Community heritage
Act for Action CIC, recipients of a community heritage grant from One Knowsley. Photo: Act for Action CIC.
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.
Image of two children who were patients at Hensol
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Unique learning disability exhibition launches in Swansea
Stories of Wales’ long-stay institutions hidden no more.
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Historypin launches new First World War Centenary hub
Today, the community history website Historypin launched its new First World War Centenary hub at a special event in the Houses of Parliament hosted by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
Bilingual interpretation boards at the Holyhead Maritime Museum
News
First World War remembered in Anglesey thanks to Lottery funding
HLF has recently awarded over £20,000 to projects in Anglesey, which will ensure the repair of the memorial village clock in Gwalchmai, expand and revitalise Holyhead’s Maritime Museum and fund a programme of commemorative events in Beaumaris. Jennifer Stewart, Head of HLF, Wales said, “We want to
Carys Howell speaking at an event
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Opportunities to join Wales Committee
I was first attracted to applying for a role as a Committee member because HLF looks at heritage in its broadest sense. It includes landscapes, people, language and it also covers the whole of Wales. I know how important it is that heritage in all its forms across Wales is protected so this was a
Educational activity at Giant's Causeway
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Opportunities to join our Committees
The work of our CommitteesOur committees meet four times a year and take decisions on requests between £100,000 and £2million. They also provide crucial local perspectives and a steer on priorities for larger grants and targeted initiative decisions which come before the UK Board. Members will have