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
Coming Out Stories
Young people captured, preserved and shared the Coming Out Stories of Birmingham’s LGBT community.
![Young actor playing the part of an ice cream seller for visiting school pupils Young actor playing the part of an ice cream seller for visiting school pupils](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/new_st_station.jpg.webp?itok=VUuDETaT)
Projects
New Street Station history project for young people
Young people from Midland Actors Theatre joined the Library of Birmingham to explore and share the 160-year history of New Street Station.
Projects
Medieval Music Mashup: A celebration of Robert ap Huws manuscript in modern times
Young people learned about ancient Welsh music and were taught how to use modern digital devices to create their own new compositions.
Projects
Ham weaving our way through history (heritage and media)
This project examined the social history of Forfar weavers to gain an understanding of what weavers’ lives were like and what their woven goods were used for.
Projects
Rewind! The evolution of recording - music, culture and science
Beat Routes enabled young people to discover the history of recording music in the 20th century, experimenting and recording with pre-digital technology.
Projects
Sharing the social history of women from 1900 to now
Young women from different ethnic backgrounds investigated and learned about the changing role of women over the past 100 years.
Projects
Heritage Heroes of Yesterday and Today
South West Youth Parliament members took part in a project to learn about people who campaigned for change in their communities and in politics.
Projects
Fight for the Right: the Birmingham Suffragettes
School pupils explored Birmingham archives to discover more about how protesters helped win women the vote.
Projects
Time Travelling: Aberdeen Young Travellers' Heritage Project
Scottish Traveller history was explored through the eyes of a group of young Travellers based in Aberdeen during the winter months.
Projects
Vivekananda exhibition on ancient Indian civilisation
The project featured a structured programme of education and training to an exhibition which has toured outside London to mark the 150th anniversary of the great Hindu philosopher and visionary, Vivekananda.
Projects
Punk Snow: the Punk era in 1970s Liverpool
Punk Snow researched unpublished diaries and collected memories of Liverpool's 1970s punk era to create a 15-minute documentary.
Projects
'Following Fred': A Life Inspired - Wildlife, People and Beyond
Volunteers use photography and artwork to connect to the life of a notable natural historian.