Cultures and memories
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
Life is for Livingston - 50 years of new town life
A community-focused project celebrating the new town of Livingston's 50th birthday, enabling residents young and old to understand more about the development of their local area.
Projects
Bona Eek - The Polari Project
The Bona Eek project focused on rediscovering and documenting the largely lost language of Polari, examining its origins and its influence in contemporary language and life in LGBT+ communities and beyond.
Projects
Rainbow Jews: Celebrating Jewish LGBTQ+ History and Heritage
Led by Liberal Judaism, this project recorded and showcased Jewish LGBTQ+ history from the 1950s to today.
Projects
Llanyrafon Manor community access and interpretation project
This project provided opportunities for people to learn and engage with the story of Llanyrafon Manor and the surrounding area.
Projects
Leicester's role in World War 1
Volunteers investigated the impact of the First World War on the people of Leicester and shared their research through exhibitions, school workshops and online.
Projects
Welling will remember them: uncovering local soldiers who died in the First World War
This community-guided research project, Welling Will Remember Them, told the stories of people from Welling and East Wickham in South East London who fought in the First World War.
Projects
Henshaws: One Man's Vision
When Thomas Henshaw died in 1810, he left a legacy of £20,000 in his will to establish an 'Asylum for the Indigent Blind' in Manchester.
Projects
Children of The Croft
Volunteers researched the history of The Croft in Nottingham, a non-institutional home for lone mothers during the 1960s and 1970s.
Projects
Sharing Sherlock
This project focused on actively engaging local community groups and schools in Portsmouth City Council’s internationally important Conan Doyle Collection.
Projects
Afro Solo
The Afro Solo UK project documented the story of African migration into Greater Manchester during the 1920s–1960s.
Projects
From Plantation to Pollock, from Kabul to Kennishead
Secondary school pupils conducted oral history interviews with former tenement residents and recent asylum seekers in Glasgow, bringing different generations and communities together.
Projects
Capturing the stories of London's Chinatown
The memories and life stories of the people who built and defined the character of London's Chinatown were captured and shared with younger generations.