Kick the Dust
Thanks to National Lottery players, £875,000 was allocated through its Kick the Dust programme to transform the way young people interact with national museums across Wales.
The Hands on Heritage project saw 16 to 25 year olds explore collections over seven museums in Wales and uncover some of their LGBT+ stories.
Fascinating stories
One of the young people involved, Holly Morgan-Davies, wrote about the fascinating stories she'd discovered from Wales' LGBT+ past.
She included profiles of:
- Jan Morris – historian and travel writer
- Sarah Jane Rees/Cranogwen – poet, teacher and campaigner
- Gwen John – artist
- Angus McBean – photographer
The young heritage ambassadors also had the opportunity to study and handle some of the 5million objects throughout Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales sites.
Rich LGBT+ heritage
A number of items in the collection reflect the varied LGBT+ history in Wales, such as:
- a national rainbow flag
- badges commemorating Pride 97, Lesbian & Gay Pride ’88
- posters and flyers from Powys Pride and Cardiff-Wales Lesbian & Gay Mardi Gras
- leaflets including ones from the South Wales Police Gay Staff Network
- a wristband from Cardiff-Wales LGBT+ Mardi Gras
- an autographed photograph of the actor and composer, Ivor Novello
- a copy of a poem written for the first ever BAME Pride in 2019
The money was awarded through our Kick the Dust programme (named by young people with an aspiration to ‘stir up heritage’); a pioneering grant scheme that distributed £10m from the National Lottery to youth organisations across the UK.
