THE LIVERPOOL INSTITUTE FOR PERFORMING ARTS

Registered charity 1001565 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q1668871 · Wikipedia · also known as LIPA, THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL FOR PERFORMING ARTS

Education and Training

Objects

TO PROMOTE, MAINTAIN, IMPROVE, ENABLE AND ADVANCE EDUCATION AND PROVIDE FOR AND ASSIST IN THE PROMOTION, MAINTENANCE, IMPROVEMENT AND ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND IN PARTICULAR TO GENERATE INTEREST IN, PROMOTE, ENCOURAGE AND INCREASE THE APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE PUBLIC IN THE PERFORMING ARTS AND TO CONDUCT, CARRY ON, ACQUIRE AND DEVELOP IN THE UNITED KINGDOM INSTITUTIONS FOR THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS OR CHILDREN, PARTICULARLY POOR CHILDREN, IN THE PERFORMING ARTS AND ANCILLARY SKILLS.

Area of benefit: UNITED KINGDOM

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Liverpool, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the group generated a surplus of £150,689 for the year ended 31 July 2025, with total unrestricted reserves standing at £20,475,738. The group held no borrowings at year-end and maintained healthy cash balances of £2,829,798, supported by a five-year cash-positive financial forecast.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crowe UK LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• First Look at Beatles Biopic Comes Courtesy of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts imdb.com · 17/02/2026
• First Look At New Beatles Biopic Released Via The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts themusic.com.au · 30/01/2026
• First Look at Beatles Biopic Comes Courtesy of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts consequence.net · 29/01/2026
• Robert Plant made a companion of Paul McCartney-founded Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts 98online.com · 02/08/2023
• Robert Plant made a companion of Paul McCartney-founded Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts kslx.com · 02/08/2023

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 02511501
• Trading subsidiary: LIPA ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 02632080

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Professor Sean McNamara — Principal and CEO (source)
• Will Hammond — Director of School of Performance (source)
• Tim Pike — Interim Director of the School of Music (source)
• Jon Thornton — Director of School of Creative Technologies, Design and Enterprise (source)
• David Fletcher — Chief Operating Officer (source)
• Corinne Lewis — Director of Marketing & Student Recruitment (source)
• Michael Mercer — Director of Students (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Sennheiser — “For the past 19 years, Sennheiser has sponsored the best performing arts school in the world, The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (L…” (source page)
• Orange — “Orange has been supporting LIPA with its equipment and expertise for over 15 years.” (source page)
• Broadway Dance Center — “Starting in 2017, Broadway Dance Center (BDC) is thrilled to provide an annual full scholarship to a LIPA Dance graduate for our four-month …” (source page)
• Charcoalblue — “Since 2016, Charcoalblue has regularly offered a 12-month paid placement to a graduate from the BA (Hons) Theatre & Performance Design and T…” (source page)
• SSE Audio Group — “The Group also offers year-long paid internships to selected year-three graduates, one based at Wigwam in Heywood, one at SSE Audio in Reddi…” (source page)
• Wigwam — “The Group also offers year-long paid internships to selected year-three graduates, one based at Wigwam in Heywood, one at SSE Audio in Reddi…” (source page)
• Blackmagic Design — “The Blackmagic Design Education Partner Program aims to support and develop leading media and broadcast focused institutions with dedicated …” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• AYACHE, Daniel James — director, appointed 01/07/2026not on trustee list
• SWEENEY, Sean Christopher — director, appointed 01/04/2025on trustee list
• ZOUEIN, Jad — director, appointed 24/03/2025on trustee list
• FENDALL AMARO, Peter James — director, appointed 24/03/2025not on trustee list
• WALKER, Maria Pia — director, appointed 24/03/2025on trustee list
• EMMERSON, Michelle Elaine — director, appointed 20/09/2024on trustee list
• JOHNSON, Juliet Priscilla — director, appointed 20/09/2024on trustee list
• RADNOR, Zoe Jane, Professor — director, appointed 20/09/2024on trustee list
• OKAFOR-ROSS, Stella — director, appointed 05/12/2023not on trustee list
• HERMAN, Ashley John — director, appointed 04/12/2023on trustee list
• FLETCHER, David John — director, appointed 23/06/2023on trustee list
• MCNAMARA, Sean, Professor — director, appointed 03/09/2021on trustee list
• JOHNSON, Joe Robert — director, appointed 04/08/2021on trustee list
• OWEN, David Aaron Rhys — director, appointed 19/03/2020on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold); recorded price paid £857k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~16.5 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (97% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Ashley John HERMAN
• DAVID AARON RHYS OWEN
• David John Fletcher
• Jad ZOUEIN
• Joe Johnson
• Maria Pia WALKER
• Michelle Elaine Emmerson · trustee of 1 other charity
• PROFESSOR SEAN McNAMARA
• Peter James FENDALL AMARO
• Professor Zoe Jane RADNOR
• SITA MCINTOSH · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sarah Lovell
• Sean Christopher SWEENEY
• Stella OKAFOR- ROSS

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Liverpool City

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE.

• LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE income £129.3m
• ALL ARTS & MEDIA LTD income £99k
• ILMINSTER ENTERTAINMENTS SOCIETY LIMITED income £114k
• THE PRIORY THEATRE COMPANY income £189k
• The Guild for Lifelong Learning Limited income £599k
• SCHOOL-LED DEVELOPMENT TRUST income £19.0m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.