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Cultures and memories

Cultures and memories

A group of people wearing Nigerian traditional clothes, celebrating the launch of Hibiscus Rising.
Hibiscus Rising, Leeds. © David Lindsay.
These are the customs and traditions, skills and knowledge, passed down to us through generations.

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 which help to explore, save and celebrate the traditions, customs, skills and knowledge of different communities.

This cultural heritage is sometimes referred to as intangible or living heritage. This is because it is constantly changing and kept alive when practiced or performed.

We also fund projects which document and share people’s memories. This often involves capturing oral histories and ensuring they are accessible now and in the future.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research and share oral traditions, such as storytelling or local dialects
  • train others in traditional skills and crafts, from dry stone walling and blacksmithing to basket weaving and textile making
  • research the origins of culture, such as music, theatre or dance, and create performances influenced by past styles
  • share the history and fun of celebrations, festivals or rituals with new audiences, from games and cooking to carnivals and fayres
  • capture accounts of traditional knowledge or pass it on, such as woodland management or home remedies
  • record the stories of ordinary people through oral histories, for example about growing up, migration or work
  • retell people’s memories about a place or event, such as a long-stay hospital, the miners' strikes or the punk movement

How to get funding

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

Explore our available funding
A person wearing ear protection stands behind brightly coloured threads.
Ribbon Weaver at Wyedean Weaving Company. Credit: Tim Smith.

Projects

Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions

This oral history project captured the unheard voices of Bradford’s textile mill workers to celebrate the area’s rich industrial heritage.

Four people stand in front of a train engine and hold a progress pride flag
Joanna Jarvis , Imogen Watmore, Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn and Harvey Barker holding Pride banner in front of HST loco in Great Hall, National Railway Museum, (NRM) York. © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

Stories

Mind the gap: uncovering missing stories from railway history

People, Pride and Progress is recording the experiences of LGBTQ+ workers to explore unheard perspectives on railway heritage.
Two people of Chinese heritage play a drum in a procession, while people in the background hold placards with photos of Chinese relatives
Ancestral Futures by Eelyn Lee and collaborators, commissioned by Dig Where You Stand. Photo: Anh Do.

Stories

How artists can uncover hidden histories and fill gaps in the archives

South Yorkshire project Dig Where You Stand invited creatives to explore the often overlooked and poorly documented evidence of people from diverse ethnic communities across the area's history.
A group of black people pose for a photo including a woman
Marie-Claire Kofi, seated right, hopes her organisation's project will empower people who have sickle cell disease.

Projects

Sickle Cell Stories - Then and Now: Plasma of Hope

The Sickle Cell Stories project is capturing and sharing stories of sickle cell disease in the west midlands, paving the way for positive change.

a large ship docked on the river in Grimsby
The Ross Tiger docked outside the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre in North East Lincolnshire. Photo: Ellen Hunter.

News

£2.5million awarded to first 11 Heritage Places projects across the UK

The grants – ranging in value from £90,000 to £250,000 – will help projects develop resources and plans to bring their ambitions for heritage and communities to life in their local area. These Heritage Places are beginning a decade-long process of change with tailored support from our engagement
People standing in front of a ceramic mural that spells out the words Strong Women
Participants of the Strong Women project with the mural in St Helens. Photo: Radka Dolinska

Projects

Celebrating the social history of women through public art

The Strong Women project aims to capture the untold stories of women in St Helens and Knowsley and celebrate their contributions through street murals.

A group of different ages discuss nostalgic objects in the Wee Museum of Memory.
A community group enjoying a reminiscence session at the Wee Museum of Memory. Credit: The Living Memory Association.

Projects

Supporting Scottish communities to record their own histories

The Living Memory Association is providing groups across Scotland with the skills and knowledge they need to create unique heritage projects.

A visitor to Cladh Hallan on Uist uses augmented reality through the camera of their phone to see what the original structures on the site looked like.
Augmented reality archaeology at Cladh Hallan, Uist. Credit: Uist Virtual Archaeology Project.

Projects

Augmented reality technology to reawaken Hebridean history

Our funding will support the University of the Highlands and Islands to digitally reconstruct archaeological wonders on the islands of Barra and Harris.

A gymnast leaps through the air in a field on Orkney, with sheep and standing stones nearby.
A gymnast prepares for the games on Orkney. Credit: Kirstin Shearer.

Projects

Capturing memories from four decades of the Island Games

This project will celebrate and preserve oral histories from the rich heritage of the Games, ahead of the 20th edition taking place in Orkney in July 2025.

The art deco facade of the Strand Arts Centre with cinema lettering reading 'Closed for refurbishment. We'll be back"

Projects

Strand Sequel: Redeveloping the Last Picture House

Nearly 90 years after first opening during the golden age of cinema, work is now underway to redevelop the Strand Arts Centre, Northern Ireland’s last remaining art deco picture house on east Belfast’s Holywood Road.

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