Community heritage

Community heritage

The interior of a 1950s hairdresser's shop. A visitor is having their hair styled by a stylist in vintage clothing. A child sits in a high chair next to the visitor.
Visiting the 1950s hairdresser at Beamish Museum. Credit: Nigel Roddis
Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Since 1994 we have awarded £590million to more than 27,600 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.

Two cambodian women giving oral history testimony
Two women giving oral history testimony.

Projects

Cambodian Recollections

Cambodian people living in the UK shared their memories of their experiences under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime in this oral history project.

Two people from the City Stories project
Participants of City Stories photography project.

Stories

Seven projects to connect communities to local heritage

Discover how stories of Leeds' diverse communities are showcased in a new series of projects commissioned as part of our £2.4million support for the city’s year of culture.
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 group of six women standing side by side with raised tea cups in their hands

Projects

You, Me and Tea

Exploring Northern Ireland’s association with tea, its trade links with India and China, and bringing diverse communities together.

Person taking a picture of the South African flag on a phone camera at The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning event
People at a community event discussing The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning.

Projects

The UK’s first centre dedicated to anti-apartheid heritage

This project will restore the former headquarters of the African National Congress at 28 Penton Street, London, creating a new centre to share the stories of South Africa's liberation.

Two people holding a sign for a local community organisation standing outside a historic pub building
Work is starting to restore the Y Plu pub and transform it into a local cultural hub

Projects

Saving a 200-year-old community pub on the Llŷn Peninsula

Our funding is helping the Menter y Plu Community Benefit Society plan how to save and re-develop a Grade II listed pub – Y Plu.