The Hands on Heritage project aims to connect young people with history by working with partners including Barnardo’s Cymru, Llamau and ProMo Cymru to get young people from across Wales and from diverse backgrounds stuck in to bringing all aspects of heritage to life. 

Throughout all of Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales (AC-NMW)'s sites, youngsters will have the opportunity to handle and conserve some of AC-NMW’s 5 million objects and curate displays, get involved in marketing and digital activity and even take part in re-enactments. 

The money has been awarded through HLF’s Kick the Dust programme, a pioneering new grant programme distributing £10m from the National Lottery to youth organisations across the UK. At its core is a group of young Heritage Ambassadors, who are on a mission to ‘stir up heritage’, and have helped advise on how the money should be allocated.

"Making Wales’s heritage easier to participate in for more people my age is very important to me..." – Tahsin Anwar, Heritage Ambassador

The Heritage Ambassadors played a major part in allocating the grants. The 17 young people aged 16-25, recruited from across the UK to work with HLF on making heritage more inclusive for people of their age group, advised HLF’s decision panel on the projects they found to be most useful and appealing.

Tahsin Anwar, Heritage Ambassador from Swansea, 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 Hands on Heritage has won funding, as we found its plans to involve young people in museums and history especially appealing. Making Wales’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.”