£10million secured for projects involving more young people in heritage

31/08/2018

Young people clapping and laughing in the sun

Beatfreeks' project, Don't Settle will encourage Birmingham's young people not to settle for half written histories, or for poor representation Beatfreeks Collective

Twelve projects across the UK have secured up to £1million of National Lottery funding through our pilot programme, Kick the Dust.

The programme, launched last year, awarded development funding to projects which would see heritage organisations and youth groups work together to involve more young people in heritage.

Now, following successful development phases, all 12 projects have secured the full funding awards and are set to go ahead.

The projects range from an initiative that will train young people from Northern Ireland to use technologies such as virtual reality and 3D printing to enhance existing museum collections, to an England-wide plan to connect young people from less affluent areas with their local green spaces.

Stirring up heritage

The Kick the Dust programme was named by young people with an aspiration to ‘stir up heritage’. At its core is a group of 16-25 year-old Heritage Ambassadors, recruited from across the UK to work with HLF on making heritage more inclusive for people in their age group.

The Heritage Ambassadors, or #DustKickers, as they are also known, played an important part in allocating the money, advising HLF’s decision panel on the projects they found to be most appealing.

Commenting on National Museums Scotland's £776,000 award for the Scotland 365 project, local Dust Kicker Eleanor Styles, said: “It has been a brilliant experience learning how grants are awarded, and helping HLF to allocate £10m to projects involving more young people in heritage.

“I’m thrilled that Scotland 365 has won funding, as we found its plans to empower young people to actively engage with Scotland's heritage, not just observe especially appealing. Making Scotland's national collections more accessible for more young people is very important to me, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the project progresses in the future.”

The full list of projects awarded funding are:

Norfolk Journeys: empowering young people to develop their own pathways into Norfolk’s heritage, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service - £776,500
Y Heritage, The Y, Leicester - £707,500
Future Proof Parks, Groundwork UK - £919,200
Keeping it Wild, London Wildlife Trust - £886,600
Our Shared Cultural Heritage, British Council - £868,600
SHOUT OUT LOUD: giving young people a voice in heritage, English Heritage - £994,500
Reimagine, Remake, Replay, The Nerve Centre - £949,600
Hope Streets, Curious Minds - £1,000,000
Scotland 365, National Museums Scotland - £776,000
Don't Settle, Beatfreeks Arts Ltd - £696,700
IGNITE - An Industrial Revolution for the 21st Century, IVE - £962,300
Hands on Heritage, National Museum Wales - £874,554