Cultures and memories

They are also our personal histories, and the experiences that have shaped us and our society.
Since 1994 we have awarded over £500m to 26,700 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.
What do we support?
We fund projects which help to explore, save and celebrate the traditions, customs, skills and knowledge of different communities.
This cultural heritage is sometimes referred to as intangible or living heritage. This is because it is constantly changing and kept alive when practiced or performed.
We also fund projects which document and share people’s memories. These projects often involve oral history interviews, capturing people’s stories and opinions digitally, and making sure they are deposited and accessible now and in the future.
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- research and share oral traditions, such as storytelling or local dialects
- train others in traditional skills and crafts, from dry stone walling and blacksmithing to basket weaving and textile making
- research the origins of culture, such as music, theatre or dance, and create performances influenced by past styles
- share the history and fun of celebrations, festivals or rituals with new audiences, from games and cooking to carnivals and fayres
- capture accounts of traditional knowledge or pass it on, such as woodland management or home remedies
- record the stories of ordinary people through oral histories, for example about growing up, migration or work
- retell people’s memories about a place or event, such as a long-stay hospital, the miners' strikes or the punk movement
How to get funding
Our National Lottery Grants for Heritage programme has resumed with refocused priorities until the end of the 2022–2023 financial year. Find out more and apply.

News
Exciting programme of cultural events for Birmingham 2022 Festival

Videos
What do we mean by heritage?

Blogs
Green Futures: art, drone shows and the spectacle of nature

News
Revealing the hidden history of women’s football

Projects
100 Portraits - a living archive of learning disability today
Artists used portraiture to capture a snapshot of the learning disabled community in Scotland during the pandemic.

Projects
Colonial Countryside: Understanding Country Houses and the British Empire
The University of Leicester provides opportunities for children to explore and think about British imperial history at National Trust Houses.
Projects
Celebrating our Black heroes: The story of John Richard Archer- Battersea’s First Black Mayor
The Black Heroes Foundation staged a short play at Battersea Arts Centre about John Archer, the first Black Mayor of London, elected in 1913.

Projects
Birmingham 2022 Festival: spotlighting creativity in the West Midlands
Running from March to September 2022, the £12million festival will feature hundreds of artistic commissions, engaging a local and national audience with Birmingham’s cultural heritage.

Blogs
Luton: A vibrant, diverse town with a rich heritage identity

News
Cornwall’s historic monuments protected thanks to funding partnership
Projects
Preserving and sharing the memories of London 2012 volunteers
Newham based arts company Parrabbola will share some of the memories of the estimated 70,000 volunteers at the heart of London 2012.
Projects
Exploring Newham’s Olympics heritage
Pakiki Theatre’s Who wants to be an Olympian? project will explore the sporting heritage of the Olympics and Paralympics with young people in Newham.
Projects
The Olympics 2012 Legacy Songbook
Newham Music Trust will create a music programme to help Newham’s schools explore the positive impact London 2012 had on the area.
Projects
Wear it Out: the 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.

Stories
Saving LGBTQ+ stories before they are lost forever

News
Millennium Falcon exhibition to open in West Wales
Projects
Pride! Prevention! Protection! Let’s Talk About Sex
LGBT Foundation recorded the memories of people involved in and affected by safer sex campaigns from the 1980s to the present day.
Programme
National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £3,000 to £10,000
Programme
National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £10,000 to £250,000
Programme
National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £5million
Programme