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Community heritage

Community heritage

A group of people with handmade props and decorations
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.

Explore our available funding
Groups of older people sitting eating at tables at the Migration Museum
Elders Day event at the Migration Museum.

Projects

Connecting Lewisham to its Migration Heritage

This 18-month project explores and shares the history of migration to the UK, in particular the stories of people who settled in Lewisham.

Obby Oss folk culture costume from Minehead festival. Includes multicolour brightly coloured ribbon and materials.
Obby Oss folk culture costume from Minehead festival. Credit: Centre for Fashion Curation

Projects

Making Mischief: the living heritage of folk costume in Britain

This collaborative project aims to document the colourful, community-based celebrations of Britain's folk heritage and bring it to life at two exhibitions.

Image of disabled person in 1990s, protesting with plaque saying public transport means me too
Activist Keith Armstrong in the 1990s, campaigning for accessible public transport. Credit: Shape Arts

News

Creating an archive for historic disability rights movement

Disability-led arts charity Shape Arts will showcase the movement's rich heritage and personal stories – coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act in 2025.
Two people wearing scarlet Chelsea Pensioners' uniform open stable doors at Royal Chelsea Hospital, London with historic building and courtyard behind
Opening the main stable doors for work to begin on the three-year project. Pictured left to right: Chelsea Pensioners, James Little, BEM and Carol Knight.

News

Chelsea Pensioners’ Stable Block to open doors for the first time

A new grant will allow the Royal Hospital Chelsea to publicly open part of its building for the first time, enabling visitors to learn more about its unique history.
Person looking at a brightly coloured globe sculpture
Echoes in the Present, Larry Amponsah in Leeds

Projects

The World Reimagined: Journey of Discovery

A vibrant art education project aiming to transform understanding of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and its significant global impact.

Dr Edson Burton

Blogs

Why we need to tell untold stories

Dr Edson Burton shares his experience of growing up in a diverse community, the importance of sharing everyone's heritage and his work on The National Lottery-funded project exploring 100 years of activism in Bristol.

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