1. Home
  2. What Is Heritage?
  3. Cultures and memories

View as PDF

Cultures and memories

Cultures and memories

Two people are in a costume room and are looking down at a pattern on a cutting table. In the background are images of costumes, costumes on mannequins and rolls of fabric stacked on shelves
Credit: Carrie Davenport / Lyric Theatre.
These are the customs and traditions, skills and knowledge, passed down to us through generations.

Since 1994 we have awarded over £480million to more than 24,500 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.

Explore our available funding
People sit on chairs in a circle watching someone give a presentation. In the foreground a video camera films them.
Video offers an accessible way of preserving Deaf heritage. Credit: British Deaf Association.

Projects

Uncovering Deaf stories in Northern Ireland

A new heritage video library is sharing the untold stories of Northern Ireland’s sign languages and Deaf communities.

People gather to form the shape of the number 800 on a hill overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne, with the town of North Shields in the background.
Celebrating 800 years of heritage in North Shields Credit: North Tyneside Council.

Projects

Celebrating 800 years of heritage in North Shields

Our funding will support 10 exciting projects as part of the wider North Shields 800 programme, conserving and sharing the town’s past, present and future.

A group of young boys sneak a view through gaps in a Belfast peace wall.
Peacelines I. Photo: Frankie Quinn. Shared with permission of Belfast Archive Project.

Projects

How collaboration helped Belfast Archive Project reach new audiences

Through working with national partners, a team of dedicated volunteers has unearthed remarkable photographic treasures documenting the history of Northern Ireland.

A person wearing ear protection stands behind brightly coloured threads.
Ribbon Weaver at Wyedean Weaving Company. Credit: Tim Smith.

Projects

Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions

This oral history project captured the unheard voices of Bradford’s textile mill workers to celebrate the area’s rich industrial heritage.

Four people stand in front of a train engine and hold a progress pride flag
Joanna Jarvis , Imogen Watmore, Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn and Harvey Barker holding Pride banner in front of HST loco in Great Hall, National Railway Museum, (NRM) York. © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

Stories

Mind the gap: uncovering missing stories from railway history

People, Pride and Progress is recording the experiences of LGBTQ+ workers to explore unheard perspectives on railway heritage.
Two people of Chinese heritage play a drum in a procession, while people in the background hold placards with photos of Chinese relatives
Ancestral Futures by Eelyn Lee and collaborators, commissioned by Dig Where You Stand. Photo: Anh Do.

Stories

How artists can uncover hidden histories and fill gaps in the archives

South Yorkshire project Dig Where You Stand invited creatives to explore the often overlooked and poorly documented evidence of people from diverse ethnic communities across the area's history.
Shelves full of pamphlets and bookmarks highlighting significant LGBTQ+ writers
Lavender Menace in Edinburgh. Credit: Andrew Thompson.

Stories

Five community spaces that made LGBTQ+ history

Lavender Menace, Edinburgh Founded in 1982, Lavender Menace was the first LGBTQ+ bookshop in Scotland. The shop, and its successor Wilde & West, soon became a hub where people could meet, share experiences and discover LGBTQ+ literature that was hard to find elsewhere. Today it’s been reimagined as
Participants at tables making baskets at the Beacon Centre
Participants with a visual impairment making wicker baskets at a Beacon Centre workshop. The tactile craft has a long history and remains popular at the charity. Credit: The Beacon Centre.

Projects

Shining a light on the heritage of the sight loss community

In its 150th year, the Beacon Centre for the Blind in Wolverhampton will preserve the stories of visually impaired people and make the city’s archives more accessible.

Trevor Swinburne talks to a group of the community.
Retired professional football goalkeeper Trevor Swinburne previously played for Sunderland. Credit: Foundation of Light.

Projects

Improving community wellbeing through heritage-based learning

Coals to Goals empowered under-served communities to share their memories, knowledge and skills while exploring Sunderland’s rich mining and football heritage.

A stilt walker in an elaborate gold and blue costume with a flowing robe. Behind them other stilt walkers in a range of multi-coloured costumes
Moko Jumbe Stilt Walkers at the Edinburgh Festival Carnival.

Projects

Youth ambassadors champion Edinburgh's carnival heritage

Young people are at the heart of this two-year project to document, celebrate and safeguard the cultural heritage of Edinburgh’s ethnically diverse communities.

Celebrating dance at Newham Heritage Month
Newham Heritage Month events celebrated the intangible cultural heritage of the borough's communities including Bharatnatham dance. Credit: K J Martin.

News

Celebrating the stories of London boroughs

From Kingston to Barnet, we’ve supported communities across the area to connect with the diverse heritage on their doorstep.
A view of the now-destroyed tree at Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's Wall.
Preventing acts of criminal damage to heritage sites is a critical concern. Photo: Gordon Leggett, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Stories

Crime, AI and innovation: what our heritage sector surveys revealed in 2025

Our new UK Heritage Pulse research investigates the impact of crime on heritage settings. It’s the latest insight from our conversations to understand the views and experiences of our sector.
A collage of black and white photographs of person smiling, two people laughing with their arms around one another and a runner with their arms in the air wearing a medal
The project will record and archive memories of learning disability and family life. Credit: Mencap Cymru.

Projects

Preserving the heritage of learning disability and parenting

Mencap is collecting and sharing the stories of the families it’s supported across Wales over its 80-year history.

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