Cultures and memories
![Young people reading poetry around a microphone](/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_desktop/public/media/imgs/R2R%20on%20the%20road%20poetry%20copy.jpg.webp?itok=RJ-Eprwz)
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
Rediscovering 800 years of disability history
The Accentuate History of Place focuses on exploring disabled people’s lives from the Middle Ages to the present day, in relation to built heritage.
![Black History Month: in conversation with Race Council Cymru founder, Uzo Iwobi OBE Uzo Iwobi OBE](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Uzo-Iwobi-2.gif.webp?itok=_COvDbhG)
Stories
In conversation with Race Council Cymru founder, Uzo Iwobi OBE
![Map of Scotland showing where people were accused of witchcraft](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Scotlands%20accused%20witches.JPG.webp?itok=f4eD7Ng7)
News
Mapping Scotland's accused witches through Open Data
![Black History Month: Mental health & wellbeing for black workers in heritage Black family visiting London Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/L%26S%20London%20and%20Slavery%20Project%20HG-06-00936%20-%20%28c%29-Museum-of-London%20%282%29.jpg.webp?itok=WbAwJRiR)
Stories
Mental health and wellbeing for black workers in heritage
![Kay Andrews. Image credit: Joe McGorty](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/kay_andrews-4763_c_joe_mcgorty.jpg.webp?itok=rb9qlxup)
Blogs
How the '15-minute city' can inspire heritage in Wales
![Close-up of the Billy the Seal statue](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Billy-the-seal-close-up-side-profile-954_0.png.webp?itok=Uv9oFJW3)
News
New small grants programme to explore community heritage in Wales
![Black Punch exhibition Black Punch exhibition](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/box1.jpeg.webp?itok=EDluKZAm)
Stories
Liverpool’s black history kept alive thanks to emergency funding
![Making heritage websites accessible to all Alistair McNaught smiling in nature](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Alistair-McNaught-National-Lottery-Heritage-Fund-Online-Accessibility.jpg.webp?itok=iFd8B4vt)
Blogs
Making heritage websites accessible to all
![Professor Duncan Morrow](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Duncan-Morrow-954-536.jpg.webp?itok=vmxRoco5)
Blogs
From "unsettlement" to a new future
![Celebrating 70 years of the NHS Four nurses](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Joan-Stevenson-nurses.jpg.webp?itok=Epz5S7yD)
Stories
Celebrating 70 years of the NHS
![VE Day anniversary transforms into celebrations at home VE Day party](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/VE-Day-photo.jpg.webp?itok=HFXZSRdl)
Stories
VE Day anniversary transforms into celebrations at home
![Inside a cathedral](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_large/public/media/imgs/landing-blocks/Durham-Cathedral-main-image_0.jpg.webp?itok=vPvPvLxB)
Programme