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Community heritage

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
Three people are walking side by side in a pretty green landscape, they are talking and smiling
Harriet Bennett, Land Management Officer for the Chilterns Landscape Partnership project and Andrew Stubbings, of Manor Farm with Drew Bennellick, our Head of Land, Sea and Nature. Photo: Oliver Dixon.

Projects

Chalk, Cherries and Chairs – Working together for the Chilterns

Over five years, the Chilterns Conservation Board worked with partners to engage communities, celebrate the rich heritage of the area and enhance habitats and wildlife.

An artist's impression of a building with glass walls and a low wooden roof, with the words 'staffordshire history centre' on the side of the building
The extension will provide space for exhibitions and activities with storage space for 55 years of future collections. Image: Staffordshire County Council.

Projects

A new hub for sharing Staffordshire’s history

Thanks to £4.8million in National Lottery funding, Staffordshire History Centre will provide state of the art archive facilities for communities.

Three black people take part in a workshop on black history. All three people have dark skin of various shades, the focus of the image is a woman holding a magazine with black people on the cover
A Rebel Curators workshop at M Shed in October 2024. Andreann Asibey (left), Jazz Thompson (middle) and Bandele Iyapo (right). Photo: Julz Davis.

Blogs

Rebel Curators: reclaiming narratives of slavery at Bristol’s M-Shed

Co-creation with the African-Caribbean community, made possible with £70,000 in National Lottery funding, is another step towards including their perspectives in telling Bristol’s history.
An auditorium full of people watching Wynne Evan’s Townhall Showdown
Newbridge Memo welcomed BBC Radio Wales to host Wynne Evan’s Townhall Showdown. Credit: Newbridge Memo.

Projects

Newbridge’s arts and heritage hub safeguarded for the community

This historic miners’ institute, with its 1920s Art Deco theatre, ballroom and versatile spaces now hosts a variety of activities that benefit local people.

An artist kneels in front of a painted wall with an intricate pattern on a purple background
Street artist NeSpoon has created artwork on the streets of Bradford, as part of BD: Walls.

Stories

Celebrating Bradford as the City of Culture 2025

The vibrant West Yorkshire city has announced the first events to showcase its incredible heritage and culture across the district throughout 2025, thanks to National Lottery players.
A black and white photo of chinese men who were members of the Chinese Labour Corps
Members of the Chinese Labour Corps. Photo: W J Hawkings Collection, courtesy of John de Lucy.

Projects

Forgotten Faces of the First World War: The Chinese Labour Corps

The Meridian Society and documentary filmmaker Peng Wenlan collected oral histories for a documentary about the Chinese men who worked as labourers on the Western Front during the First World War.

A child being shown how to make kimchi

Projects

Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi

The practices of a UNESCO-recognised Korean tradition were recorded and preserved for the future and celebrated with the wider community.

a large ship docked on the river in Grimsby
The Ross Tiger docked outside the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre in North East Lincolnshire. Photo: Ellen Hunter.

News

£2.5million awarded to first 11 Heritage Places projects across the UK

The grants – ranging in value from £90,000 to £250,000 – will help projects develop resources and plans to bring their ambitions for heritage and communities to life in their local area. These Heritage Places are beginning a decade-long process of change with tailored support from our engagement

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