AYR ARTS GUILD

ANNUAL REPORT

presented to the Annual General Meeting on Monday 16th June 2008

The following Report has been forwarded to OSCAR (Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator), as required by charities legislation. The detailed accounts, independently examined and approved, are not included here but were presented at the Annual General Meeting. They are available for public scrutiny on application to the Treasurer at the address given below.

Scottish Charity Number: SC 005562

Contact Address: c/o Michael Hitchon, Treasurer, 1 Barns Terrace, AYR, KA7 2DB.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees: The Guild’s Trustees are either nominated by affiliated groups or appointed/reappointed by the members at the Annual General Meeting.

Governing Document: The Guild is a charitable association and the purposes and administration arrangements are set out in its Constitution.

Charitable Purposes: The Guild’s purposes as recorded in its Constitution are: to promote, encourage and foster public interest in the study, practice and knowledge of the Arts within the area and other dramatic, literary, musical, educational and cultural purposes connected therewith.

Activities and Achievements: The Guild presented An Evening with Jim Malcolm in The Music Room, Oswald Hall, Auchincruive on 22 May as its sixth annual event for the Burns an’ a’ that! Festival 2007. Jim Malcolm was winner of the 2004 Scottish Songwriter of the Year title.

The Guild and Holy Trinity Arts presented an ambitious Celebrating Schubert Festival of 5 evenings in Holy Trinity Church, Ayr. There were two piano recitals given by Peter Seivewright including Schubert’s Sonata in C minor and Sonata in A major; and the Festival Concert included Schubert’s Mass in A flat, Elgar’s Sea Pictures and the world premiere of the suite And God Created the Heavens composed by Andrew Thom. Three young professional musicians Allan Smith, baritone and Siân Winstanley, soprano, accompanied by Nicola Rose, piano, sang Schubert songs and gave the first performance of Three Scots Songs by Martin Bussey; and a group of established professional musicians played Schubert’s Octet in F major.

The Guild promoted the 21^{st Joint Ayr Concert Series of six orchestral concerts in the refurbished Ayr Town Hall on behalf of South Ayrshire Council with financial support from Ayr Common Good Fund and Enterprise Music Scotland with funds provided by the Scottish Arts Council. Concert highlights included Jennifer Pike playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the BBC SSO; Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor played by Rudi de Groote with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera; a full house for the BBC SSO Christmas Classics 2007 presented by Jackie Bird; a nearly full house for the SCO Viennese New Year Concert; Eugene Ugorski playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the BBC SSO under the baton of Michał Dworzyński; and the SCO Schubert Concert conducted by Olari Elts with Stephan Loges, baritone, singing Five Songs (arranged by Webern), German Dances (arranged by Webern) and Symphony No. 3 and Symphony No. 5.}

Membership increased to a healthy 280 individual members (including 4 honorary members), and 83 groups (including 57 affiliated groups and 26 subscribing groups for advertising), subscriptions covering the cost of running Ayr Arts Guild.

The Bill Grierson Award to enable a young person to attend a course was not awarded in 2007. The Bill Grierson Award is a Permanent Endowment Fund. It is planned to add to the capital sum that generates interest to fund the Award. The Bill Grierson Award is due to be awarded in April 2008.

The Guild is grateful to Enterprise Music Scotland, to South Ayrshire Council and to Ayr Common Good Fund for financial support during the year. Any surplus may be applied to the planning and promotion of future events. There are two Reserve Funds. One is a Restricted Fund ring-fenced and specifically dedicated to Ayr Concert Series. The other Reserve Fund is an Unrestricted Fund. The AAG Arts Centre Fund is an Unrestricted Fund.

The Guild has planned the 22nd Joint Ayr Concert Series 2008 – 2009 in Ayr Town Hall on behalf of South Ayrshire Council, six dates having been pencilled in by December 2007. The Guild wrote to the Council Leader in October 2007 seeking a 3-year Service Level Agreement. In March 2008 members were disappointed to receive a letter from a senior officer at South Ayrshire Council announcing that future funding from Ayr Common Good Fund to the Joint Ayr Concert Series will be reduced from £27,000 to £13,500 for 2009 – 2010 and to Nil for 2010 – 2011. Ayr Arts Guild is willing to provide its event management expertise to continue to arrange and promote the Joint Ayr Concert Series on behalf of South Ayrshire Council but does require financial support to the flagship event in Ayr Town Hall, flagship building of Ayr Common Good Fund. There is some logic in continuing to fund the Joint Ayr Concert Series from Ayr Common Good Fund.

The Guild continued to rent the store at 1 Craigie Road, Ayr, KA8 0HB.

Trustee Remuneration and Expenses: The Trustees did not receive any remuneration. Officers who are also Trustees received reimbursement for expenses incurred.

Volunteers: The Guild estimated that the Ayr Concert Series and the Recitals involved Donated Services of more than 850 hours.

Deficit: The Deficit was caused by the loss on Promotions and was funded by Grants shown.

Reserves: The Ayr Concert Series Reserve Fund benefited from the successful Joint Ayr Concert Series 2007 – 2008, £7,000 coming from the late payment of support from 2006-2007.

The £2,000 allocated to the Celebrating Schubert Festival and grant of £1,540 from South Ayrshire Council Financial Support to Voluntary Organisations enabled the ambitious Festival to go ahead.

The AAG Reserve Fund benefited from fees and £79-06 transfer.

The AAG General Fund benefited from donations and interest earned.

The AAG Arts Centre Fund benefited from earnings and interest.

Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf:

G Michael Hitchon, Treasurer                          Trudy McLeod, Chairman

16 June 2008

Scottish Charity Number: SC 0055672