As recorded in the previous year’s minutes, the directors made a visit to ANIA’s activities in Costa Rica to which we had made a grant. We were impressed by the enthusiasm of the children and teenagers who were engaging with the project, both at primary level and at secondary level. The project is ongoing, and we anticipate making a contribution towards stage two, bolstered by a grant from the Orbis Pictus Foundation.
Once again, the Foundation has been involved with primarily supporting young artists and music. In consequence it gave small grants to the Royal Academy of Music, Opera Holland Park, The Australian Music Foundation, The English National Opera Harewood Appeal, Bampton Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park Young Artists Appeal. Further the Foundation funded a concert held at the National Gallery on the 23rd of January 2024 with Masumi Yamamoto’s Obbligato Collective.
Small grants were made to Crystal Palace Friends of Palestine, the Eurasia Education Foundation, TReeS Peru, The Gecko Welfare Trust, Children with Cancer, Crisis, Doctors Without Borders, The Salvation Army, Practical Action, Second Chance, Listening Books, St Mungo’s, Guide Dogs, The Glacier Trust, Crisis and £1000 towards the refurbishment of the Victorian building known as Speech Room at Harrow School. We also made a small grant to the young pianist Dominika Mak.
It is anticipated that in 2025 we will continue our support of the Children’s Forest Program in Costa Rica.