteering Projects Reported

New HV Projects registered

Trails of Discovery registered

The numbers of Society Representatives in each volunteering activity is little changed since the last report which is encouraging when Societies are finding it difficult to recruit Committee members.

The number of Arts Projects is down but this number does not include entries to the RBA Rising Stars 2022 competition. Both new Heritage and new Trails projects registered show an increase which is encouraging.

VOLUNTEERING PROJECTS - EXAMPLES

Regardless of the number of Projects reported it is the care, thought and sometimes sheer inspiration put into them that is the real key to their value. A project can be large or small, locally-based or a participation in a central or national project - each Society determines how and for whom it will make a difference. The following show a sample of the range in the past six months.

HERITAGE PROJECTS

A large project undertaken by our volunteers was at the Parliamentary Archives in Westminster, helping the Collection Care team to prepare the items for the move from The Victoria Tower, Westminster to a new home during the restoration. The Collection Care Team Leader acknowledged the value of the volunteers to the project:

‘I am very thankful for your time and assistance throughout the Pack & Track project. With your help, the project team packed and made safe just under 6000 items, almost 2000 of those were given bespoke packaging made by yourselves and the project Collection Care Team. Your assistance meant that the project’s targets were not affected as harshly by the pandemic lockdowns as they might have been, setting Pack and Move off to a good start.’

Liz Ralph Collection Care Team Leader (Prepare and Move Project) 18th August 2022

You may have heard of the thousands of book trousers that our volunteers made for these Archives contributing to a total of over 20,000 and this is an extract from an article on 9th August 2022 by Katerina Laina, Conservator and Collection Care Manager, Parliamentary Archives, where she reflects on the genesis of the project and our volunteers contribution.

THE IMPACT AND REFLECTIONS

The project has been successful for both the Parliamentary Archives and the Arts Society.

For the Parliamentary Archives

• The target number of book trousers was met and exceeded with 17,000 plus book-trousers now received back, being put on our books and kept as spares in our studio

• We increased our pool of Arts Society volunteers from our original 3 London-based volunteers who came onsite, to 150 volunteers working from home, spread across the UK

• We have helped to join up numerous regional Arts Society groups under one project

• The project has built a reputation - we have been approached by other libraries seeking information and permission to use the book-trouser design, and assist them with their own book-trouser project set up

• We have a great sense of achievement, having worked hard to make the project happen whilst dealing with the pandemic and figuring out how to work from home ourselves

• It has inspired us and opened our minds to possibilities and options beyond the known and established. We’ll be considering what other projects we could run with remote volunteers in future!’

To read the full article please click on this link: Introducing The Book-Trouser Project - Where there is a will there’s a way!

Local projects are of huge importance and here are some excellent examples:

In Wessex, our Kennet & Swindon Society volunteers are stewarding to support the opening of the Railway Cottage Museum in Swindon to the public on certain dates over the rest of the year. The Railway Village of 300 houses was built in the 1840’s by the GWR to house the workers, and the Railway workers’ Cottage Museum is a unique example of what life was like living in the Village in the early 1900s. Our volunteers welcome and engage visitors in this fascinating site of local industrial heritage and history.

In the East Midlands Nottinghamshire Cricket Club needs our volunteers’ help in the conservation of old and damaged books in their library collection. Many different kinds of activities have historical book collections charting their origin and development and our Nottingham Society volunteers trained by Caroline Bendix provide invaluable help in preserving this one for cricket enthusiasts or other researchers.

ARTS PROJECTS

Projects show innovation and inspiration reaching out to those from disadvantaged backgrounds or who would otherwise have little or now access to the arts.

Following a successful Patricia Fay Grant application by Ashford Society in Kent the Cardboard Orchestra began to take shape. The project partnered with Ashford’s local arts centre Revelation and commissioned artists Animate Arts Company which enabled pupils from four primary schools in deprived areas to work with specialist artists’ support to learn about the various musical instruments. Each child chose one then created their own accurate cardboard cutout of it and learned the sounds the instrument made.

Each pupil took part in a public performance for the Queen’s Jubilee on the bandstand in the town square, creating their own proms concert inspired by music from the last night of the proms and 60s music of the Beatles. It was a memorable experience for the children and an additional bonus for Ashford Arts Society was that it put them in the community limelight.

RBA Rising Stars has reappeared this year with a wider entry remit including photography and graphic design. We were very pleased to receive over 180 entries from 27 Societies showing that this art competition for A-level art students caught the imagination of the students and their teachers - and of course our Society Representatives who persevered through all the form filling to ensure that their chosen artworks were safely entered online! As we write this the judges are deliberating and we await the news of the 20 winners whose work will be shown at the Mall Gallery next spring.

Holland & Kesteven Society supported an unusual Primary School Workshop to produce Ocarina - clay whistles. The primary school involved has 44% premium pupils and 21% English as Additional Language, including Ukrainian, Afghan and Polish children. Each child produced an Ocarina (clay whistle) in the shape of a bird or an animal. After firing, all the whistles worked! Testament to a successful project in every way.

Another unusual project with a music theme was run by Winchester SocietyA collaboration with Hants Music Service and classroom teachers with the aim of introducing children to another culture through the Gamelan orchestra, an Indonesian classic tale and classic Balinese shadow puppets. Children heard and discussed the story of Rama and Sita and the destruction of evil Dasamuka. They watched a video of the craftsmanship involved in making leather rod shadow puppets and made replicas of the characters in the story, including the monkey god Hanuman .

Dr Andy Channing came from RAMusic London to teach the children the tuned percussion instruments .Each child had an instrument and music was played to the drama of the story .

Finally children created a rod shadow puppet performance with accompanying gamelan music . The children were delighted with their puppets and intrigued by gamelan music .

It was hugely enjoyable and definitely an enrichment to the curriculum .

TRAILS OF DISCOVERY

Trails abound in different sites around the UK, in towns and villages, churches and historic sites and buildings, and walking trails for all in areas of historic interest. Even branch lines in rural areas are good subjects for a Trail.

They are now accessible by QR code on a mobile phone for ease of use which also has cost and environmental benefits.

A Trail has been registered by Truro Society to be prepared for the magnificent and historic Truro Cathedral which we look forward to seeing. Cathedrals are unusual places to be undertaken because of their size and complexity, but they are rewarding for the stories and artefacts to be found within.

This Trail coincides with an interesting new Heritage project also by Truro Society which is about to start. It is ‘To study the history of Truro Cathedral from conception to completion, in order to make an illustrated display in one of the vestibules leading from the main body of the Cathedral to the Chapter House Restaurant. This is accessed by the huge number of visitors to the building. It is planned to make the display showing historical photographs/maps/varied artworks/designs, and printed material referencing significant people, places and events relevant to the development of the Cathedral.’

Between these two projects by our volunteers the art, architecture and history of this historic Cathedral will be made more accessible to visitors of all ages.

GRANTS

We held our usual rounds of grants for Societies in the Spring and in June. Societies were invited to apply for grants to assist them with their volunteering projects. There were 15 successful applications in both rounds, and we gave a total of £11,670 which, when their projects have been completed, will benefit over 5,500 people in their local communities.

This Spring we also ran a round of grants for external organisations, the first time we had done so in a year. UK registered charities with a turnover of less than £3million were invited to apply for grants of up to £3000. Applications must be for projects that fall into our remit of Arts for All and making a positive contribution to peoples’ lives. Possibly because gap of a year between external rounds, we received a unusually high number of applications of which 17 were successful. A total of £45,060 was given for projects which will reach over 6,200 beneficiaries.

Our grants are given for projects that give access to the arts to those that would not normally be able to access them. They also help to change peoples’ lives for the better and help support local communities. The grants we gave this spring were no exception.

There were projects that involved school children and young people including a Cardboard Orchestra (Ashford), illuminated writing workshops (Lunesdale) and West Sussex worked with local schools on a project where students made clay heads of special members of their local community. Other projects included an exhibition of young offenders’ art at the Supreme Court in London (Chiswick), a 3D self-portrait project for deaf and blind people (Vale of Aylesbury) and sensory bags for people with multiple support needs visiting Pallant House Gallery (Chichester Lavant Valley).

Successful external applications included bursaries, scholarships, or internships which have allowed young arts practitioners and crafts people from less well-off backgrounds the opportunity to pursue their careers and prepare them for the future. This included a bursary for a young milliner with Cockpit Arts, a collections internship at the Barber Institute of Fine Art and work placements for young people to learn about the different careers available in heritage at Selly Manor Museum in Birmingham. In keeping with our ethos of ‘Arts for All’, we supported organisations such as Outside In, Arts Together and Special Stars with projects that involved facilitating access to the arts for people who for a variety of reasons would not normally have access to them.

We also supported charities that were running projects to give young people from disadvantaged backgrounds access to the performing arts. The Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh and the Omnibus in Clapham run theatre workshops for young people, whilst in Brighton we supported a youth theatre performance of Romeo and Juliet which was staged in a skate board park.

At the time of writing the autumn round of grant giving is well under way. So far, we have received applications from three Societies and twelve external charities.

Grants Spring 2022

Provision of art materials

Cardboard orchestra project with local school children

County

Langley

Valley

Sensory bags for people with ‘multiple support needs’ at Pallant House Gallery

Exhibition of young offenders’ art at the Supreme Court

Flower pot painting for young children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Wood carving project with children from a local eco-school

Painting and portfolio workshop for local 6th form art students

Illuminated writing workshops with primary school children

Clay modelling of turtles with local school children

Devon

of Aylesbury

Sussex

Grants June 2022

Art competition with local schools

DeafBlind awareness week 3D self portraits

Clay model heads project with Y5/6 school children

Park

Musically enhanced memory trail for people living with dementia

Support for local young tenor

Lecture for students aged 16-21

External Grants Spring 2022

Royal Cambrian Academy

History Link-Up

Together

Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Brighton Youth Centre

School of Ballet

& Guilds of London School of Art

Arts

Mill Trust

Assisting A Level Arts Students with their portfolios and college applications

Arts Education Programme

Supported Arts Sessions for frail and isolated older people

Collections Internship

Youth theatre production of Romeo and Juliet

Bursary for two young ballet dancers

Bursary for paper conservation student

Bursary for milliner

Conservation of unique historic textile pattern books

Art education programme

Heritage Ironwork Group

Omnibus Theatre

In

Limited

Theatre

Selly Manor Museum

Special Stars Foundation

Ironwork conservation films

Theatre workshops with children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Art education programme

Art workshops for children and young people

Theatre workshops with children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Heritage careers work experience

Art workshops for children with learning disabilities

COMMUNITY GRANTS

Following the success of the Community Grants last year, £50,000 has been set aside from the Patricia Fay Fund for us to re-introduce them again this autumn. As before, all Societies may apply for a grant of £250 to support an arts cause locally. Unlike before, there will be no deadline for applications. Societies may apply for the grant at anytime but will be limited to one Community Grants application per year. Please note the Community Grant is separate to the project grants rounds that are held in spring and autumn and Societies are welcome to apply for both grants.

STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES AND INITIATIVES

The previous Spring issued in March detailed the strategic priorities which are currently being worked on:

• Track 1 – breaking the mould on which all Societies are based and by re-imagining what local Societies could look like in the 21st century. We are working with selected Societies to explore new ways of delivering locally empowered, more sustainable and community driven models.

• Track 2 – with the aim of developing a new product or service by 2023 that will be capable of monetisation, raise awareness and attract new audiences.

• Membership Recruitment – the Working Group’s resources were launched at a dedicated Town Hall meeting on 27 September attended by 60 people who also shared their own useful ideas.

ZOOM ACCESS SCHEME

Many of our Societies have now returned to in-person lectures in their usual venues and as a result have decided to discontinue their online Zoom lecture programmes. There are Societies that have decided to continue their programmes solely via Zoom or as a hybrid with some members viewing at home and others in person.

We have received feedback that many members, for various reasons, would like to continue to view lectures and other content at home via Zoom. In order to help Societies that are not offering online content to retain these members we are considering the use of a ‘Zoom access scheme’. Members would still belong to their local Society and pay their subscription but would have access to the online content of other Societies either for free or upon payment of the appropriate fee to the Society whose content they will be accessing.

When the scheme is open it will work as follows:

We will contact Society Members informing them of the scheme and those that are interested can sign up for the scheme using an online form.

The Arts Society will send a regular email with a link to a web page containing the details of the lectures of participating Societies that are being held via Zoom. To find out about each lecture and how to attend, Society Members can click on the name of the event for more information and details of how to book.

BENEFITS OF THE ZOOM ACCESS SCHEME

• Continued access to our lectures for those unable to attend in-person due to infirmity, ill-health or the continued need to take extra care due to Covid

• Societies continue to retain these members who may otherwise have resigned

• Additional income for those Societies continuing to offer lectures via Zoom

SURVEY

GOVERNANCE

No Trustees reached the end of their term at the 2022 AGM. Members did confirm the appointment of Chris Ward as a Co-opted Trustee on a three-year term.

During the period Ben Moorhead resigned from the Trustee Board due to pressures which were impacting on the time which he could devote to his Co-opted role. Ben had completed 16 months of his second three-year term. We are incredibly grateful for the contribution which Ben made and for the sound legal knowledge he added to the Trustee Board.

The Remuneration and Nominations Committee will shortly be analysing the current skills mix within the Trustee Board so that steps can be taken should they feel that additional expertise is required.

Two Trustees will reach the end of their term at the 2023 AGM. Further details of the election process will be circulated along with the formal Notice of the AGM in early 2023.

The 2023 AGM will be held on 24 May 2023 as part of a wider Conference in Bristol. The meeting will be a hybrid thereby allowing those who do not wish to travel, to watch the event online. Further details about the Conference programme will be circulated in due course. It is intended that a Fares Pool will operate to ensure that as many Societies as possible can attend the Conference.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Bi-Annual Town Hall Meeting will take place on 19 October at 11am. Registration is not required and it can be reached using this link: https://theartssociety-org.zoom.us/j/96189657956

MEETINGS SINCE THE LAST REPORT

1. 13 April 2022 – Bi-Annual Town Hall Meeting

2. 18 May 2022 - AGM

OUTLOOK FOR 2022

The forecast to 31 December is for a breakeven position on core operating activities. After taking into account exceptional items of expenditure (but excluding unrealised investment movements) the total outturn will be a deficit of £48K. This would maintain general reserves at the target level of 6 months.

PLANNING FOR YOUR SOCIETY

The Treasurer announced the “Recovery charge” at the AGM on 18 May. The fee was maintained at the 2022 baseline level of £15.94. Against the backdrop of falling Membership numbers (over which the total costs are apportioned), and surging inflation this has been achieved by utilising reserves, to provide a further one-off discount against the baseline.

Clearly this is not sustainable in the longer term and from 2024 charging for the full cost of services will need to be restored. This makes the retention of Members, recruitment of new Members (both over which the costs are apportioned), and the generation of additional revenue (to offset the costs) ever more important.

calculation of the 2023 charge is shown

In addition to this there will be a recharge for the cost of insurance (our broker will begin sourcing quotes from the beginning of November).

FINANCIAL HEADLINES:

GENERAL FUND CASH

@ 31/08/22 £319K (Target £254K)

SOCIETY LOANS @ 31/08/22 £521K

FORECAST SURPLUS ON CORE OPERATIONS TO 31/12/22 £2K

FORECAST DEFICIT AFTER EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS TO 31/12/22 £48K

GENERAL FUND INVESTMENTS @ 31/08/22 £500K

FORECAST GENERAL FUND RESERVES @ 31/12/22 £811K (6 months)

RECOVERY CHARGE 2022 - £14.21 (net of reserves utilisation) 2023 - £15.94 (net of reserves utilisation)

TOTAL RESERVES (including all Designated Funds)

@ 31/12/22 £2.9M (approx. 23 months)

SPOTLIGHT ON LOCAL SOCIETIES

We hope to use this report to highlight and celebrate the activities that are happening within our Societies. We would be very grateful if you could submit any stories or photos which you would like to be included in the future Spring or Autumn reports. These can be sent to hello@theartssociety.org

The photograph below shows the 50th Anniversary celebration of The Arts Society Sevenoaks. In the photograph are current Chair, Andrew Pembroke with former Chairs (from left to right); Jacqueline Pembroke, Jill Webster, Julia MacLeod and Wendy Young.

WHO’S WHO AT THE ARTS SOCIETY

Over the summer we said goodbye to two long standing colleagues. Shivani Mahida and Elizabeth Gorell moved on to pastures new, and we wish them well in their future careers whilst being grateful for everything they did in their time with is.

We have welcomed Claire Livesey as “Executive Assistant to the Chair, Chief Executive and Trustee Board”, and Jasmine Reid as “Membership Advisor”.

Isabel Cooper has recently departed on Maternity leave with Rowan Mills joining us on a Fixed Term Contract. We also congratulate Joseph Little on his promotion to Training and Content Manager where we are sure he will make a big impact.

Direct dial numbers for the team are shown below along with their e mail addresses and role title:

Florian Schweizer 0207 038 7592 / florian@theartssociety.org

Chief Executive

Claire Livesey 0207 038 7592 / claire@theartssociety.org

Executive Assistant

Tim Nicholls 0207 038 7583 / tim@theartssociety.org

Finance and Resources Director / Company Secretary Lewis Merricks 0207 038 7593 / lewis@theartssociety.org

Finance and Resources Officer

James Wilkins 0207 038 7582 / james@theartssociety.org

Membership Director

Joanne Martin 0207 038 7584 / joanne@theartssociety.org

Membership Manager

Joseph Little 0207 038 7589 / joseph@theartssociety.org

Training and Content Manager

Jasmine Reid 0207 038 7591 / jasmine@theartssociety.org

Membership Advisor

Rowan Mills 0207 038 7585 / rowan@theartssociety.org

Communications Coordinator

Rik Gadsby 0207 038 7588 / rik@theartssociety.org

Creative and Digital Director

Katherine Sutton 0207 038 7587 / katherine@theartssociety.org

Education Manager

The main switchboard is 0207 038 7590