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.
![Black Country Living Museum ‘Forges Ahead’ with major redevelopment The boat dock at the Black Country Living Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Boat%20Dock%20BCLM%20resized%281%29.jpg.webp?itok=CKEVGgUz)
News
Black Country Living Museum to build historic new town
![What is oral history - and how can we look after it? Man in blue shirt](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Rob%20Perks%20March%202013%20Huddersfield.jpg.webp?itok=C1LTrQsW)
Blogs
Learning to listen - top tips for a great oral history interview
News
The Poppy story goes on the road
![Inspirational women in heritage reveal their top career tips for International Women’s Day Lizzie Guntrip – natural history writer and consultant](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Lizzie%201.jpg.webp?itok=L99mWeKJ)
News
Inspirational women in heritage reveal their top career tips
![Leeds Eulogy project to celebrate Jamaican lives Black and white photograph of man sitting down](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/national-lottery-heritage-fund-eulogy-project.JPG.webp?itok=zBW8cxNI)
News
Leeds Eulogy project to celebrate Jamaican lives
Publications
First World War Centenary activity evaluation
![Hear the real voices of the Battle of Britain at Biggin Hill Memorial Museum 610 Squadron at Biggin Hill](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/610%20Squadron.%202018.1.283%20%28c%29%20Image%20from%20the%20Bob%20Ogley%20Collection_0.jpg.webp?itok=XJOVn0Z8)
News
Hear the real voices of the Battle of Britain at Biggin Hill Memorial Museum
![Jaded in a park](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Still%202.jpg.webp?itok=pEwcF7h2)
Stories
Changing lives: Jade's journey from care to college
![UK’s oldest open-air pools to be restored to their former glory Man doing a handstand by a swimming pool](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/cleveland_pools_in_1960s_-_handstand_man_ron_gray._copyright_the_wessex_water_historical_archives.jpg.webp?itok=EIRWLlmM)
News
UK’s oldest open-air pools to be restored to their former glory
Projects
Seamus Heaney HomeGround Project
The Living Past project aims to preserve the literary heritage of Seamus Heaney, and the natural heritage that inspired his works.
![National Lottery support keeps memories of Tiger Bay burning bright National Lottery support keeps memories of Tiger Bay burning bright](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/loading_coal_1884.jpg.webp?itok=3WXUGKQV)
News
National Lottery support keeps memories of Tiger Bay burning bright
![Identities & Stories - Caribbean Takeaway Takeover people in cafe](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/CTT%20-%20image%20visitors.jpg.webp?itok=i4zpXuW5)
Projects
Caribbean takeaway and oral histories shared
The stories of 10 Caribbean elders from the Windrush generation, who arrived in the UK between the 1940s and 1960s, have been recorded and shared for the first time.