Cultures and memories

Cultures and memories

Young people reading poetry around a microphone
Routes2Roots project in Birmingham
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.

Image icon showing simple outline of speech marks to represent oral histories

Projects

Remedies Remembered

Slough Roots enabled women from English, Asian and West Indian backgrounds to research traditional healing remedies still used in the UK today.

Visitors listening to the audio tour at the John Galsworthy exhibition
Visitors listening to the audio tour at the John Galsworthy exhibition

Projects

Galsworthy and Human Battles on the Home Front

Volunteers helped to create an audio-visual exhibition exploring local historical figure John Galsworthy’s role in the First World War and his legacy in Kingston.

Workers of Rossendale Valley’s shoe manufacturing industry

Projects

Rossendale Footwear Heritage

The Rossendale Valley's fascinating but little known history of footwear manufacturing is now being shared for the first time with a wide and diverse audience.

An older woman is interviewed by four children
Children interview one of the project volunteers

Projects

Are Ye Askin

To mark the opening of the Beacon Arts Centre, Rig Arts celebrated the history of entertainment in Inverclyde throughout the 20th century.

Bread making session with the mobile oven.
Bread making session with the mobile oven

Projects

Bread In Common

Bread in Common explored 2,000 years of Newcastle baking traditions, from wartime loaves made from potato to the arrival of new breads from Poland and the Middle East.

Young people working on the digital stories
Project participants working creating digital stories

Projects

Race through the Generations

This multi-media, intergenerational storytelling project explored the racial heritage of Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

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