Cockayne (also spelt Cockaigne): a fabled land of great luxury and ease. References to ‘Cockayne’ were especially prominent in medieval European literature where writers contrasted the harshness of everyday life with this imaginary land where rivers flowed with wine, houses were built of cake and barley sugar, streets were paved with pastry, and shops gratuitously gave goods to everyone. In more recent times the British composer Elgar composed the ‘Cockaigne Overture’, described as a 'splendidly evocative picture of Edwardian London’. Commissioned by and first performed at the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1901, the work was dedicated to Elgar’s 'many friends, the members of British orchestras’.
Cockayne currently supports a wide variety of arts-related projects in San Francisco and in London.
Grant giving in San Francisco is entirely discretionary and initiated by the foundation’s Directors.
Cockayne provides funding for arts projects in London by means of a UK based donor-advised fund (DAF). From 2025, Cockayne will be recommending funding for arts projects in London, through a DAF under the auspices of The Prism Charitable Trust (charity registration number 1099682).
An open grant application round is held once a year. The Grant deadline is currently scheduled for mid/late-July, with grant application assessment by Cockayne staff, Arts Committee and Board in the Summer/Autumn. Following its deliberations, Cockayne provides grant recommendations to the Board of the UK DAF in December for final decisions and grant announcement by the following February for projects beginning no sooner than the following Spring (March onwards).
The Grant Guidelines for 2025 can be downloaded here.
For application instructions for Cockayne Grants for the Arts 2025 please click here.