Rags to Riches

‘Rags to Riches’ is a learning and cultural project commissioned by the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (CMWHS) to deliver against the key aims of the CMWHS programme: 

“The distinctiveness of Cornish Mining culture should be celebrated, promoted and propagated” (CMWHS Management Plan).

The project was developed and delivered by Golden Tree Productions in consultation with the CMWHS to meet both cultural and learning priorities, testing the proposal that: “Combining cultural and learning activities is a cost-effective high-impact strategy for communicating the CMWHS key aims”. 

Interventions, training, learning sessions and celebratory events were held in three locations; the Tamar Valley, Pool and Hayle. 

The Cornish Mining World Heritage Site (CMWHS) commissions cultural events and activities as an element of, and as a means for communicating, the Outstanding Universal Value. 

“The distinctiveness of Cornish Mining culture should be celebrated, promoted and propagated” (WHS Management Plan) 

On the subject of creativity UNESCO have made the following statement: 

“Creativity contributes to building open, inclusive and pluralistic societies. Both heritage and creativity lay the foundations for vibrant, innovative and prosperous knowledge societies. “ 

Geevor Consultancy 

Clint Hoskin, Learning Officer at Geevor Tin Mine was commissioned to support the project on a consultancy basis. Clint aided in the planning and delivery of training to artists, staff and volunteers and also delivered direct sessions in schools. This gave the entire project a solid foundation of Cornish Mining expertise and access to authentic resources. 

Key achievements: 

· The 1200 target engagement figure was more than doubled, with a final number of people engaged in schools and community sectors reaching 2892 

· Additional funds were secured from the National Trust and First Great Western 

· This represents one person engaged for approximately £8 of spend 

· Significant in-kind support came from Heritage sites and from commercial partners (Asda, Terrill’s Foundry, First Great Western) 

· All responding teachers demonstrated an increase in the knowledge of CMWHS and said that their schools had benefitted from participating 

· Heritage sites reported an increase in their knowledge of and engagement with the CMWHS Learning Strategy 

· 8 out of the 9 participating schools agreed that deploying artists was an effective way to learn about CMWHS 

· All participating heritage sites reported benefits to their organisations, principally increased visibility