Museums, libraries and archives
Through objects, collections, film, documents and oral histories they help to give us a sense of place and identity.
Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded £2.4billion to 5,900 museum, library, archive and collection-based projects across the UK.
What do we support?
Our funding supports institutions large and small, including:
- national and local authority museums, libraries and archives
- historic libraries
- community archives
- institutions with heritage collections
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- create exciting new exhibition and learning spaces
- attract more diverse audiences
- interpret and open up acquisitions
- develop collections
For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.
How to get funding
Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.
Projects
Heritage Highways: engaging with the Richmond Borough Art Collection
Young people worked in teams to create new interpretation, helping shape the way visitors engage with the Richmond Borough Art Collection in the future.
Projects
Building Sights
Young people from across Nuneaton and Bedworth worked with the local charity, Mercurial Arts, the Borough Council and English Heritage, to create their own unique listing system and identify and record the buildings and sites important to them.
Projects
Improving the visitor experience at Horniman Museum and Gardens
The project enabled the museum to increase public access to more of its collections.
Projects
Armagh County Museum Public Access
The project helped improve access to the Grade A listed building that houses a regional museum for the County of Armagh.
Projects
The Science Museum's Wellcome Wing
Our funding supported the creation of a new 10,000sqm wing to showcase contemporary science and technology themes.
Projects
Royal Naval Museum Development Plan
The project was to restore, expand, develop and re-design the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth.
Projects
Gloucester Rugby Football Club Community Heritage Project
Volunteers from the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives captured, shared and celebrated the long history of Gloucester Rugby Football Club.
Projects
Fashioning Africa
Meaningful relationships were built with local communities and diverse experts in this Collecting Cultures project, which saw new ways of working trialled and access widened.
Projects
Young Muslim Aberdeen
A group of local young Muslims explored how their heritage is archived in two major city museums, in a project run by Young Muslim Aberdeen.
Projects
British Museum - Education & Information Centre
Our funding supported the creation of an education and information centre within the Great Court of the Museum, allowing access to this space for the first time since the 1850s.
Projects
Regeneration and resilience at Cornwall's china clay mining museum
Wheal Martyn is home to the UK’s only china clay mining museum. A fully accredited museum, Wheal Martyn cares for and presents a collection of industry-related objects, machinery, photographs and archives.
Projects
Ask the Audience
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) wanted their audiences and offer to better reflect the city’s diversity, and to change the organisation’s culture, putting audiences at its heart.