National Lottery funding of £776,000 has been awarded to National Museums Scotland and £868,600 to the British Council to lead projects which will empower young people to change the face of heritage.

The money has been awarded through HLF’s new Kick the Dust programme, HLF’s pioneering new grant programme distributing £10million from the National Lottery to youth organisations across the UK. At its core is a group of young Heritage Ambassadors, who are on a mission to ‘stir up heritage’, and have helped advise on how the money should be allocated.

As creators, decision-makers and trainers, the young people will be devising and testing fresh approaches to exploring the country’s incredible heritage collections so that their peers are inspired to join in. Whether through stories, crafts, dance or social history, exploring heritage provides a unique route to intercultural understanding. With young people at the helm new events, interpretation and technological innovation will make those messages relevant to today.

[quote=Eleanor Styles, Heritage Ambassador]"Making heritage easier to participate in for more people my age is very important to me..."[/quote]

The British Council's project, Our Shared Cultural Heritage, will engage young people aged 11-21 and focus on shared cultural heritage between the UK and South Asia. It will be delivered in Glasgow and Manchester by the British Council and a consortium of heritage and youth sector organisations including Glasgow Life, Manchester Museums and Galleries Group, Rathbone and Ambition.

Eleanor Styles, Heritage Ambassador from Edinburgh, said: ““It has been a brilliant experience learning how grants are awarded, and helping HLF to allocate £10m to projects involving more young people in heritage. I’m thrilled that two Scottish projects have won funding, as we found National Museums Scotland and British Council’s plans to involve young people in both Scottish and wider cultural heritage especially appealing. Making heritage easier to participate in for more people my age is very important to me, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the projects progress in the future particularly as Scotland celebrates the Year of Young People next year.”

Follow Kick the Dust and the Heritage Ambassadors on social media using #KicktheDust and #DustKickers.