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.
![Hidden Now Heard Three participants hold up exhibits including shirts with text written on them](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/HG-11-04406_Hidden31123.jpg.webp?itok=b06Lfk7a)
Projects
Hidden Now Heard
Royal Mencap Society secured funding to record, exhibit and preserve the hidden heritage of people with learning disabilities.
![Improving Futures: Volunteering for Wellbeing IWM North volunteer group](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/picture_0.jpg.webp?itok=06N_1san)
Projects
Improving Futures: Volunteering for Wellbeing
A partnership project to improve wellbeing for participants in an innovative volunteering programme in Manchester.
![Huddersfield Rugby League: A Lasting Legacy Volunteers learning about the club's role in the First World War](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/robbie_paul_71.jpg.webp?itok=d-D6XhC7)
Projects
Huddersfield Rugby League: A Lasting Legacy
Volunteers of all ages found out about Huddersfield’s sporting history during the First World War, producing a website, town trails, an exhibition, a book and new resources for primary schools.
Projects
Exploring the development of British Asian women's literature
The archive project engaged new audiences with social heritage in Slough, especially those from South Asian communities.
![Participants exploring their heritage Participants exploring their heritage](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/desh.jpg.webp?itok=kh9Aq6IN)
Projects
Desh - Homeland
The project aims to bring together several generations of South Asians living in Bristol to identify and record their heritage. Desh means Motherland or Homeland in Hindi and Urdu.
![The history wall with red poppies (for those who died) or a white butterfly (for those left behind) The history wall with red poppies (for those who died) or a white butterfly (for those left behind)](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/yh-11-07760_yh1107760redpoppiesandwhitebutterflies5.jpg.webp?itok=fDtReqxu)
Projects
Red Poppies and White Butterflies
Nostell Priory engaged the community with a compelling programme telling the stories of the men who died in the First World War and those that survived, with an invitation to research their own ancestry and add to a message wall.
![A young participant washing a pottery sherd A child using a toothbrush to wash a sherd of pottery in a basin of water](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/yac_member_washing_pottery.jpg.webp?itok=m9W7hxo2)
Projects
Rainford's Roots: a Community Archaeology Project
A community archaeology project in the village of Rainford, St Helens, Merseyside.
![Tinsley Manor field work with Clive Betts MP Tinsley Manor field work with Clive Betts MP](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/yh-11-07307_tinsleyfieldworkwithmpclivebetts.jpg.webp?itok=hzPUyvwS)
Projects
Exploring Tinsley Manor
When it was discovered during local history lessons that a medieval manor house was buried under their classroom, the children of Tinsley Junior School took to archaeology with enthusiasm, some even taking old spoons to set up their own digs in their back gardens at home.
![Burnley LGBT Heritage Project Burnley LGBT Heritage Project](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/lancs_lgbt_image_come-out_0.jpg.webp?itok=bwo2iLiF)
Projects
Burnley LGBT Heritage Project
The Burnley LGBT Heritage Project focused on capturing the hidden histories of LGBT+ communities to explore the life stories, experiences and memories of people living in the area.
![Image icon showing a simple line drawing of a rainbow to represent pride](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/rainbow_inclusion_image_icon.jpg.webp?itok=ZumCdGw1)
Projects
Queer in Brighton - An Exploration of Brighton's Hidden LGBTQ+ Heritage
This year-long heritage learning project celebrated and promoted the rich cultural life of the LGBTQ+ community in Brighton and Hove.
Projects
Mental health recovery through Our Histories project
Our Histories promoted mental health recovery by offering participants the opportunity to research their personal histories through storytelling, research, and visits to heritage sites.
Projects
AWN Pugin Bi-Centenary Ramsgate
The AWN Pugin Bi-Centenary project celebrated one of the UK's most famous architects and helped him become better known to the people of East Kent.