At the heart of local culture: Beth Thomas outside The Poly in Falmouth
In 2022, nearly 100,000 people identified as Cornish, triple the number in 2011.
Now that interests in Cornish identity are on the rise, focus is falling to the organisations supporting local artists and creatives.
Beth Thomas, the Operations Assistant at The Poly in Falmouth, emphasises the importance of supporting community creative projects and nurturing creativity.
“We do lots of community focused things,” she says, saying the Poly is often the first place that children go to the theatre.
To help support Cornish art, the Guild Shop at the venue stocks entirely local work to help support Cornwall’s thriving arts scene. The stock is sourced from markets, students, and members.
“We approach people at markets, and we say: ‘Hey, your work looks great. Have you ever been represented by a shop?’ “
Cornish arts have received £21.6 million in direct public investment from the Good Growth Programme. This has helped shine a spotlight on local creativity and fund the teaching and promoting of Cornish language, a key part of Cornish identity.
Films made in Cornish have had access to special funding too, but Beth says the influx of such films has slowed. “The number produced has dropped off a bit recently because that funding isn’t there as much.”