Community heritage

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

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

Heritage organisations to share innovative solutions to workforce challenges

The third phase of our Heritage Innovation Fund is supporting projects across the UK to roll out creative new ways of working.

05/12/2024

A National Lottery scratchcard held in front of a large building with classical architecture and lawn

News

Sign up your project for National Lottery Open Week 2025

It’s a great way to acknowledge your Heritage Fund grant, reach new audiences and benefit from a UK-wide PR campaign.

26/11/2024

A room with a high vaulted ceiling, a large glitter ball and trestle style tables. The room is warmly lit. Large glass doors look out onto a courtyard.

The newly restored dining hall and courtyard at The Buttermarket. Credit: Sam Sabatelli, for Redruth Revival CIC.

Projects

Rediscovering the market town of Redruth

26/11/2024

A cluster of Grade II listed buildings, collectively known as the Buttermarket, has been transformed into a thriving cultural and community hub.

14/09/2021

Supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in the great outdoors. Photo: Wayfinding project.

Stories

Inclusion, access and participation: eight ways to improve your project’s reach and impact

Find out how projects we’ve funded are finding creative ways to open up heritage, involve audiences and create better opportunities to take part.

a memory box made during a craft activity at a mental health community centre: inside an old case is a garden scene with trees, planters and a pond, with figures and messages

A memory box made by people who use the community centre, recording their experience of community and wellbeing. Photo: Philip Formby.

Projects

The Hidden Heritage of Wellbeing in the Community: co-creating oral histories of mental health care

Nottingham’s Middle Street Resource Centre celebrated 50 years of service by recording stories from its community with researchers at Nottingham Trent University.

23/03/2022

A person teaching a young child about past events and showing them an old type writer

Child learning at the Black Country Living Museum. Credit: Richard Jinman

Projects

Our Heritage: supporting D/deaf children in Walsall

Families of children with D/deafness or hearing impairments took part in social activities that taught them about local heritage, traditions and skills passed down through generations.

23/01/2020

Community heritage

Community heritage

What do we support?

Project ideas

How to get funding

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