It’s all thanks to National Lottery players and HLF’s new pioneering Kick the Dust grant programme, which has distributed £10million to youth organisations across the UK. 

In Northern Ireland £950,000 was awarded to The Nerve Centre, a creative media and arts centre in Derry~Londonderry and its partners National Museums Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Northern Ireland Museums Council for their exciting Reimagine, Remake, Replay project.

The project will allow young people to connect with and enhance museum collections using an exciting mix of creative media and digital technologies.  Activities will include writing, casting and directing their own films, working with heritage organisations to create apps and games, and using 3D scanners and printers as well as virtual reality and 3D filmmaking technology. 

The young people will also be able to work towards achieving an Open College Network (OCN) accreditation.  

Heritage Ambassadors

A group of 17 young people aged 16-25 were recruited from across the UK to work with HLF as Heritage Ambassadors to make heritage more inclusive for people of their age group.  They advised HLF’s decision panel on the projects they found to be most useful and appealing.  

[quote=David Lewis Director of Communications and Digital Content at Nerve Centre]"Young people will have unique access to the fantastic collections of the Ulster Museum, a range of local museums and the Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive through the project."[/quote]

Alex Smyth, a Heritage Ambassador from Northern Ireland, 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 the Reimagine, Remake, Replay project has won funding, as we found its plan to involve young people in using creative media and digital technology to connect with museums and galleries especially appealing.  Making Northern Ireland’s heritage easier to participate in for more people my age is very important to me, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the project progresses in the future.”

David Lewis, Director of Communications and Digital Content at Nerve Centre said: “The Nerve Centre and our partners are delighted with this significant level of investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Reimagine, Remake, Replay is an ambitious, regional project that will create exciting opportunities for young people to engage with heritage in ways that are relevant to their lives and aspirations.

“Young people will have unique access to the fantastic collections of the Ulster Museum, a range of local museums and the Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive through the project. The partners look forward to developing the project further over the coming months.”