2018/08/02

Pellwolok an Gernewegva : Crowdfunding campaign to fund on line Cornish language TV launched

No Cornish language TV station broadcasting on a regular basis exists as of today, and this is what the Cornish Language Fellowship, or Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek, is seeking to change. The group is launching a campaign to crowdfund an “on line, sustainable” TV with regular output, for which they are seeking to raise 6,000 sterling pounds.

The base for this television already exists: Pellwolok an Gernewegva, a voluntary service that has some programs available on YouTube. But they lack basic resources, such as a small study to produce regular programs and to train volunteers in audiovisual contents.

Campaign drivers believe having audiovisual content is essential to ensure the survival of that Celtic language, spoken in Cornwall by more than half a thousand people.




Pellwolok an Gernewegva – the Cornish Language Television service
Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek, the Cornish Language Fellowship, has created this Crowdfunding opportunity in support of the provision of a sustainable internet-based television service in Kernewek, the Cornish language.
Kernewek has been without its own bespoke service ever since the revival of the language began. The only opportunities for creating and dispersing programmes has been through BBC South West and ITV. Neither of these services are focused solely on Cornwall, and any Kernewek programming has been rare and as an occasional stand-alone production.
Pellwolok an Gernewegva has been established as a first step in addressing this lack of content and in providing speakers, learners and the wider cultural community with an online channel which produces regular output in Kernewek.
This service has been running over the past year and a half on a completely voluntary basis and now produces a series of walking shows, the first chat-show and a monthly news magazine. It is watched by Cornish speakers in Cornwall, of course, but also in other parts of the UK, Europe and around the world.
Our aim is to attract funding and thereby set up a small base studio which will allow us to include more volunteers in the project and offer them training in media skills. From this, we want to develop a Kernewek output which improves fluency and offers learners and children the essential programme material they need to grow them in the language.
This channel could become a content production house in the way that many developed in the 1980s and 90s in Wales. There is also the possibility that we could convert this content into shows for use in other minority languages and thus generate a revenue stream. This is now a real possibility because the internet allows such content to be dispersed more easily from Youtube and Facebook via Smart TV apps.
Kernewek, one of Britain’s indigenous languages, is recognised by UNESCO as being ‘critically endangered’. The number of speakers is, however, growing at a significant rate, and by supporting this project you can play your part in taking the language a further step away from the danger zone.
You will be helping to provide a public service and helping to underwrite Cornwall’s distinctiveness. Above all, this is about Cornish being a modern language with a secure future, spoken by a growing community of all ages.
Take your place in history and support us.