Community heritage

Community heritage

The interior of a 1950s hairdresser's shop. A visitor is having their hair styled by a stylist in vintage clothing. A child sits in a high chair next to the visitor.
Visiting the 1950s hairdresser at Beamish Museum. Credit: Nigel Roddis
Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Since 1994 we have awarded £460million to more than 24,100 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We fund projects that are researching, conserving and celebrating the heritage of a community or place.

These projects could include lots of types of heritage, such as people celebrating living customs or improving a historic green space. What's most important is that the project involves and benefits the community.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research the impact of a historical event on their town, and share their findings through displays, talks and online
  • investigate the names on a war memorial
  • crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBTQ+ community, creating an online archive and exhibition
  • set up an audio trail around a range of buildings, parks and monuments in a town
  • enable a youth group to research their local history and create an animated film about their learnings

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.

Flintspiration
Visitors take part in craft activities

Projects

Exploring Norwich's Medieval Churches Today

Norwich is home to the largest collection of medieval churches in Northern Europe. This project shared their stories with new audiences through a three day, city-wide event.

Participant feeling a piece of bark along with other items from the natural environment
An artist gets to grips with a piece of bark

Projects

Arts on Prescription - Heritage for Health

The project offers people experiencing mental health problems, particularly depression and anxiety, the opportunity to connect creatively with heritage.

Filming of Finding Ella Harling
Filming for 'Finding Ella Harling'

Projects

Finding Ella Harling

The diaries of a wartime teenager were returned to her village community so they could discover her story.

A mannequin covered in photos and documents. Volunteers created the 'Wo-Mannequin' from photos of the research, visits and materials they collected during the project
Volunteers created the 'Wo-Mannequin' from photos of the research, visits and materials they collected during the project

Projects

Investigating South Tyneside womens' roles in the First World War

Women’s Health in South Tyneside spent a year discovering the profound role women playing during the First World War in their area.

1st Menai Bridge Scout Group
1st Menai Bridge Scout Group finding out about the scout leaders who went to fight in the First World War.

Projects

The Snowdonia and Anglesey Scouts and the First World War

1st Menai Bridge Scout Group are running a two-year project in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the closure of several local scout groups as their leaders and many scouts went to fight in the First World War.

Jacket of Free to be Me book
Free to be Me, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Freedom Youth

Projects

Freedom Youth: the first 20 years

Freedom Youth is Bristol's oldest LGBT youth group. They marked their 20th anniversary by recording and interpreting the stories, memories and experiences of past members.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team.