CAST exists for public benefit and aims to promote participation, appreciation and learning in the visual arts and to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration across the arts and sciences. It is committed to the pursuit of excellence. CAST works with artists, curators, writers and specialists from other fields, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, to develop professional expertise and exchange, to present examples of outstanding creative practice, and to create opportunities for audiences of all ages to experience groundbreaking cultural activity. CAST has developed out of a series of contemporary art events organised in Cornwall over the last four years — The Falmouth Convention (May 2010) and The Penzance Convention (May 2012) — and two residential workshops held at Kestle Barton on the Lizard peninsula — The Cornwall Workshop 2011 and The Cornwall Workshop 2013. CAST is based in Helston, in the former School of Science and Art given to the town by the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards in 1897. The building was extended in 1905 and 1913 when it became a secondary school, but it became redundant with the introduction of comprehensive education in the 1970s and was later used as a community centre. It was boarded up in 2010 and finally sold by Helston Town Council in 2012. The Trustees of CAST have raised funds for a limited schedule of urgent repairs, pending a more substantial scheme of renovations. CAST has no endowment and its activities depend on funds raised and income generated. Artists have occupied studios in the building since the summer of 2013 and a number of additional workspaces have recently been completed. The creation of studios in the CAST building is supported by West Cornwall Local Action Group and the Rural Business Investment Scheme, both of which are administered by Cornwall Development Company. The investment comes from the European Union and Defra through the Rural Development Programme for England. The building has also received funding from the Helston Downsland Trust, and help-in-kind from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose and Cornwall College.
