Cultures and memories

Cultures and memories

Two people are in a costume room and are looking down at a pattern on a cutting table. In the background are images of costumes, costumes on mannequins and rolls of fabric stacked on shelves
Credit: Carrie Davenport / Lyric Theatre.
These are the customs and traditions, skills and knowledge, passed down to us through generations.

Since 1994 we have awarded over £510million to more than 24,600 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We fund projects which help to explore, save and celebrate the traditions, customs, skills and knowledge of different communities.

This cultural heritage is sometimes referred to as intangible or living heritage. This is because it is constantly changing and kept alive when practiced or performed.

We also fund projects which document and share people’s memories. This often involves capturing oral histories and ensuring they are accessible now and in the future.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research and share oral traditions, such as storytelling or local dialects
  • train others in traditional skills and crafts, from dry stone walling and blacksmithing to basket weaving and textile making
  • research the origins of culture, such as music, theatre or dance, and create performances influenced by past styles
  • share the history and fun of celebrations, festivals or rituals with new audiences, from games and cooking to carnivals and fayres
  • capture accounts of traditional knowledge or pass it on, such as woodland management or home remedies
  • record the stories of ordinary people through oral histories, for example about growing up, migration or work
  • retell people’s memories about a place or event, such as a long-stay hospital, the miners' strikes or the punk movement

How to get funding

If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.

Line drawing of a spade

Projects

Healthy Heritage: Paintings, Performances and Pots

A series of creative workshops for schools, young people and patient groups ran alongside Out of Clay, an exhibition of Roman, Medieval and 20th-century pottery at Milton Keynes Hospital.

Archive image of the Peace Float in Cardiff
Archive image of the Peace Float in Cardiff

Projects

Cymru dros Heddwch / Wales for Peace

The Wales for Peace project focuses on one central question: in the 100 years since the First World War, how has Wales contributed to the search for peace?

BAM! Sistahood! Project

Projects

BAM! Sistahood! Project

BAM!Sistahood! was a ground breaking digital heritage project, documenting 70 years of black and minority (BAM) women's heritage in North East England.

Three participants hold up exhibits including shirts with text written on them

Projects

Hidden Now Heard

Royal Mencap Society secured funding to record, exhibit and preserve the hidden heritage of people with learning disabilities.

Volunteers learning about the club's role in the First World War
Volunteers learning about the club's role in the First World War

Projects

Huddersfield Rugby League: A Lasting Legacy

Volunteers of all ages found out about Huddersfield’s sporting history during the First World War, producing a website, town trails, an exhibition, a book and new resources for primary schools.

Participants exploring their heritage

Projects

Desh - Homeland

The project aims to bring together several generations of South Asians living in Bristol to identify and record their heritage. Desh means Motherland or Homeland in Hindi and Urdu.

The history wall with red poppies (for those who died) or a white butterfly (for those left behind)
The history wall with red poppies (for those who died) or a white butterfly (for those left behind)

Projects

Red Poppies and White Butterflies

Nostell Priory engaged the community with a compelling programme telling the stories of the men who died in the First World War and those that survived, with an invitation to research their own ancestry and add to a message wall.

Tinsley Manor field work with Clive Betts MP
Tinsley Manor field work with Clive Betts MP

Projects

Exploring Tinsley Manor

When it was discovered during local history lessons that a medieval manor house was buried under their classroom, the children of Tinsley Junior School took to archaeology with enthusiasm, some even taking old spoons to set up their own digs in their back gardens at home.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team.