In celebration of the G7 summit coming to Cornwall, six organisations are working together to explore what the Duchy’s creative, heritage, and cultural sectors mean to contemporary Cornwall.
A still from the Behind the Postcard project. Photograph: Steve Tanner
The G7 Cultural Programme is being collectively delivered by the Hall for Cornwall, Cornwall Museums Partnership, Cornwall Council, Wildworks, Screen Cornwall, and Creative Kernow.
Each partner will play a key role in delivering a project that encapsulates real-life contemporary Cornwall, creating opportunities for local communities, and promoting a greener, more prosperous future — the latter a key theme at the summit.
The collaboration draws on Cornwall’s long tradition of creativity, driven by its rural landscape and culture of storytelling. The G7 summit is an opportunity for Cornwall’s creative, cultural and heritage sectors to showcase the region’s creative capabilities and highlight its innovation and ideas.
The programme includes Behind The Postcard. This saw 29 Cornish screen writers join a workshop to create a series of poems that reflect the essence and ambitions of real-life contemporary Cornwall. Wildworks Theatre Company then created a suite of performances around the writing, which will include land art.
Community interpretations of the Behind The Postcard theme are being captured on film, involving more than 25 artists from the Isles of Scilly to Bude and the Rame Peninsula, who, together with professional performers, will create a short film. Local community premieres will take place in the lead-up to the G7 summit weekend and these events are enabled by projection equipment that will be gifted to a range of community groups and venues as part of the legacy of the programme.
‘There are complex layers to people’s lives and livlihoods in Cornwall’
Laura Giles, managing director of Screen Cornwall and part of the Creative Kernow team, who is leading the production of the film, said: “Our aim with this piece of work is to tackle some of the key themes from the G7 in a way that is realistic yet optimistic. It’s called Behind The Postcard because we want show national and international audiences that there are complex layers to people’s lives and livelihoods in Cornwall, united by a certain spirit of creativity and community.
“The collaboration of this project has been what sets it apart. Working with the other creative and cultural partners, as well as over 100 creative freelancers, has enabled us to have real ambition in the creative output, and we are really looking forward to sharing it through the premieres.”
There are a number of satellite events taking place across Cornwall as part of the cultural programme. These include Kresen Kernow’s Out of the Ordinary exhibition celebrating the return of the Ordinalia Manuscript, and the Leach Pottery 100 celebrations.
A number of commissioning opportunities for creative activity in response to announcements at the G7 summit will be overseen by the Hall for Cornwall. The aim will be to support creative and cultural responses to what is discussed and announced by the G7 leaders, and this activity will run throughout the rest of this year.
Splanna! (Shine in Cornish) is working with five archive/museum settings and is providing free access for young people and other isolated groups from across Cornwall. Using Cornwall’s collections to inspire creativity and problem solving, and promote connection and wellbeing, participants will explore climate, environmental action and nature and develop their digital, heritage and creative skills. This will run through to March 2022.
The G7 Cultural Programme is supported by investment from the Cabinet Office, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Cornwall Council.
To attend a community premiere of the Behind The Postcard film on Wednesday, 9th June, at 7.30pm, or find out details of the online premiere, visit cornwall365.com/events/types/g7-events/
