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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 traditions, skills, knowledge and stories 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.

We provide grants for heritage projects from £10,000–£10m to help preserve the cultures and memories of the UK’s different communities, from traditional practices to people’s unique perspectives on the past. 

What do we support?

Intangible Cultural Heritage

We fund projects which help to save, celebrate and pass on  traditions, customs, skills and knowledge. 

This cultural heritage is also known as living heritage. This is because it is constantly changing to meet the needs of people and communities and kept alive when practiced or performed.

Intangible cultural heritage can include:

  • crafts
  • culinary practices
  • nature, land and spirituality
  • oral expressions
  • performing arts
  • social practices
  • sports and games

Our good practice guidance has tips and inspiration for running intangible cultural heritage projects.

Memories

We also fund projects which document and share people’s memories and experiences, ensuring they are accessible now and in the future.

This could involve:

  • running reminiscence sessions
  • sharing community stories through exhibitions or films
  • recording and archiving oral histories

Our oral history good practice guidance includes advice on planning and running oral history projects. It also explains how they are different from other kinds of memory-sharing projects.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • train others in traditional skills and crafts, from dry stone walling and blacksmithing to basket weaving and textile making
  • explore 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
  • research and preserve oral traditions, such as storytelling or local dialects
  • capture accounts of traditional knowledge or pass it on, such as woodland management or home remedies
  • record and archive 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

Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.

Find out more and apply 
A seated audience turning to listen to an audience member holding a microphone
The project brought people together to celebrate and reflect on the enduring impact of the Nello James Centre. Credit: The Miren Collective.

Projects

Case study: reconnecting generations through Black community heritage

Learn how Rekindling Nello James reunited a community, inspired young people and developed an inclusive approach to running an intergenerational heritage project.

A hand-crafted Welsh Red Dragon puppet
A hand-crafted red dragon made by The Fetch Mask and Puppet with young people in Ukraine will be one of the highlights of the evening, joining the celebrations. Credit: Fetch Mask and Puppet.

Projects

Striking back: exploring the Mid Rhondda rebellion

This project is celebrating and sharing Mid Rhondda's industrial, cultural and social heritage to help local people take pride in their history.

A person stands next to a large hand-made dragon sculpture
Artworks created by community members include a large dragon carried at Butetown Carnival. Credit: Innovate Trust.

Projects

Bringing heritage into the hands of people across Wales

Wales Residents Engaging in Arts, Culture and Heritage (Wales REACH) has empowered communities to explore the heritage that matters to them.

A top down view of several people's hands sewing on a large piece of patterned fabric covered in embroidery hoops
Crafting together encouraged participants to share stories and connect with their heritage.

Projects

Preserving Afro-Caribbean heritage through craft

Taking inspiration from an iconic carpet, Crafting Our Homes brought people together to share memories and explore African and Caribbean craft traditions.

A large whale-shaped lantern being paraded in front of a mural of Moby Dick
The highlight of the project was a lantern in the shape of the famous white whale. Credit: Karel Jasper.

Projects

Bringing Moby Dick back to Fishguard

Inspired by the story of a coastal community transformed into a Hollywood filmset, this project is recording local maritime and movie heritage.

A person speaks into a microphone
The project is helping the community share stories that often go unheard. Credit: Connect: North Korea.

Stories

North Korean escapees preserve heritage through storytelling

This community-led project is recording personal experiences of everyday life, survival and escape as well as customs and traditions carried across borders.
Paula Ogun Hector stands beside a woven tapestry made up of portraits of Black Britons from the Second World War
Paula Ogun Hector, Founder of Tapestry of Black Britons with a tapestry inspired by the Second World War. Credit: Sharron Wallace.

Projects

The Tapestry of Black Britons weaving histories together

Inspired by both the Bayeux Tapestry and African and Caribbean textile traditions, this project celebrates nearly 2,000 years of Black British lives.

A reconstructed prison cell inside a Nissen hut containing a bed and a guitar
The immersive exhibition has created an exact dimensional replica of one of the compound’s prisoner cubicles in the 1970s with authentic objects unique to the period.

Projects

Belfast’s newest exhibition exploring conflict and legacy

A new exhibition is sharing the prison experiences of Loyalist political prisoners at Long Kesh and their contributions to peacebuilding following release.

Two people looking at a display at the Sound Waves exhibition launch.
Two people looking at a display at the Sound Waves exhibition launch. Credit: Sylvie Belbouab.

Projects

Celebrating Newham's music legacy

Sound Waves: Music in Newham is exploring 60 years of rich and diverse music heritage across the borough and introducing it to a new generation.

A crowd of people looking at brightly coloured paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling
People of all ages came together to share memories and traditions. Credit: Konger CIC.

Projects

Connecting Manchester’s Hong Kong community

Traditional celebrations, games, crafts and food are bringing people closer to their Hong Kong heritage and one another.

A page from a newsletter detailing 'how to spot a social worker' alongside a selection of poems with a line drawing of a person
This extract from the National Association of Young People in Care newsletter features poems alongside an account of what care-experienced young people felt a social worker should be like. Credit: Coram.

Projects

Telling the untold story of the care-experienced campaigning movement

The project will bring together documents, artefacts and stories of people who have experienced care and their activism to create the UK’s first national archive of its kind.

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