Cultures and memories

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.

Projects
Heaton's Woodland Heritage
The wider community was involved in this project to uncover the natural and archaeological heritage of Heaton Woods, an area of ancient semi-natural woodland.

Projects
Discover Shipwrecks of the River Humber Area
Shipwrecks of the River Humber tells the untold story of Grimsby’s fisherman who went out on trawlers during the First World War.

Projects
Queen Alexandra Hospital Home - Our legacy to our country
Staff and volunteers uncovered a collection of over 3,000 photographs documenting how nursing care and rehabilitation of servicemen and women has changed since 1919.

Projects
Tracing the lost stories of local men in the First World War
Heroes of Chiswick aims to discover more about the lives of 23 men from the Parish of St. Michael (Sutton Court) who were killed on active service in France, Belgium, Gallipoli and elsewhere.

Projects
Tracing your roots back to Gallipoli
Twenty young people, aged 14-19, researched the lives of Bolton soldiers who had died during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign.

Projects
Scottish Womens Hospital WW1 Remembrance
Volunteers celebrated the work of Scottish nurses and doctors during the First World War.

Projects
Pipers and Pipe Music of the Great War
Volunteers from the Scottish Pipers Association researched the tunes and stories behind the Pipers of the First World War, including the iconic image of the Piper leading the soldiers into battle.

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”.

Projects
2010 - One Hundred Years of The Empire Theatre at Ewood, Blackburn
The Empire Cinema in Blackburn was one of the first purpose-built cinemas in the UK.

Projects
I-Land Life
For Friction Arts' I-Land Life project, young people from Birmingham's Five Ways Estate discovered stories of their families' heritage and migration to Britain.

Projects
From Tips to Technology
A group of young disabled people explored the heritage of South Wales to develop a sense of their identity.

Projects
Cricket Roots
Young people explored cultural diversity through sport, composing a song and creating an exhibition inspired by the lives of overseas players at Kent County Cricket Club.