Half a million pounds in funding has been awarded to an ambitious arts project run by a Helston-based group.

The Helston-based Cornubian Arts and Science Trust (CAST) was given the cash by Arts Council England, as part of the national body's £35.2million Ambition for Excellence programme aimed at growing the arts infrastructure outside London.

The £500,000 grant, the first Ambition for Excellence award in Cornwall will be used for a three-year programme entitled GROUNDWORK.

The project will mix contemporary art with science, music, performance film and dance in a series of commissioned field trips, workshops, activities and sited works during 2016 and 2017, building towards a visual arts festival in 2018.

Teresa Gleadowe, executive chair of CAST, said: "We are very excited to win this major award, which builds on the strong working relationships with artists based in Cornwall and with cultural organisations including Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, Kestle Barton and Tate St Ives, developed through working together on previous events such as the Falmouth Convention, the Penzance Convention and the succession of Cornwall Workshops held at Kestle Barton since 2011.

"Ambition for Excellence will enable CAST and its partners to work with outstanding international artists and to develop projects that will make links with Cornwall’s rich social, economic, geological and artistic history as well as its contemporary cultural life, encouraging national and international connection and exchange."

Helston Mayor Mike Thomas said: "I am hugely excited by the announcement from the Arts Council England that CAST, working with other West Cornwall arts organisations, has secured funding for an international arts programme in this area. "This is a massive achievement and I am sure that Helston will play a prominent part. I am also pleased about the links that this programme will secure between our schools and colleges in the area. It will surely nurture the huge array of creative talent we are so lucky to have around us. The GROUNDWORK programme is very good news for our area."

CAST said the programme will have a strong educational emphasis, and since 2011 CAST has developed a working relationship with Helston Community College and has a growing relationship with Cornwall College.

Miriam Venner, director of cultural and visitor economy at Cornwall College said: "We are keen to support collaboration between our students and local and international artists and feel that GROUNDWORK will present invaluable opportunities for this."

Andrew Brewerton, principal of Plymouth College of Art and a long-term supporter of CAST’s activities, said: "Almost uniquely the Convention and Workshop events in Cornwall have created a confident space in which a conversation between established and emerging artists and curators can develop, grounded in current issues, international in outlook and completely free of institutional agenda."

The £500,000 grant from Arts Council England will provide core funding for the GROUNDWORK programme, but the organisers still have to raise £100,000 in match funding to meet conditions laid down by the Arts Council, and will also seek help-in-kind from Cornwall-based organisations, institutions and individuals.

Ms Gleadowe said: "Arts Council England’s generous support is for activity, not capital funding, and those who are familiar will CAST’s headquarters at 3 Penrose Road in Helston will know that our beautiful building still needs a lot of renovation. But I am confident that GROUNDWORK will, as its name implies, create strong and sustainable foundations on which to build for the future. The GROUNDWORK programme will help to develop CAST’s infrastructure and we shall then be in a much stronger position to make the case for support to bring the building back to life."

Phil Gibby, area director of Arts Council England South West said GROUNDWORK "looks set to have a strong impact on the visual arts sector in the South West," and would engage young people, helping to "develop talent and leadership."

Ms Gleadowe added: "In October 2013, as part of the second residential workshop held at Kestle Barton, CAST commissioned the celebrated British artist Hamish Fulton to devise a walk, 180 people participated. Some were artists, but many who heard about it were simply keen to experience first-hand the world around them.

"They heard about the opportunity to join in through the local press, or the National Trust website, online, or by word of mouth. Fulton’s walk with its diverse and enthusiastic participants is a good example of the kind of event that will be included in the GROUNDWORK programme."