CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE

Registered charity 1088552 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

With its two auditoria, together offering some 1,600 seats, Chichester Festival Theatre is the major publicly funded theatre resource in the South East of England. It aims to balance a repertory of diverse and challenging productions and a socially inclusive educational policy with high attendances from a wide geographic and demographic spread.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a deficit after depreciation of £1,242,198, despite a small pre-depreciation surplus. The trustees report that unrestricted free reserves are £1,262,012, which equates to approximately one month of committed operating costs, though designated funds provide a buffer for three to six months of operational costs.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 04210225
• Trading subsidiary: CFT ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 06611814
• Trading subsidiary: CFT PRODUCTIONS LIMITED Companies House 09192099

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.

• CARTER, Jordi Michael — director, appointed 12/12/2025on trustee list
• HUMBY, Daniel William Matthew — director, appointed 12/12/2025on trustee list
• MCMEEHAN ROBERTS, Anne — director, appointed 26/09/2025not on trustee list
• ADLEMAN, Neil — director, appointed 15/03/2024on trustee list
• DILLON, Patrick George — director, appointed 08/12/2023on trustee list
• GLADMAN, Natasha Juliette — director, appointed 08/12/2023on trustee list
• BROWN-FULLER, Jessica Sian Louise — director, appointed 14/07/2023on trustee list
• FOSTER, Mark — director, appointed 20/01/2022on trustee list
• PASRICHA, Nitin — director, appointed 11/12/2020on trustee list
• ILLINGWORTH, Victoria — director, appointed 13/12/2019on trustee list
• SHEPHERD, Philip Anthony — director, appointed 13/12/2019on trustee list
• STREET SYLVESTRE, Sonalini Stephanie — director, appointed 20/02/2018not on trustee list
• SMITH, Julia Selena — secretary, appointed 14/07/2023

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £1.6m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Reported reserves equal ~3.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (62% 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: 2.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (11/08/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anne McMeehan Roberts · trustee of 1 other charity
• CAROLINE DENISE NEWLING
• Daniel William Matthew Humby
• Jessica Sian Louise Brown-Fuller
• Jordi Michael Carter
• MARK FOSTER · trustee of 1 other charity
• NEIL ADLEMAN · trustee of 3 other charities
• Natasha Gladman
• Nitin Pasricha · trustee of 1 other charity
• Patrick George Dillon
• Philip Anthony Shepherd
• Stephanie Street
• Victoria Illingworth

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

Operates in: West Sussex

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

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 NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL TRUST LIMITED.

• NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL TRUST LIMITED income £16.3m
• THE CROWN WHARF THEATRE income £94k
• MERLIN THEATRE TRUST LIMITED income £270k
• COLCHESTER MERCURY THEATRE LIMITED income £5.8m
• THE KINGS THEATRE TRUST LIMITED income £5.7m
• THE FOLKESTONE - HYTHE OPERATIC AND DRAMATIC SOCIETY income £341k

Side by side with its peers

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