In February 2026 we appointed 12 people aged 18–30 who care about heritage to shadow our committees across the UK. They're bringing fresh voices and new perspectives to our decision-making and playing an active role in how we invest our funding.

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “One of the four investment principles in our 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033, is inclusion, access and participation. We want to ensure everyone has opportunities to learn, develop new skills and explore heritage.

“One of the ways we can do that is by increasing the diversity of heritage workforces and leadership and providing more equitable opportunities for active involvement."

Our 18-month Future Heritage Leadership programme is giving young adults who are passionate about heritage valuable career experience and providing training, site visits and networking opportunities along the way.

Meet our Future Heritage Leaders: