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.

Cultures CIC project exhibition
Cultures CIC project exhibition

Projects

Part of IT- Our story

Cultures CIC led a First World War project put together by the young people in the Teesside area which explored the contributions of African people and the effect of the war on the African continent.

Children from Salesbury School learn about life at Blackburn Orphanage during the First World War
Children from Salesbury School learn about life at Blackburn Orphanage during the First World War

Projects

James Dixon's Boys

Through workshops and visits, children from Salesbury School used archives to find out how the First World War affected boys living in Blackburn Orphanage.

A picture of soldiers leaving the Home Front in the First World War

Projects

Broadland During the First World War

This project is exploring the impact of the First World War on the people of Broadland, from the perspectives of the men who went to war and those who remained at home.

Exhibition highlighting the location of people on the Otley war memorial
Exhibition highlighting the location of people on the Otley war memorial

Projects

Legacies of War - Untold Otley Stories

Volunteers used the Otley Museum archives to create a digital map showing the address of every person on the town’s war memorial.

Intergenerational workshop at Rockcliffe First School
Intergenerational workshop at Rockcliffe First School

Projects

Wor War: the First World War in North Tyneside

Young people from North Tyneside found out how the First World War affected their local communities through a range of creative activities.

Project participants receiving their award on Awards Day
Project participants receiving their award on Awards Day

Projects

Remembering the Windrush decade in Watford

In June 1948, the SS Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury bringing the very first migrants from the Caribbean to settle in Britain. There are many in the Watford community who arrived then, or in the ten years that followed, in what has subsequently become known as the “Windrush Decade”.

Heritage display for 'Woking's Story' exhibit, a collection of vintage postcards and books
Heritage display for 'Woking's Story' exhibit

Projects

Woking's Story: exploring local lives

Volunteers explored six centuries of history through the lives of local personalities, sharing their discoveries through the ‘Woking’s Story’ display at The Lightbox.

Participants exploring the forgotten industries of South Yorkshire
Participants exploring the forgotten industries of South Yorkshire

Projects

Forgotten Industries

As part of the All Our Stories programme, young people focused on the heritage of the coal and steel industry of South Yorkshire and were empowered to tell the local story of industrial decline.

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