Community heritage

A group of people with handmade props and decorations

Act for Action CIC, recipients of a community heritage grant from One Knowsley. Photo: Act for Action CIC.

Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Since 1994 we have awarded £460million to more than 24,100 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We fund projects that are researching, conserving and celebrating the heritage of a community or place.

These projects could include lots of types of heritage, such as people celebrating living customs or improving a historic green space. What's most important is that the project involves and benefits the community.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

research the impact of a historical event on their town, and share their findings through displays, talks and online
investigate the names on a war memorial
crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBTQ+ community, creating an online archive and exhibition
set up an audio trail around a range of buildings, parks and monuments in a town
enable a youth group to research their local history and create an animated film about their learnings

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

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

Explore our available funding

A person wearing ear protection stands behind brightly coloured threads.

Ribbon Weaver at Wyedean Weaving Company. Credit: Tim Smith.

Projects

Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions

20/02/2025

This oral history project captured the unheard voices of Bradford’s textile mill workers to celebrate the area’s rich industrial heritage.

08/02/2023

Four people stand in front of a train engine and hold a progress pride flag

Joanna Jarvis , Imogen Watmore, Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn and Harvey Barker holding Pride banner in front of HST loco in Great Hall, National Railway Museum, (NRM) York. © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

Stories

Mind the gap: uncovering missing stories from railway history

People, Pride and Progress is recording the experiences of LGBTQ+ workers to explore unheard perspectives on railway heritage.

Two people smiling and sitting in camping chairs on an allotment

Project participants enjoying their allotment. Credit: The Birmingham Allotment Project.

Projects

Wotta Lotta Culture – The Birmingham Allotment Project

This oral history project has celebrated the communities at the heart of the ‘allotment capital’ of the UK.

06/08/2021

A person in historical dress stands in a street and talks to a tour group

Projects

Promoting the Welsh language at Hengwrt Heritage Centre

Menter Dinefwr is bringing local history to life in Llandeilo with an emphasis on the Welsh language, thanks to National Lottery players.

08/12/2021

People dancing as part of a cultural festival at the Birmingham Commonwealth games

Videos

Inspiration for your heritage project

Engagement Manager Debbie Cooper explores what 'heritage' can mean and shares examples of projects we've funded in the Midlands & East of England.

Blogs

How ‘small’ grants can make a big impact for communities

Our Director of Wales marks St David’s Day by reflecting on how the wisdom of the Welsh patron saint can bring communities closer to their heritage.

01/03/2022

People standing in front of a ceramic mural that spells out the words Strong Women

Participants of the Strong Women project with the mural in St Helens. Photo: Radka Dolinska

Projects

Celebrating the social history of women through public art

The Strong Women project aims to capture the untold stories of women in St Helens and Knowsley and celebrate their contributions through street murals.

11/04/2023

A group of representatives from different organisations involved in the River Park project gather together on the banks of the river, with a pedestrian bridge crossing behind them. To the front, two hold a Heritage Fund roundel.

A coalition of organisations, local and national, are working together on the River Park project.

News

Fife’s River Park to see £2.9million investment in people and nature

The support of National Lottery players will transform the River Leven Valley into a beautiful public space that highlights the area’s history.

10/02/2025

Arthur Berry, wearing a flat cap and holding a script, talks with the cast of one of his plays at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke.

Arthur and cast at the New Vic Theatre by Horace Wetton (1986). Credit: Victoria Theatre Archive.

Projects

Stoke-on-Trent to celebrate centenary of local cultural icon Arthur Berry

07/02/2025

Our funding will shine a spotlight on Arthur Berry – poet, painter, playwright, teacher and broadcaster – during a special year for his home city of Stoke-on-Trent.

15/08/2024

Two south asian people stand next to a banner with text: Club Kali Where East Meets West made possible with Heritage Fund

In-person and online activities will bring people together to share memories of the club’s past. Photo: Club Kali Network.

Projects

Where East meets West: Celebrating South-Asian LGBTQ+ Heritage through Club Kali Network

We’re helping the UK’s first safe space for LGBTQ+ people of South Asian heritage to preserve and showcase their history dating back to 1995.

08/05/2024

Isle of Wight Pride. Photo: Héctor Manchego.

Projects

Pride In Self, Pride In Place: the NHS and LGBTQ+ culture on the Isle of Wight

StoneCrabs Theatre is gathering oral histories to uncover the role of the NHS in the Isle of Wight’s LGBTQ+ culture between 1980 and 2000.

24/03/2023

Leaders of the project pose for a group photo

From left to right: Scott Cuthbertson, Director of The Rainbow Project, Mukesh Sharma, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Northern Ireland NI Committee Chair, Cara McCann, Director of HERe NI and Adam Murray, Community Development Manager at Cara-Friend.

Projects

Creating Northern Ireland’s LGBTQ+ heritage archive

A collaborative effort will record and share Northern Ireland’s modern LGBTQ+ history.

06/09/2022

Three young people making a film, one person is holding a microphone, another a clapperboard, and one person is waiting to be interviewed

Young people making a film as part of the I Me Us Boundless project. Photo: Pride In North Cumbria.

Projects

I Me Us Boundless: sharing stories of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people in Cumbria

Through the collection of stories, this project will document the lived experiences of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people in Cumbria.

12/01/2023

Queer Looks exhibition at Brighton Museum. Credit: Tessa Hallmann

Projects

Wear it out: The culture and heritage of LGBTQ+ dress in Sussex, 1917-2017

This cultural heritage project explored how some people from LGBTQ+ communities have historically used clothing to express identity. It focused on Sussex in the time period 1917-2017.

20/12/2016

Looking over salt marsh on Cleethorpes coast.

Salt marsh on Cleethorpes coast. Credit: North East Lincolnshire Council.

News

£10million funding milestone for North East Lincolnshire’s heritage

Since 2019, we’ve supported over 30 projects across North East Lincolnshire with a focus on heritage-led regeneration.

09/01/2025

A person at an archaeological dig site holds up a piece of stone which has been excavated

DigVentures will engage 4,000 participants to help map archaeological sites and ecological habits in the third phase of its Heritage Innovation Fund project.

News