CANTERBURY THEATRE AND FESTIVAL TRUST

Registered charity 279714 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CANTERBURY FESTIVAL, CANTERBURY NEW THEATRE LIMITED

Kent's International Arts Festival.Year round education & outreach activities.Commissioning & producing new works of relevance to East Kent

Objects

TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE INVOLVEMENT AND PARTICIPATION OF THE PUBLIC THEREIN;PROVIDED THAT ALL THE OBJECTS OF THE TRUST SHALL BE OF A CHARITABLE NATURE AND THAT THEIR PROMOTION SHALL BE OF PUBLIC BENEFIT

Area of benefit: CANTERBURY

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

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Canterbury, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £363,686, which exceeds its stated policy target of £195,000. The accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, with trustees expressing reasonable expectation of adequate resources for the foreseeable future. The charity relies on fundraising and sponsorship, having raised £221,291 in total income from these sources and grants.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). 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
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

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.

Property (HM Land Registry)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (3 freehold); recorded price paid £700k. 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 ~6.4 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• PROFESSOR KEITH CHARLES MANDERchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• CAMILLA SWIRE
• Christopher Nickols
• Dr Dan Lloyd
• Jessica Barry
• Louise Helen Provan
• Rebecca Claire Huxley-Binns
• Simon Ludden

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

Operates in: Kent

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 THE CANTERBURY FESTIVAL FOUNDATION.

• THE CANTERBURY FESTIVAL FOUNDATION income £37k
• PETHERTON ARTS TRUST LIMITED income £153k
• EASTBOURNE MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL TRUST income £54k
• THE HENLEY FESTIVAL TRUST income £4.6m
• CUMBRIA THEATRE TRUST income £4.0m
• LUTON CARNIVAL ARTS DEVELOPMENT TRUST income £436k

Side by side with its peers

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