young people

Children and young people

Heritage has a crucial role to play in enriching the lives of children and young people, creating a more inclusive society.

Over the past 25 years, we are proud to have invested over £60million across the UK in projects working with children and young people. This includes the £10m Kick the Dust programme.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is committed to making heritage more inclusive and accessible to a wider range of people and this includes the younger generations. We know that children and young people can play a significant role in creating innovative and exciting heritage projects that really speak to them.

Explore some of our work below and find inspiration for your project, then discover whether your idea is eligible for funding.

Two girls looking at a book

Stories

Advice: how to involve young people in heritage

Involve them from the start, treat them as equals and be open-minded about what heritage can be in the 21st century.

Sarah Lanchin

Blogs

Kick the Dust - what we learned in year two

Four years ago, we set out to change the way young people are involved in and experience heritage.

Young people in a wood

Stories

Helping all young people get hands on with nature

We spent a day in Sydenham Hill Wood, south London, where theories about wellbeing are guiding young people's interactions with our wild places.

Rosie Gibson

A blog by Rosie Gibson, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Social Media Manager

Blogs

Ways to meaningfully involve young people in heritage

We believe involving young people in heritage projects is vital - but it can be tricky. Here are some ideas.

Teenagers in a museum

Projects

Pitt Rivers Global Heritage Youth Action project

Young man with camera

Projects

Crime & Punishment: A digital storytelling heritage collection youth project

Boys work on a heritage project

Projects

From Parks to Pavilions: The history of the first Asian cricket league in Yorkshire

Young people in Crewe connected with the heritage of their town using digital gaming

Young people in Crewe connected with the heritage of their town using digital gaming

Projects

CreweCraft: Young Roots Crafting Crewe's Heritage in Minecraft

Alison Bowyer

Blogs

Teen Digital Takeover: getting young people into museums

Today is the Kids in Museums Teen Digital Takeover: when young people take over the social media accounts of museums, galleries and heritage sites across the UK. The 2018 Audience Agency Museums Audience Report identifies 16-24 year-olds as one of four key museum audiences. However, it also

Publications

Kick The Dust year one evaluation, February 2019

Our ambitious £10million Kick the Dust (KtD) programme is transforming how heritage organisations engage with young people.

Two young women

Blogs

What is Kick the Dust?

In 2016 The National Lottery Heritage Fund launched a £10million investment to make heritage relevant to the lives of young people aged 11-25.

Young people receiving training from the Windsor Fellowship

Photo credit: Windsor Fellowship

Stories

Training and employment opportunities to build a diverse heritage sector

We’ve launched a programme in partnership with Windsor Fellowship to help Black, Asian and minority ethnicity (BAME) graduates kickstart their careers.

Arty photo of person with a camera

Experimental photography at Llannon Cottage, Ceredigion

Blogs

Engaging young people in heritage from home

One Welsh project shares how they are continuing to involve young people in heritage, even under lockdown.

A mannequin in a T-shirt saying 'we should all be feminists'

Blogs

International Women’s Day: Giving young women a voice in heritage

To celebrate International Women’s Day, two young women making their mark in heritage describe their experiences of a project at the Ulster Museum.

Young people jumping

News

Boost for youth heritage thanks to £7million government investment

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is to distribute an extra £1.27m funding to its Kick the Dust programme, aimed at helping to involve young people in heritage.

Three young volunteers

Blogs

Young people show us how it's done

On #TakeoverDay, three volunteers tell us how they're shaking up the heritage world.

Antonia Canal from The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Blogs

Finding 'a home' in the heritage sector

Working as a black person in the heritage sector can be isolating. Connecting with peers has been essential.

Identification cloth

News

UK's oldest children’s charity to tell the story of care

Coram has received a £1.26million National Lottery grant to digitise part of its archive, which dates back for nearly three centuries.

Young man

Blogs

How a 200-year-old society is inspiring young minorities in Brum

Don't Settle Lunar Campfires provide a safe space for young people of colour to talk about their experiences. It was an honour to be involved in the first one.

Ellen Pryde

News

The skills programme breaking down barriers to working in Scotland’s museums

The Skills for Success programme, led by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has been turning the traditional recruitment processes on its head to build a workforce that better represents communities. The programme offered work-based experience at

Niamh Kelly

Blogs

A missing voice - the young person in the museum

As well as helping to bring young people into the museum, technology provides a new way for them to think about their place within it.

Sarah Lanchin

Blogs

Let’s talk about young people and heritage

This year marks the 25th Birthday of The National Lottery. At The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have a long history of funding heritage projects with children and young people. Since 2002 through Young Roots, and more recently Kick the Dust, an ambitious £10million programme to transform how

Young woman

Blogs

Young people celebrate important figures of Wales' LGBT+ history

Holly Morgan-Davies from National Museum Wales' Hands on Heritage project writes about the fascinating stories she's discovered from Wales' LGBT+ past.