Cultures and memories

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 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. This often involves capturing oral histories and ensuring they are 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
If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.

Projects
Ironbridge Coracle Heritage
A small group of volunteers set out to preserve the last remaining coracle maker's workshop on the River Severn and started the Ironbridge Coracle Trust.

Projects
Victoria Park Primary Academy - Memories of spice in Smethwick
The role of spices in shaping local culture, cuisine and customs has been captured thanks to a community history project in Smethwick, Sandwell in the West Midlands.

Projects
Celebrating Cumbria’s LGBT history
The Celebrate project will collect memories, stories, photographs and objects in order to explore the heritage of LGBT communities in Cumbria.

Projects
Revealing medieval Abberley
Volunteers and school children used archaeological techniques to discover the lost heritage of Abberley, Worcestershire.

Projects
Capacity Building and Cultural Ownership - the V&A in partnership with culturally diverse communities
Through new partnerships with diverse ethnic communities, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A) sought to encourage cultural ownership of its collections and develop heritage skills for people within and outside the museum.

Projects
Primary school children explore the stories of the Fens
Primary schools explored the customs and traditional stories of the Fens and shared their learning through art, performance, music, exhibitions and publications.

Projects
Building resilience in Sunderland ship-building heritage charity
Sunderland’s 600-year-old ship building heritage is celebrated by the enthusiastic volunteers of Sunderland Maritime Heritage (SMH).

Projects
Exploring the history of African footballers in the UK
From Ghana-born Arthur Wharton in the 1880s to Togolese Spurs star Emmanuel Adebayor, African footballers have been bringing their incredible skills to the UK's professional football leagues for nearly 130 years.

Projects
Yemeni Roots, Salford Lives
The Yemeni Roots project captured the story of the Yemeni community in Eccles through a variety of oral history interviews, reminiscence work and creative art.

Projects
Leicester LGBT Heritage Project
This three-year project recorded the oral histories of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland's LGBTQ+ communities, from before partial decriminalisation in 1967 to the present day.

Projects
In The Long Run: Thirty Years of the Great North Run
The famous half-marathon’s social history and cultural impact was documented for the first time in a major exhibition that marked the event’s 30th anniversary.

Projects
Celebrating Somali community roots in Liverpool
The Understanding and Celebrating our Roots project explored the historical links between Britain and Somaliland through capturing oral histories from Liverpool’s Somali community.