‘Heritage is a bridge that connects me to my South Asian and Scottish identities’
I was born and raised in Scotland. My parents, who had lived through the partition of India, left Pakistan for the UK. Taking the time to learn about my own family history and build connections with Scotland’s heritage through its natural landscapes is central to my life.
I’m the co-founder of Boots & Beards, a Glasgow-based organisation that helps everyone access Scotland’s outdoors – especially people from South Asian communities, who can find Scotland’s heritage and culture hard to access.
Building bridges through heritage
I value South Asian Heritage Month as a reminder to take time to ponder over my family roots and to pass on what I learn to my children. This month is also a time to be generous in sharing my Scottish-Pakistani culture with others and be open to learning new things myself.
Practising this curiosity and respect for other cultures makes us better neighbours in our global village. Without tolerance, it’s impossible for different cultures to live side by side peacefully.
I believe that natural heritage offers a good neutral background to start to build connections with other people. The outdoors is for everyone. When you’re out walking you have time to make conversation with other people – it’s good to hear an interesting story or learn something together. We create a positive atmosphere when we’re out in nature because respect is part of the experience. We respect each other and we respect nature.
Building Scottish-South Asians’ connection with Scotland
Exploring Scotland’s natural landscapes connects me to Scottish history and culture, something I can struggle to do with ‘traditional’ types of heritage. Castles and grand houses often feel alien and unwelcoming to me. I do not feel any connection to an opulent castle or the family that lived there because their lives were totally different to mine. The main way I react to these heritage sites is to think about their darker histories of building fortunes from empire.
While Scotland’s built heritage is often intertwined with colonialism, its natural heritage provides places I feel at ease. There we can celebrate a positive Scottish identity and give Scotland’s outdoors a new shared meaning.
Boots & Beards’ Outdoors For All project, which is receiving National Lottery support, takes this principle as its starting point. By supporting people to explore Scotland’s natural heritage through guided walks with rangers, historians and conservation experts, you teach them new things and skills that make Scotland’s heritage meaningful to them. While walks are our main tool, guided conservation activities such as path-clearing are also part of our activity programme.
Tackling barriers to engaging more people with heritage
The project was prompted by curiosity I saw from walkers. They wanted to find out more about Scotland’s natural landscape and its features, from cairns to castles. However, a major barrier to South Asians to take the step from curiosity to learning is that most of the people who can share this knowledge do not look like us.
There are not enough role models of colour working or volunteering in heritage as guides or walk leaders. This perpetuates the idea that our historic spaces and our natural landscape are only for certain types of people.
Training and recruiting people of colour breaks down these barriers, but progress is slow – it requires a lot of knowledge and experience that people of colour are at a disadvantage to acquire. I’m still to see this gain momentum in Scotland, it’s something that is slowly changing, but heritage sites could do more. I’m hoping to play a small part in making progress on this issue through Outdoors For All.
Ideas for action
For organisations looking to involve and welcome people from South Asian backgrounds, consider how you can:
- Remove barriers to people accessing heritage, such as providing transport to help people living in urban centres get into the countryside.
- Look for ways to encourage conversations between different cultures. Food is a great neutral place to start a conversation with someone who has had a very different life experience to you.
- Make the effort to meet communities where they are. Some heritage venues have a dark past which they cannot erase nor hide. They need to work hard to open their doors and build fruitful relations with diverse communities, such as consulting with communities to see what would attract them to their venues.
- Make the heritage workforce more diverse. Do not underestimate how much of an effect a diverse workforce of staff and volunteers can have on making people of colour feel more welcome at your heritage site.
- Work with allies, including organisations like Boots & Beards. Use their expertise on how to engage directly with people of colour.
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Outdoors for All: supporting South Asian communities in Glasgow
National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £10,000 to £250,000
The project aims to explore the health and wellbeing benefits of getting out in nature.
Boots and Beards is an organisation committed to addressing the needs of the South Asian community. Founded by two individuals who are themselves from the South Asian community, they knew just what was needed to break down barriers through enjoying the Scottish countryside.
Using nature to make connections
The team has developed a number of programmes, including Bonnie Boots designed for women and girls. The aim of the programme was to empower participants to have greater access to wellbeing and leisure opportunities.
They also create activities for young people, which are designed to support their personal development and achievement.
Making outdoors enjoyable for generations
Boots and Beards' project activities can be enjoyed by the whole family. Their work offers multiple benefits for everyone involved, including older people.
The Outdoors for All project is also about fostering a sense of belonging. By improving access to Scotland’s outdoors, Boots and Beards promotes a positive Scottish identity. The organisation has created inter-generational peer support networks that underpin the community, bringing it together.
The Outdoors for All programme includes:
- 150 walks over three years
- appointment of an outreach officer to support greater participation
- engagement with a range of heritage organisations
- increased volunteering opportunities
- skills development opportunities, including bushcraft, navigation and photography
Find out more about the great work they do on the Boots and Beards website.
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Why you should involve people with lived experience in your heritage project
The Foyle Valley Railway and Transport Museum’s status as an inclusive visitor attraction is thanks in large part to its work with people with learning disabilities.
Community support organisation, Destined, ran a social inclusion programme to make the museum as accessible to as many people as possible.
The two-year project, supported by the Heritage Fund, included the design of an interpretive centre for the museum, research and oral history recording, and staff training for roles such as tour guides.
The involvement of people with learning disabilities led to the interpretive centre including:
- a hearing loop for people with compatible hearing aids or cochlear implants
- sensory-friendly tours for blind or partially sighted visitors and people with autism
- mounted printed panels
- accessible audio-visual presentations and augmented reality visualisations
Not only does it brings young people into a heritage setting, it gives them a better understanding of diversity through engagement with people with learning disabilities.
Caroline O’Hara, Project Manager at Destined
Caroline O’Hara, Project Manager at Destined, says: “Destined has an overarching ethos of social inclusion between its members with a learning disability and the wider community. This is core to every aspect of the work we do.
“The project has sought to engage the local community, youth groups, schools and railway enthusiasts and work in partnership with people with learning disabilities – to preserve and enhance the north west’s railway heritage within the museum.
“Not only does it brings young people into a heritage setting, it gives them a better understanding of diversity through engagement with people with learning disabilities.”
Derry/Londonderry’s rich railway heritage
Foyle Valley Railway and Transport Museum is dedicated to the railway history of Derry/Londonderry and the surrounding area.
Within the displays of memorabilia – from steam and diesel engines, to carriages and goods wagons – visitors can find out about the various railway companies which once operated in and out of the city.
At the heart of the exhibition is a recreated railway station platform including the majestic County Donegal Railway steam locomotive ‘Columbkille’. Visitors can ride on a real County Donegal Railway diesel train on a two-mile stretch of track alongside the River Foyle.
The Foyle Valley Railway and Transport Museum is built upon a model of inclusion.
Caroline O’Hara, Project Manager at Destined
Power sharing and co-creation
Championing the contributions of people with lived experience means not only involving them in a project, but empowering them to actively shape it and paying them for their expertise.
Removing the hierarchy of project leaders versus participants fosters co-creation and ensures the work is fully informed by people who best understand the need for it.
Caroline says: “Heritage not only needs to be accessible but also relevant. There can be a misconception that museums cater to the intellectual and elite.
“The Foyle Valley Railway and Transport Museum is built upon a model of inclusion.
“Our project embarked on a major publicity strategy through audio, visual, print and digital media. Destined used its wide network of contacts to advertise the museum’s project and events – with the key message that the museum was an accessible venue to everyone in the community.”
More inclusive projects
We expect every project we fund to embed inclusive practice – read more in our inclusion guidance.
Explore how we’re investing in heritage projects that support people with disabilities and provide a platform for their voices and experiences.
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South Asian heritage: truth-telling and transformation
Page last updated: 13 July 2022
It’s vital for museums to seek exciting and creative new ways to promote social justice, anti-colonial thought and critical education. This is the only way they can remain relevant in multicultural societies, and representative of the UK in the 21st century.
Some institutions are using co-curation, often involving local people developing projects in collaboration with museums.
Engaging with South Asian communities must encourage a joint critique of the obvious connections between museums and the British Empire.
This is great news. But they must also acknowledge that some of their collections owe their presence in UK museums to the exploitation of South Asia by the British during centuries of colonial rule.
Therefore, co-curation cannot simply be a benign exercise in selecting objects. Engaging with South Asian communities must encourage a joint critique of the obvious connections between museums and the British Empire.
New ways for young people to connect
At Manchester Museum we have been doing this through the Our Shared Cultural Heritage project (OSCH), jointly funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and British Council.
OSCH seeks to test and evaluate new ways for young people from the South Asian diaspora and their peers to connect with heritage. The project supports young people aged 11 to 25 years old to experiment, create and lead on activities and events that allow them to explore the shared histories and cultures of the UK and South Asia.
Some of the young people, who might not have previously felt welcome in a colonial establishment like a museum, are now thoroughly embedded here.
OSCH has been running for over a year. In this short time, we have worked with over 300 young people from South Asian communities. Some of these young people, who might not have previously felt welcome in a colonial establishment like a museum, are now thoroughly embedded here.
Some make up a core group of leaders, organisers and decision-makers. They have the freedom and support to organise events, activities and campaigns that are meaningful, useful and relevant to their lived experiences and heritage. They plan and participate in activities led by young people for young people and their communities.
They do not shy away from difficult conversations about colonialism, empire and exploitation. For example, they have set up a Radical Readers group in collaboration with the DecoloniseUoM student group at the University of Manchester to explore contested histories. The OSCH young people tell us that they feel like they belong at Manchester Museum, while still being able to challenge the status quo.
We want young people to help change the heritage sector. From the start of the project, we’ve been committed to elevating youth voice and action.
For instance, during the recruitment for the OSCH project coordinator, around 18 young people participated in the interview process.
They asked candidates questions, listened to their presentations, and scored them accordingly.
Interrogating traditions
Often young people are busy with their studies, work and life generally, so we must make every effort to engage them with spaces that they might have deemed irrelevant and inaccessible. We seek to offer them opportunities to develop skills and experiences, but also encourage them to apply for paid opportunities within and outside of the Museum.
We’ve found that young people are keen to organise and lead on campaigns, activities and events in the heritage sector. But they will only feel a true sense of belonging if museums interrogate traditional ways of engaging with diaspora communities.
These young people want to challenge the homogenous and stereotypical tropes about their communities and identities, especially as South Asia is so diverse.
Young people want museums to be honest, for example, about how colonialists took vast quantities of cultural heritage items and natural science specimens, and deposited them in western museums. They want to confront how museums used these collections, taken from their ancestors, to promote an exoticised and subjugated image of South Asia and its peoples.
These young people also want to challenge the homogenous and stereotypical tropes about their communities and identities, especially as South Asia is so diverse.
This truth-telling process must be supported from the outset of a project. Otherwise it would be unethical and undermine young people’s trust.
A broader, more inclusive approach to collections and institutional histories, can strengthen relationships, support decolonisation and encourage debate and discussion.
Working with young people like this can help transform heritage spaces, making them relevant, useful and inviting for the multicultural communities we serve.
About the authors
Dr Sadia Habib is the Our Shared Cultural Heritage Coordinator at Manchester Museum. She explores identity and belonging in her work, research and writing.
Stephen Welsh is an independent curator and consultant. He is also a Committee Member for the North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund. His practice involves embedding co-curation, decolonisation and inclusion in museums.
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The Nishkam Centre: building heritage for future generations
Page last updated: 6 July 2022
Birmingham's Nishkam Civic Association (NCA), fondly known as the Nishkam Centre, draws its values from the Sikh faith. Nishkam means ‘selfless service’, a principle that drives their delivery of community cohesion and wellbeing activities in Handsworth, one of England's most deprived areas.
Recording migration stories
In 2016, the Nishkam Centre was awarded £80,000 of National Lottery funding for their project, ‘The Birmingham & Black Country Sikh Migration Story’. They captured the journeys of the Sikh population to Birmingham and the Black Country, from the first generation to the current day.
Ajit Singh, Contracts Manager at the Nishkam Centre, said of the project: “We were able to record the history of our forefathers’ arrival into Birmingham and the Black Country, and ensure their stories of overcoming discrimination, clash of cultures, achievements, sacrifices, protecting their values and identity and making a positive social, cultural, faith and economic contribution was not lost.”
Preparing for the future
Normally, its free or subsidised services would reach over 35,000 people. But with the onset of coronavirus (COVID-19), for the first time in 15 years, the doors to the Centre were closed. They applied to our Heritage Emergency Fund for help.
The £59,000 National Lottery funding they received helped them to continue supporting communities during lockdown. This pivotal time in contemporary history is also inspiring the Centre to adapt its service, whilst providing stories for future generations to tell.
Ajit says,“The coronavirus pandemic will have a long lasting effect on the people and history of the UK. Every crisis offers the opportunity to re-think what and how we deliver services, and we’re glad to have had the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund to aid our survival and help turn our visions for the future into a reality.
“The funding is a great catalyst for the Centre to strengthen partnerships and collaborations with other like-minded groups, to nurture further connectivity between communities within Birmingham and the Black Country.
“It is helping us to build upon our rich heritage and values for future generations.”
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Virtual book club celebrates Punjabi heritage
Page last updated: 12 July 2022
There is a wealth of Punjabi heritage in museum, archive and library collections across the UK and internationally. For nearly 20 years volunteer-led UKPHA has been working hard to ensure that heritage is shared with as many people as possible.
Bringing people together through exhibitions and events has been at the heart of that work. So when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began, the organisation and its mission were under threat.
Using a National Lottery grant from our Heritage Emergency Fund, UKPHA was quick to adapt.
Virtual book club
They established a weekly virtual book club in early April, with world-leading speakers and authors covering a huge variety of heritage-related topics. These have included Meera Syal in conversation about her career, BBC journalist Kavita Puri on the 1947 Partition of India and Dr Nadhra Khan with a virtual tour of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s samadhi (funerary monument) in Pakistan.
This impressive schedule of weekly talks, each one free and available via Zoom, will continue until November. All previous sessions are available to watch on UKPHA’s website.
Reaching new audiences
The book club has captured the imagination of a diverse audience and in addition to gaining coverage on BBC radio, two UKPHA volunteers were even awarded a ‘Point of Light' award by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Shamneet Shergill, a UKPHA volunteer, said: “National Lottery emergency funding has been absolutely critical. Through the book club we’ve been able to continue sharing Punjabi heritage during lockdown, accessing speakers we might never have seen before!”
Moving completely online because of the pandemic has been a huge change but has had its benefits too. Without travel costs, location restrictions and time restraints, UKPHA has secured leading speakers and enabled viewers to access stories and places they would not have been able to before.
It has also seen its audience expand in terms of age. She explains: “As well as the book club, our virtual activity means we’ve been able to reach out to younger people who would not have got involved before. One of our comic films, made by actor and film maker Jassa Ahluwalia, reached around 30,000 people on social media.”
The future
Of course, bringing people together will remain a key part of UKPHA’s work following the pandemic, but having the chance to try things virtually will only strengthen its impact.
Shamneet said: “We now have a new website which reflects our values, we’ve reached more people than ever before and I and other volunteers are able to meet (virtually) more regularly to think creatively about our next steps. We are already planning for next year and, whether online or in person, it’s going to be really exciting.”
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Inclusion isn't a 'challenge', it's a chance for exciting possibilities
Page last updated: 12 July 2022
What challenges do disabled leaders in the heritage world face at the moment?
Zoe:
These so-called "challenges" can be radically improved and removed by encouraging the heritage world to employ and commission disabled experts.
Funding is often cited as another barrier. It is used to continue to exclude disabled people as audiences or employees or decision makers but in practice this is just an excuse.
For example, if all your staff use sign language then communication is improved and you don't need to buy in interpreters. We tend to place the emphasis on disabled people but it shouldn't be like this.
Becki:
One particular challenge for me is how generally the heritage world can be hyper focused on particular topics and is in a continual loop of discussion and not enough action. This means there is a consistent need to keep highlighting the importance of working as inclusively as possible.
The Disability Collaborative Network is now part of EMBED, which is a way of sharing things we have learned from other sectors and industries. By making positive, meaningful, inclusive change, we can create a better, more proactive sector.
What is your advice for any disability-led group or organisation interested in applying for our funding?
Zoe:
You need to be passionate about your project. But you don’t have to change. Disabled leaders have unique skills including tenacity, strength, determination and spend all their lives negotiating barriers.
My advice would be to ensure you use the social model of disability to highlight that disabled people are not "the problem". Inaccessible environments, buildings, collections, archives and recruitment and employment procedures exclude us. If you understand where the problem lies you can remove it and make informed progress.
Becki:
Firstly, it’s important that groups' work and experience is recognised at the pre-planning stage, during the project and at the end. Also, that the project itself is part of a wider strategy for all the organisations involved.
Innovative creative thinking and processes should be recognised and need to be shared as far as possible.
As disabled women leaders, can you share any knowledge or advice you wish you'd had 10 years ago?
Zoe:
Yes, I wish I'd had a mentor, I think a disabled woman in a senior position working in the heritage sector would have been invaluable as a mentor.
Change happens due to who is in charge and what experience they may have. This is why it is so important that inclusion is everyone's main priority.
Becki
The crucial thing I've learned is that my unique skills - because I have lived experience as a disabled woman and have observed discrimination in action - are a very valuable asset. I have found that even large institutions feel that you should offer your experience and expertise for free in focus groups or as an advisor. It's a constant battle to be paid and valued.
Becki:
I wish I had known that who engages with heritage and who doesn't is often in the hands of the heritage sites themselves. For example, there are children who want to visit museums but can’t due to lack of Changing Places toilets.
Change happens due to who is in charge and what experience they may have. This is why it is so important that inclusion is everyone's main priority.
Find out more
Find out more about:
- UK Disability History Month
- Disability Collaborative Network
- Zoe Partington
- DisOrdinary Architecture Project
- Sensing Culture
At The National Lottery Heritage Fund we are proud to fund all sorts of inspiring projects led by disabled people. Find out how you can get funding for your idea.
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A missing voice - the young person in the museum
I have thought a lot about where and how there can be a space for young people in museums.
As part of the Digital Maker Club, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund's Kick the Dust programme, a group of young people (including me) were brought into the Ulster Museum and over several weeks, we learned how to use a range of digital technologies.
Alongside this, we were encouraged to interact with museum collections and we met with curators. This meant that we were able to digitally create something in response to our own national heritage.
By the end of the project, we had enough creations to host an exhibition.
Telling a new story of The Troubles
I was inspired by one of the main exhibitions in the Ulster Museum, about The Troubles. The exhibition's curator, Karen Logan, encouraged us to explore and discuss the collection.
One of its strengths was that it was able to include multiple narratives, not only those of Unionists and Nationalists, in telling social history, like the first Pride festival in Belfast and women's writing groups. However, there did seem to be a missing voice - that of the young person.
I identified the gap of young voices and that the exhibition didn't connect the history of The Troubles to the subsequent social and political landscape of Northern Ireland today. I felt that if a tourist visited this exhibition, they would not grasp the aftermath of The Troubles and what that means for Northern Ireland at present.
The project gave me the opportunity to try and create a space for this missing voice. So I decided to exhibit a series on what the main issues were facing young people in Northern Ireland today.
Sabi, a friend I met on the project, took stunning, abstract photos from around Belfast and I interviewed young people from a range of different backgrounds. Their answers illuminated and lamented issues such as:
- mental health problems
- the oppression of LGBT+ rights and women's reproductive rights
- Brexit
- segregated schooling
- the absence of our government and how Green and Orange politics continue to hold us back
Tech can help revolutionise the museum
From my experience and observing others on the project, I think that, as well as being able to bring young people into the museum, technology provides a new way for them to think about their place in it.
Technology can offer a new paradigm.
The museum is (or should be) an inherently interactive space (with or without tech) but using interactive technology reminds us of this. Being given technological tools to create something as a response to the collections energised me to respond to it thoughtfully, creatively, critically.
I didn't necessarily need tech to make my part of the exhibition, but being part of the Digital Maker Club and having my ideas listened to, encouraged and facilitated, inspired me to do so.
It is through interaction that the visitor makes meaning from objects and collections. The museum should not merely be a system of knowledge which we can passively accept meaning from. Introducing technology can help revolutionise the way we see the museum, kicking the dust from our perceptions of an old, hierarchical system of acquiring knowledge.
I think that it is this outlook, as much as the technology itself, which has the potential to draw young people in to the museum and make it an inclusive, engaging space.
Find out more
Niamh has written a longer blog on the Reimagine Remake Replay website.
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Helping all young people get hands on with nature
London Wildlife Trust’s Keeping it Wild programme helps young people aged 11-25 gain skills for life while conserving the city's wild spaces.
Trainees undertake three-month paid internships at a London Wildlife Trust site. They have the chance to join the Youth Forum, which advises the Trust’s board on how to really embed youth engagement. It plays a vital role in planning, managing and evaluating the project so that it meets the needs of young people.
We visited Sydenham Hill Wood, south London, on a Wild Action Day. Despite heavy rain, the dedicated trainees showed their passion for conservation by sticking out the day until its waterlogged end.
Trainee Jess said she thought the programme was about: “increasing opportunities for young people who may not have had the chance to experience the natural sector. It’s not the most diverse and many people think it’s not for them.”
Using nature for wellbeing
The day was guided by The Wheel of Wellbeing. Developed by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, The Wheel of Wellbeing offers practical tips to improve your wellbeing by considering Body, Mind, Spirit, People, Place and Planet.
Find out more on the Wheel of Wellbeing website.
Body
"Be active... Your body is designed to move. Physical activities can positively influence the way you think, feel and function."
We met Lee as he sawed through fallen branches to be used as path edges. He told us: "I never had the breaks, I left school with few qualifications. But this has really been a great opportunity, it is great what they are doing across London.”
Mind
"Keep learning... Studies are showing that life-long learners are some of the healthiest, happiest people around."
While removing duckweed from the pond, we scooped up a discarded dragonfly nymph shell . We learned that both dragonfly nymphs and dragonflies are carnivorous - the nymph's prey-crunching jaw was the inspiration for the Alien films!
Spirit
"Give... Practicing random acts of kindness, volunteering time, or simply saying ‘thank you’ all work wonders for your wellbeing."
Here's Chantelle laying new path edges using fallen branches, fastening them with axe-whittled stakes and wire. We found out that following on from her time with Keeping it Wild, she is about to start a new job as project officer for the Great North Wood Project at London Wildlife Trust.
People
"Connect... Close relationships with friends and family can add up to seven years to our lives. So plan a get-together to connect more with the people around you."
A crackling camp fire had two benefits: cooking homemade calzone pizzas and drying everyone off! The team gathered around for a chat over a much-needed hot drink.
Planet
"Care... Keeping our planet in tip-top shape is the best recipe for world wellbeing. Small positive changes can make a big difference."
We met Calum clearing duckweed from the wood’s Dewy Pond so that oxygen can reach the life below. The release of sulphuric acid generated a questionable odour, but Calum said: “I’d rather be here in the rain with a funky smell than be on my sofa at home." The traineeship solidified his passion for nature, and he’ll soon be studying British Wildlife Conservation at Gloucester University.
Place
"Take notice... Noticing nature helps us press the pause button. It reduces the stress of our 21st-century ‘hurry-worry’ lives."
Ishmael’s interest in mindfulness lead the team to ask if he could lead an exercise to finish off the day. He told us that mindfulness can combat “unnecessary rumination and unhelpful thoughts, so you can stay more in the present. The sounds and sensations can be more nuanced in nature."
He encouraged fellow trainees to “shut your eyes, distinguish five sounds: this could be the rain coming down, the birds, the breeze occasionally rolling past."
We're feeling better already...
About the project
Keeping It Wild is part of the National Lottery-funded Kick the Dust programme, a series of 12 projects across the UK which are putting young people at the heart of heritage.
London Wildlife Trust is leading on the programme with support and expertise from:
- London Youth
- Headliners (UK)
- John Muir Trust
Funding for natural heritage and projects that involve a wider range of people are both priorities for The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Find out more about what we want your project to achieve.
Ways to meaningfully involve young people in heritage
Making heritage relevant to more – and more diverse – young people, is important to The National Lottery Hertiage Fund. That's why we set up Kick the Dust, a £10million pilot programme to explore new ways of working with young people.
In summer 2019, we held a workshop to gather the ideas learned so far from organisations that received funding.
Top tips on involving young people in heritage
- Organisations may find it useful to think about who makes decisions internally – and consider how young people can be involved in those decisions.
- Work out who in your organisation might be enthusiastic about your project and want to help.
- Think about how to create safe discussion spaces for young people.
- A trustee or CEO could meet and discuss ideas with the young people at their meetings, rather than the young person having to attend a trustee meeting – which could be intimidating.
- Consider having training for staff, and CEO briefings run by young people about young people.
- Young people need different routes of progression within your organisation.
- Young people can inform adults too; it’s a two-way relationship.
- Think about time commitments: young people have complex and busy lives and may not want to be involved all the time – or at all.
- Don’t impose your own agenda, stay flexible and exploratory.
- Question your assumptions and the language you use.
- Evaluate internal structures. For example, if you want to involve young people in a board meeting, holding it at 2pm might not be the best time if they have school, college or work.
- Consider leadership and life skills guidance for young people as part of the project.
Learning from case studies
Every project that attended the workshop brought along an object that represented an activity or method they have successfully used to engage young people.
Norfolk Museums Service Norfolk Journeys project: clay sculpture
They said: “We’ve been working with young people involved in the criminal justice system on a project about mark making, creating marks and thinking about the marks we leave on society.
"We have found that young people want to engage with the project, but don’t always know how.”
Don’t Settle project: image of young people on visit to Migration Museum
They said: “We are looking at neglected narratives of cultures and have been setting up a youth committee. We have been thinking about the question: ‘what do young people of colour bring to the board room?'”.
Ignite Yorkshire: logo, newly designed with young people
“Young people wrote the brief and mission statement. It’s important that co-creation is authentic and genuine.”
The Y, Leicester: paper money
“We found that some young people were interested in money, so we gave them their own budget. Young people commissioned their own project, and heritage organisations presented ideas to them 'Dragon’s Den' style.”
Find out more
You can read more about the scheme in our Kick The Dust Evaluation.
We want to hear from marginalised voices
Page last updated: 12 July 2022
This weekend marks the end of our inaugural LGBTQ+ season celebrating the many great heritage projects, community groups and organisations we’ve funded over the past 25 years.
It has been a privilege to be involved in this inaugural season and to play a small part in The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support for LGBTQ+ heritage.
Marginalised people should be given the chance to rewrite and problematise our existing understanding of heritage.
Lesley Wood and David Sheppeard
The season was timed to coincide with Pride events throughout the UK, and to celebrate 50 years since the Stonewall riots in New York.
It is also a representation of our commitment that the National Lottery players’ money we invest ensures that a wider range of people will be involved in heritage.
Rewriting our understanding of heritage
I hope that like me, you’ve been inspired by some of the incredible stories we’ve shared over the past two months.
Even more, I hope that you’ll be inspired to bring your project forward for support.
What has struck me the most has been the range of voices we’ve heard. Hearing from marginalised groups directly, especially minorities within minorities, is so vital.
I thought it was summed up brilliantly by Lesley Wood and David Sheppeard, two LGBTQ+ sector leaders collaborating on the National Lottery-funded Building Brighton LGBTQ+ Heritage. They said: “Marginalised people should be given the chance to rewrite and problematise our existing understanding of heritage, even if this makes the sector or institutions feel uncomfortable at times.
“It shouldn't be about trying to fit marginalised people into existing historical paradigms and ideas – the sector can be braver and more radical, because this is what needs to happen if history is going reflect anything like reality.”
Supporting our LGBTQ+ heritage community
In my opening blog I talked about the importance of the intersection between inclusion and heritage and how our past is critical to our sense of identity and belonging today.
This notion has been brought to life by our brilliant contributors – people who have played a part not just in enriching our heritage, but in literally making history.
We’re looking forward to continuing to support them and the LGBTQ+ heroes of the future.
If you have an idea for a project, big or small, take a look at our funding page or get in touch with your friendly local team to see what we can offer you.
What's next?
Given that the LGBTQ+ rights movement was kickstarted 50 years ago by a group of black trans women and drag queens at the Stonewall Inn, it seems fitting that our next inclusion focus will explore the heritage of diverse ethnic communities.
I’m excited that in a few weeks’ time we’ll be celebrating Black History Month and making the case for why diverse ethnic community inclusion is so important to the future of heritage. And equally, how heritage can help deliver a more inclusive world for us all.
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In the fight for equality, understanding our heritage matters
Today marks 50 years since the Stonewall riots. It was an event which sparked the modern LGBT+ rights movement and inspired a generation.
28 June 1969
On 28 June 1969, the New York Police Department (NYPD) launched a raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City. It was the latest in a series of raids targeting LGBT+ bars and community spaces, part of a long-term campaign of police persecution and intimidation against a community still forced to live in the shadows.
This raid was different though. When a young woman, Stormé DeLarverie, complained that her handcuffs were too tight, she was brutally clubbed over the head by the officer who arrested her.
It was an indignity too far for the crowd that night. Leading the charge were Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, two young drag queens who had long been at the forefront of the LGBT+ rights movement in New York. They threw bottles and resisted arrest, and together with the other patrons of the Stonewall Inn, fought back in a pitched battle with the NYPD that would last for several days.
What happened in New York on that hot summer night in 1969 inspired a movement.
In the UK, the legacy includes Pride, the Gay Liberation Front, Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners and eventually the birth of the charity that bears its name, Stonewall. In 50 years, progress has been hard won, but relatively rapid.
Most of the UK now enjoys full LGBT+ legal equality, and sometimes it can be easy to forget that legal and social equality are not the same thing.
We have come so far, but there is still so much left to do
The news earlier this month that homophobic and transphobic hate crime has rocketed in England and Wales over the past five years is a stark reminder. Reported incidents of hate crime per capita rose 144%. Yes, better reporting is part of the reason, but as any openly LGBT+ person will tell you, the world doesn’t always feel massively welcoming right now.
How do we tackle this? I think that heritage is part of the answer.
Heritage is so important to increasing visibility and driving social progress. We take inspiration from our forebears and the things that have been passed on to us, but we also draw a sense of belonging. And that is so important for minority communities who struggle for acceptance and who are all too often invisible in our national discourse.
As an LGBT+ person, the issue of heritage and belonging is politically important, but it’s also intensely personal.
I know that so many of the rights and freedoms I take for granted were hard won by the likes of Stormé and Sylvia and Marsha, and I know too that I have a duty to future generations to be visible and brave and uncompromising when it comes to demanding inclusion for everyone.
We all stand on the shoulders of giants, and we can only hope to honour their example. As I raise my children, I want them to see that we all belong, not just in spite of who we love, but because of it.
A commitment to inclusion
Our current Strategic Funding Framework makes inclusion a mandatory outcome and prioritises community heritage. Our LGBT+ season is about bringing that commitment to life and showcasing the impact that National Lottery funding has had on shaping a more progressive and inclusive UK.
To date we have funded over 130 projects through grants worth more than £5.5million. Over the next 25 years I hope we can do so much more – and demonstrate the value of that contribution by delivering a more inclusive world.
I’m excited that we’re going to be hearing from diverse voices over the course of our LGBT+ season, from Joseph Galliano of Queer Britain to Veronica McKenzie of the BAME LGBT+ project Haringey Vanguard, and lots of other grantees across the UK in between.
Heritage matters – it’s as much about the future we want as about the past that we honour.
Six women: stories of our LGBT+ heritage
Margaret Lucas Cavendish
1623–1673
Born in Colchester to an aristocratic family, Margaret went on to marry William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was more than 30 years her senior. A prolific writer, she published the 1668 play The Convent of Pleasure.
The play told the story of Lady Happy, an heiress who resists all male suitors and turns her home into an all-female monastic institution. Lady Happy falls in love with a princess “of truly masculine presence”, and declares:
“Why may I not love a woman with the same affection as I could a man?”
- Margaret Cavendish's life was explored by the Derbyshire-based Other Stories project.
Vera "Jack" Holme
1881–1969
Born in 1881, Vera “Jack” Holme lead an exciting and unconventional life. By her 20s she was an actress and singer, including as a cross-dressing music hall act where she used the stagename “Jack”.
She went on to join a group of singing suffragettes, and became chauffeur to the Pankhursts.
During the First World War she was an ambulance driver. In 1918 she began an affair with Scottish artist Dorothy Johnstone, whose work appears at Kirkcudbright Art Gallery.
- Jack was featured in the People's History Museum's Never Going Underground project.
Joe Carstairs
1900–1993
The dynamic Marion Barbara "Joe" Carstairs was an oil heiress who became a champion motorboat racer. A proud lesbian, she wore tailored suits from Savile Row, cut her hair short and tattooed her arms. Her partners included Dolly Wilde - Oscar Wilde's niece - and Marlene Dietrich.
In the 1930s “the fastest woman on water” came to the Isle of Wight where she commissioned powerboats from the boatbuilder Sammy Saunders.
- The National Lottery-funded Classic Boat Museum on the Isle of Wight holds the Carstairs Collection.
Enid Marx
1902–1998
Designer and painter Enid Marx is best known for her love of abstract and geometric patterns, particularly her work designing seating fabric and posters for London Transport, as well as books, wrapping paper and logos.
Known as “Marco”, Enid lived and worked with the historian Margaret Lambert for 50 years, with whom she shared a love of art.
- The Marx-Lambert Collection is held by the National Lottery-funded Compton Verney and The National Lottery Heritage Fund supported a recent project at the London Transport Museum which discovered a lost Enid Marx design.
Roberta Cowell
1918–2011
Roberta Cowell was a racing driver and pilot who was the first known British person to undergo male-to-female sex reassignment surgery.
She was born Robert Cowell in Croydon in 1918. She went on to become a racing driver, get married and have children. During the war, she was a Spitfire pilot and was captured by the Germans. In 1948, deeply unhappy, she left the family and went on to have the sex reassignment surgery. She continued to fly planes and drive racing cars.
- The National Lottery-funded Egham Museum recently devoted an exhibition to Roberta Cowell.
Sandi Hughes
1943–present
Sandi Hughes was born in Bristol to a white British mother and black American GI father. She was brought up in children's homes and married in 1963, going on to have three daughters and a son. The marriage broke up - and when Sandi applied for custody, she was judged to be an "unfit mother" because she was gay. Sandi went on to become a much-loved linchpin of the Liverpool gay scene, and a feminist film-maker, poet and DJ.
In 2015, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Liverpool Records Office and National Museums Liverpool's purchase of her rare archive of photos, videos and other memorabilia.
Find out more on the Rewind Fast Forward website.
