Funding Awarded to Cornish Language Groups

From our consultations with organisations and individuals involved in the promotion and development of the Cornish language, it would appear that there has been little history of funding activity over the last 20 years. Our consultations indicate that this probably reflects the generally small scale nature of these organisations over this time. Many of the organisations are run by a small group of individuals, who may not necessarily have the expertise or knowledge to make applications for funding to national/European organisations.

Table 6.1, over, provides a breakdown of the funding that Cornish language organisations have sourced over the past 20 years (although it is more likley that the funding listed has been awarded within the past decade, ie during the 1990s). This information was collated as part of the fieldwork and provides details on the funding provider, as well as information on the amount received and for what project, where these have been supplied. It shows that we have identified third party funding of approximately £50,000.

Table 6.1: Funding Received by Cornish Language Organisations
Organisation	Funding Source	Amount Received	Project
Kowethas An Yeth Kernewek	Cornwall County Council	£1,500	Goel an Yeth
	South West Arts	£5,000
	Carrick District Council	£300	Computers
	Caradon District Council	£500	Computers
Kesva An Tavas Kernewek	Cornwall County Council	£5,000 (over 5 years)
	Heritage Lottery Fund
	Millennium Festival Award
	Duke of Cornwall's Fund	£500
	European Commission, Minority Language Programme	£3,000	Production of dictionary
	European Commission, Minority Language Programme	£3,000	Production of grammar book
	District Councils
Gwyn Ha Du	Individuals of Kowethas	£500	Start up capital
Cussel An Tavaz	Cornwall County Council	£1,000	Evening Class support
	Cornwall County Council	£1,000	Language course
Agan Tavas	Individuals	£500
	Members	£1,400	Reprint of Nance's dictionary
	Federation of Old Cornwall Societies	£50
Verbal Arts Cornwall	South West Arts	£21,000	Annual funding to operate organisation
	Cornwall County Council; Carrick District Council	£750	Staging St Pirian play
Wild West Films	EU DG XXII		Film making
	West Cornwall Film Fund		Film making
	Arts Lottery Fund		Film making
Cornish Music Projects	Cornwall County Council
	Arts Lottery Fund
	Elm Grant Trust
An Lyverji Kernewek	SW Investment Board Loan	£3,000	Start up capital
Loweder Peran	South West Arts	£250	Festival events
	Carrick District Council	£1,600	Festival events
	Cornwall County Council	£250	Festival events
	Local parish council	£200	Festival events

Table 6.2 provides details on unsuccessful funding applications over the past 20 years.

Table 6.2: Cornish Language Organisations Unsuccessful Applications For Funding
Organisation Applying for Funding	Organisation Applied to for Funding
Kowethas An Yeth Kernewek	Gulbenkian Foundation
	European Union Lesser-Used Languages
	Verbal Arts
Cussel An Tavaz	Cornish Rural Community Councils (for Peripatetic Teacher)
Cornish Music Projects	Arts for Everyone
	WestCountry TV
	Duke of Cornwall's Development Fund
	Music Sound Foundation
	Heathcote Trust
	Chadman Charitable Development Fund
	Aurelius Fund
	Atlantic Foundation
Cornish Music Guild	Millennium Funding

Funding and Support Potentially Available to Cornish

Language Groups

During the 1990s, the European Commission has operated a number of cultural programmes designed to: improve the knowledge and dissemination of the culture and history of the European peoples; conserve and safeguard cultural heritage of European significance; and support cultural exchanges and artistic and literary creation. It is often the case that in order to access funding, projects assisted require the involvement of partnerships between organisations from two or three Member States. The projects may involve collective exchanges of experience; bilateral visits; and transnational events.

The consultations indicated that over the previous 20 years, Cornish language activity has not really been at the stage of critical mass where it could link up and exchange information with organisations in other Member States. Unfortunately, the Isle of Man (where there is the potential to link its Celtic language activities with those of Cornish organisations) is not a Member of the European Union. Further, these initiatives generally have relatively small budgets which are spread over six years and which are available throughout the European Union. As a result, funds are very competitive and tend to favour groups that have a reasonable degree of critical mass and which already have established links with similar groups in other Member States.

The consultations with various individuals and organisations suggest that Cornish language organisations would have been able to source very little European funding over the period. However, Cornish language organisations were able to source at least one European funding source over the period. This was the Minority Languages Programme (see Table 6.1). It provides support for: developing language skills (teaching aids, training, publications, etc); information, such as publication of magazines; language description and standardisation; and economic and social protection of the language, such as using the language on signs.

Between 1994 and 1999, Cornwall had Objective 5b status, making it an eligible region for ERDF assistance. However, ERDF can only be used to finance investments which must: primarily concern industry, craft industry or non-merchant services (including activities relating to tourism); and facilitate the creation of new jobs and maintain existing permanent jobs. Given its economic development remit, it is unlikely that Cornish language organisations would have been eligible to receive funding directly in relation to language promotion activities.

Potential Future Sources of Funding

Some organisations, such as the Regional Development Agencies are in their infancy, and it is difficult to establish at this point in time what effect these organisations will have on funding that may be available to the Cornish language organisations in the future.

The activities that could be assisted under this Measure includes the promotion and development of the region's arts and cultural industries (including those related to the leisure and tourism sector), heritage and environment businesses. A programme has been developed called Culture 2000, which has been designed to replace some of the cultural programmes operated by the European Commission during the 1990s. It will operate from 2000 to 2004, and has total budget of 167 million ECU over its five years of operation. Its objectives are to: promote cultural dialogue, creativity and the transnational distribution of culture; the promotion of cultural diversity and common cultural heritage; and improve public access to culture. However, the eligibility for funding from this programme includes: short-term activities involving cultural operators from at least three eligible countries; long-term (i.e. three years) co-operation activities involving cultural operators from at least five eligible countries; or European emblematic projects e.g. European City of Culture, cultural prizes, major events etc. Again, it may be difficult for Cornish language organisations to compete for such funds.

At the time of the survey Cornwall County Council was considering organising training seminars for groups to advise them on how to complete funding application forms, which may help Cornish language organisations to source future funds.