The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre Company Limited

Company No. 2088483

THE SPRING ARTS & HERITAGE CENTRE COMPANY LIMITED

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SPRING ARTS & HERITAGE CENTRE COMPANY LIMITED HELD AT THE SPRING ARTS & HERITAGE CENTRE, EAST STREET, HAVANT ON MONDAY,16TH NOVEMBER 2015 AT 7.30 PM

PRESENT:

APOLOGIES:, , Paul Millington, Gill Dawe, Clifford Coe, Graham Bond, Terry Frost, Susan Dickinson, Mike Bateman, Jenny Bateman, Tina Harrison, Kate Peden, Nicky Holter, L Atkins, Richard Andrews, Gill Andrew, Mary Crundwell, Sally Lee, P.T. Adams, Beryl Batto, Declan Murphy DM

15/1Welcome Roger Harrison (Chair) thanked everyone for coming and for their interest and support for The Spring.

He introduced Nicola Horsey from Hampshire County Council and Nikki Conyard from Havant Borough Council, saying how much we value their attendance and support.

Apologies were received as above.

15/2Minutes of AGM on 10th November 2014

It was proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true record

PROPOSED;Howard Jacobs SECONDED:Hugh Owen

The proposal was carried nem con

15/3Matters Arising

There were no matters arising

.

15/4Chair’s introduction

RDH expressed his pride in the success of the past year, artistically and financially. Despite the challenges of the present financial climate, The Spring is surviving and prospering. However he reinforced the need for help and support from everyone.

He quoted from several researches which have reported that the arts contribute to everyone’s well-being. The intrinsic merit of the arts to health, welfare and morality is proven. The Spring is glad to be part of this.

15/5Director’s Report for 2014/2015–2014/2015 Annual Review circulated prior to the meeting - attached

Sophie Fullerlove thanked everyone for coming, especially representatives of our core funders and partner groups.

She expressed her continued pleasure in her role as Director and is excited at the success of the past year, and the beginning of this year.

In the last financial year we sold 7% more tickets than in the previous year; we enjoyed a16% increase in visits to the building: and Beyond the Walls outreach work increased by 10%.

We have received many compliments in particular form Mark Makin, Touring Associate, House. (All recorded in the Annual Review).

She expressed her pride in the professional programme this last year, and into next season.

• The Spring has achieved a balance of the highest quality shows with those of commercial value. There were more sold-out shows and it will be the same this season.
• Big names are coming to The Spring, names to stop people in their tracks.
• The post-show chats have been successful, with trustees taking on the role of facilitator.
• The participation programmeis going from strength to strength, a chance for people to take part in the arts.
• A free drop-in arts space has been created where on Thursday mornings art materials are available to try out different media; this is facilitated by Lorna Unsworth, one of our volunteers and an artist in her own right.
• The Spring wishes to balance the high end of cultural offering with the free offer for the community.
• Children’s workshops have been more of a challenge. With HCC funding we have been piloting different models to come up with the best options.

The Heritage Programme which wants to celebrate and recognise our past has had great success.

The cabinet displays are organised by the Hampshire Cultural Trust which now oversees Museum Services. These are therefore beyond much of our control so we focus on special projects to bring our local heritage to life, including:

• The textile commemoration of the 1st World War which has now gone for display in The Public Plaza at the Havant Civic Offices. Also packs of poppies were offered to the general pubic to make into fabric poppies for display; 250 were taken and exactly 100 returned for display on the walls of the Sadler Gallery.

She congratulated Kate Saunders, Heritage Manager, for the fantastic job she has done this year.

• 200 young people under 18 have visited the museum in the year and gained Arts Awards as a result.
• The genealogy research has been very successful with two volunteers offering their time and expertise in helping people trace their ancestors.
• The VE Museums’ at Night party was a great success.
• The Waterlooville Proect worked with 25,000 people celebrating their association with the Battle of Waterloo and the consequent history of the town.

The Visual Arts Programme is going from strength to strength. Although we have no permanent arts programmer, Lyn Unsworth does a marvellous job in curating the exhibitions. The present exhibition offers wonderful objects for Christmas gifts. The Open Exhibition at the beginning of each year supports local artists with the chance to show their work.

The new website and Box Office system is much more professional and easier to use.

Congratulations

SF pointed out that of The Guardian’s top 10 ‘theatre shows of the year’, The Spring showed two!

Barney Norris, a playwright working with the Royal Court Theatre, who is writing a play about arts centres, visited The Spring to gain material. He expressed his pleasure and admiration for the Centre.

The Future

SF shared the ambition of The Spring to be the leading UK Arts and Heritage Centre in:

1. The quality of programmes and customer experience with a special focus on families – young people are our future.
2. To continue our reach out into the community so that more people can experience the well-being that the arts delivers. To begin to facilitate this ambition, a new scheme has been set up between Andicars and The Spring for free transport to The Spring.
3. To raise our profile; and this is where our supporters can help, advocating for us, promoting our work.
4. Sustainability to inspire a culture of philanthropy and to diversify our funding.

She shared her hope that the partnership with Park Community College would continue to be a success. Already two shows, one with Lee Nelson and a children’s show, ‘The Snow Dragon’, have been very successful in reaching out to new audiences.

SF also introduced the new strand of documentary films once a month on Friday evenings which will be facilitated by our trustee, Steve Murray, who is an expert in this field.

Thanks

SF expressed her thanks to all those who have worked to make The Spring a success this year; The Spring’s core funders, Hampshire County Council and Havant Borough Council, officers and councillors whose representatives are here today; our partner groups, Bench, Humdrum, Havant Light Opera, Havant Literary Festival, Dynamo Youth Theatre; Hampshire Cultural Trust, Hampshire Libraries.

She thanked the award-winning trustees. She also told the meeting how lucky we are to have 17 members of staff who share and work hard to achieve our core beliefs.

She pointed out that we have 89 volunteers whose work is worth more than £50,000 a year; we could not do without them.

Finally she wished to thank all the members and supporters who are hugely appreciated.

SF asked if there were any questions.

Hugh Owen: Thanked Sophie for all her work in continuing to make The Spring so successful.

His thanks were endorsed by the rest of the meeting.

Tim Dawes: Expressed concern that The Spring has a blind spot regarding visual arts. Although he endorsed the marvellous programme and other achievements of The Spring, he felt that there is a real problem in giving voice to professional artists locally.

SFsaid that she takes his point. She reiterated that she is not a professional in visual arts, and The Spring does not have a dedicated gallery member of staff. However the current exhibitions are all of local artists.

TD replied that she should talk to people organising the Arts Trail, to Pallant House and other southern-based galleries.

SF said that she is already in conversation with Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth, but thanked TD for his support.

Peter Gammons suggested the possibility of leasing art.

RDH replied that we will revisit ourVisual Arts Strategy.

HO wondered whether there is any evidence that people coming to the free Arts Drop-in are blossoming and continuing in other classes.

SF pointed out that it is a new project, running since Easter: the main focus is to support those who want a free arts facility.

Frank Pearce congratulated The Spring on their present Art Exhibition.

15/6 Beyond the Walls – A Report on the Outreach Programme

Jemma Corbin introduced the programme which has been running for 18 months with great success. The Programme is to make arts accessible to people not normally either wishing to take part nor having accessibility to the arts. 80% of the people in this borough come into this category.

She reiterated what has been reported previously of the way in which the arts improves quality of life, socially and educationally. So that the remit of the programme is to find those people and put on work in their locality, in schools, youth settings generally, including libraries.

She said that she deems her work a privilege in being able to find and facilitate that audience of the future, especially families with children under 12, and 13 to 19 year olds.

The programme is partly funded by the Arts Council which means that tickets can be at a very low price or free. It also gives young people the chance to receive an Arts Award Accreditation.

The work already undertaken includes:

• Two tours of professional family theatre in libraries and community venues.

• Working on a project set up by the Welcome Trust on Sexology with a group of young people from Music Fusion, researching into sexual attitudes led by lecturers at Southampton University. This gave the young people the opportunity to explore the subject and write their own poetry/rap which they performed at a big event at the Roundhouse in London.
• Worked with Forest Forge Theatre Company on a play inspired by the history of Hayling Billy Line with Horndean Community College;
• Free performances for families in Hayling Park and Leigh Park Gardens, Havant, of a play by travelling players; ‘Dr Longitude’s Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie’
• A family festival of free, dinosaur themed creative activities culminating in a low cost performances ‘Stones and Bones’ at The Spring.

To come

JC said that she is developing the Family Festival for the year 2016 on ‘friendly monsters’ theme which will tie in with the arrival of the Hayling Island Swamp Cat into the museum.

Sf congratulated and thanked JC for all the work she has done so far; ‘we couldn’t have done it without her’.

15/7 Presentation of Membership Scheme revisions

Mike Dawe introduced the main reasons for the change:

1. The present scheme is not fit for purpose; people are paying different rates due to standing orders and historic deals, therefore it is unfair;
2. The Spring is losing money on the deal in many cases;
3. Because of discounts we are not able to apply for Gift Aid which would bring in a large amount of money;

Our Members

We need to know who our real supporters are;

• Those who care about The Spring;
• Those who will advocate for us;
• Those who will hold the Board to account;
• Those who we will come to our aid in time of need;
• Those who can offer their expertise;
• Possible requests for legacies.

MD reiterated the challenges ahead;

• Escalating costs at a time of funding cuts;
• The need for financial security when local authorities are making cuts to arts funding;
• Rising employment costs ie the Living Wage and Auto Enrolment for pensions;
• Continued customer and artists’ satisfaction;

A simpler membership

£12 single and £20 joint membership, which will include benefits such as:

• No charge for card payment;
• Special events for members – early access to programme\ lectures;
• Organised trips at a separate cost.

MD announced that there will be a rolling introduction of the scheme from January, 2016, honouring those who have paid up to the end of that year.

There will continue to be a discount card for films and the café will introduce their own card.

For this scheme to work we need email addresses for members in order to keep in touch.

MD asked if there were any questions.

Howard Jacob recognised that this was a better, simpler form but wondered whether everyone should register for membership at one time, ie January.

MD responded that this is more difficult administratively

Peter Gammons asked whether all members were aware of the imminent changes.

MD replied that this has been in the public domain for a year including surveys carried out with members in June and two separate consultation evenings fir members in September.

PG asked if a vote needed tobe taken.

MD replied that this is not necessary as this scheme is new, in line with our new constitution established at the 2014 AGM.

Anyone already a member on the old scheme can remain a member under that scheme, except that there will be no discounts or other advantages.

Senior Citizen, Student and other concessions will remain as before.

Sally Hartley agreed that a rolling membership is not so easy.

Tim Dawes agreed that it is a very sensible new initiative and he is very happy with it. However he asked why we were not going out and building corporate support, engaging with the commercial world and their capacity for funding.

MD replied that as part of the Business Plan this is our next focus. He and SF have already been to several initiatives on how to build a sponsorship portfolio. We already have a museum mentor to give us advice.

15/9 Presentation of Audited Accounts for 2014/2015circulated prior to meeting– attached

Andy Jay reported that total incoming resources generated by The Spring have increased by 7% compared with 2014. This increase is particularly due to:

• Professional programme up 53%;
• Lettings up 26%;
• Box office services up 10%

This has helped to supplement the inevitable decrease in the level of local authority support that we can expect.

About13% of the income we receive is restricted which means it can only be spent on specific projects. But it’s important to note that our unrestricted income has increased by £50,000 year on year.

Expenditure increased by 4% as a result of increased activity but this resulted from the generation of income. The Unrestricted balance is £28,000 but he insisted that we need to maintain and increase that fund, putting aside money for the future. The Unrestricted Reserves now stand at just under £40,000 and are divided into funds including emergency funds, building infrastructure and project marketing. The Charity Commission advise that charities have unrestricted reserves of at least 3 months running costs, which we are working towards.

Our Restricted Reserves currently stand at around £68,000.

He was particularly pleased to say that the Café and Bar, which is an important facility for the Centre, is now generating a sufficient surplus to contribute to the charity.

For this Jacs Fagg deserves the credit.

Tim Dawes asked for reassurance that the café is making maney.

AJ replied that there is now a Business Plan for the Trading Company which is now genuinely making profits and paying into the charity. He reminded the meeting that it also contributes to the whole ambience of the Centre.

Hugh Owen was reassured that there is a legal relationship between the Company and the charity.