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 through a donor-advised fund, Cockayne Grants for the Arts, held at The London Community Foundation.
Grant giving in San Francisco is entirely discretionary and initiated by the foundation’s Directors.
Cockayne Grants for the Arts is the name of Cockayne’s donor-advised fund currently held at The London Community Foundation. Cockayne makes an annual grant to The London Community Foundation to support arts projects in London. An open grant application round is held once a year.
The Grant deadline is currently scheduled for mid-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 London Community Foundation for final decisions and grant announcement by The London Community Foundation at the end of December.
For further information about current grant priorities please click here.
To apply to Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, you will need to complete an online application form, available at The London Community Foundation.