Museums, libraries and archives
Through preservation, exhibition and community engagement, they can bring collections, places and ideas to life. They help us to understand culture, science and history, and give us a sense of place, identity and community.
Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded £2.5billion to 6,000 museum, library, archive and collection-based projects across the UK. See stories from projects we've funded below.
What do we support?
We provide grants for heritage projects from £10,000–£10million for projects led by or featuring museums, libraries and archives.
Our funding supports institutions large and small, including:
- national, local authority and independent museums, libraries and archives
- historic libraries
- community archives and oral history collections
- institutions with heritage collections
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- create exciting new exhibition and learning spaces
- attract new and more diverse audiences
- acquire new items and develop collections
- improve organisational resilience
For more inspiration, see the stories below, browse projects we've funded, or explore our recent Dynamic Collections campaign.
How to get funding
Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.
Projects
Pontypool Townscape Community Project
This two-year project was designed to involve and engage the local community of Pontypool with their local area.
Projects
April Ashley exhibition and heritage education project
‘April Ashley: Portrait of a Lady’ shared the hidden history of the trans community – those whose gender identity and/or expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth – with 1.2million visitors.
Projects
Barley Hall - Learning & Leisure
Give children a history book and they might struggle to understand the full picture, give them a mop cap to wear or a stick and hoop to play with and they will immerse themselves in their own medieval world.
Projects
Heaton Avenues in Wartime
Heaton Avenues in Wartime uncovered 10 hidden stories of local residents during the First World War.
Projects
Yours Sincerely
Young people reinterpreted the changing roles of women during the First World War, through letters, films and an exhibition.
Projects
A Day on the Beach
A group of young volunteers worked with local people to preserve the heritage of North Tyneside's beach resorts.
Projects
Rings of Time
A project devised by a group of 25 young people after the old Horse Chestnut tree in the grounds of their community centre was felled.
Projects
Young curators in Birmingham discovered west African textiles
Students from Birmingham universities worked with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to create an exhibition to showcase and explore the museum’s West African textile collections.
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.