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.
![Scarlets Community Heritage Project Scarlets captain Phil Bennett surrounded by fans after the club were crowned Welsh 'cup kings' in 1975](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/scarlets_community_heritage_project_cup_kings_1970s_3.jpg.webp?itok=AKKNuUS0)
Projects
Scarlets Community Heritage Project
Founded in 1872, Llanelli Scarlets Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest in the world and a source of passionate local pride.
![Let The Elders Speak A menorah and wedding photograph from the Let The Elders Speak project.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/let_your_elders_speak.jpg.webp?itok=ey4JXu4t)
Projects
Let your elders speak
This project captured the personal histories of 10 residents at Beenstock Home who had lived through the pre- and post-Holocaust periods.
![Participants investigating Ely Hospital Participants investigating Ely Hospital](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/projects/youngcardiffpeople_edit.jpg.webp?itok=0hZ_CPxp)
Projects
Heritage 1st
People in Cardiff and Newport recorded the memories of those who lived and worked at Ely Hospital, a controversial institution for people with learning disabilities.
![Wynebau adnabyddus yn gwobrwyo prosiectau CDL Y gantores o Gymru, Katherine Jenkins, gyda phlant ysgol](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/katherine-jenkins-national-lottery-awards.jpg.webp?itok=C7tv-OPx)
News
Celebs out in force as four HLF projects scoop prestigious award
![Croeso cynnes i’r Eisteddfod gan Sain Ffagan Crewyd y gadair gan ddwylo medrus y cerflunydd lleol Chris Williams](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/83444.jpg.webp?itok=NsSixoqG)
News
Eisteddfod festival to be welcomed by St Fagans National Museum
![logo](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_large/public/media/imgs/landing-blocks/placeholder.png.webp?itok=e-_1ziXU)
Programme
15-Minute Heritage Grants (Round 2)
![Atyniad treftadaeth mwyaf poblogaidd Cymru’n cyrraedd oed yr addewid Gweithdy yn Sain Ffagan](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/gweithdy_3.jpg.webp?itok=nKCva7tF)
News
Wales’s most popular heritage attraction turns 70
![Golwg fanylach ar hanes Cymru yn Amgueddfa Werin Sain Ffagan Ros a Richard Bellamy yn cynorthwyo wrth gwblhau arddangosfa newydd.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/richard_and_ros.jpg.webp?itok=_Rq2bPHW)
News
Getting up close and personal with Welsh history at St Fagans
![Music to Bristol’s ears! Historic music hall given the go-ahead for restoration project Bristol Music Trust has secured nearly £5m to redevelop Colston Music Hall](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/hg-16-00884_colstonhall.jpg.webp?itok=PlTU9li9)
News
Music to Bristol’s ears! Historic music hall given the go-ahead for restoration project
![Newid bywydau: Rhoi hyder i bobl ifanc Port Talbot Y myfyrwyr yn dathlu canlyniadau eu gwaith caled](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/burton_changing_lives-12.jpg.webp?itok=DEJGEa3Y)
Stories
Changing lives: instilling confidence in Port Talbot teens
![Pobl ag anableddau dysgu yn cael adrodd eu straeon am gyfeillgarwch Preswylydd â Syndrom Down yn cymryd rhan yn y prosiect Clywed y Cyn-Guddiedig](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/ely_hospital_2_cred._jurgen_schadeberg_1967_0.jpg.webp?itok=rlJPogZ7)
News
People with learning disabilities tell their stories of friendship
![National Lottery cash helps mark 70th anniversary of the NHS Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the NHS, at Park Hospital, Davyhulme](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/pressnews/anenurin_bevan_minister_of_health_on_the_first_day_of_the_national_health_service_5_july_1948_at_park_hospital_davyhulme_near_manchester_14465908720.jpg.webp?itok=bqFFAn31)
News