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Museums, libraries and archives

Museums, libraries and archives

Museums, libraries and archives
Museums, libraries and archives tell the stories of our cultural heritage.

Through preservation, exhibition and community engagement, they can bring collections, places and ideas to life. They help us to understand culture, science and history, and give us a sense of place, identity and community.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded £2.5billion to 6,000 museum, library, archive and collection-based projects across the UK. See stories from projects we've funded below.

What do we support?

We provide grants for heritage projects from £10,000–£10million for projects led by or featuring museums, libraries and archives.

Our funding supports institutions large and small, including:

  • national, local authority and independent museums, libraries and archives
  • historic libraries
  • community archives and oral history collections
  • institutions with heritage collections

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • create exciting new exhibition and learning spaces
  • attract new and more diverse audiences
  • acquire new items and develop collections
  • improve organisational resilience

For more inspiration, see the stories below, browse projects we've funded, or explore our recent Dynamic Collections campaign.

How to get funding

Our National Lottery Heritage Grants programme is open for applications.

Find out more and apply
A group of people outside a heritage building featuring a clock tower at Hopetown Darlington.
Staff from Darlington Borough Council and Hopetown.Darlington at the new visitor attraction. Photo: Ellen Hunter.

Projects

Hopetown: celebrating the North East’s railway heritage

A state-of-the-art visitor attraction and community engagement scheme celebrates the historic Stockton and Darlington railway line.

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.
A large pile of silver coins on a black background
The Chew Valley Hoard. Credit: © British Museum.

News

Major Norman Conquest coin hoard secured for the UK

The Chew Valley Hoard, which at £4.3million is the highest valued treasure find on record, has been acquired by the South West Heritage Trust thanks to National Lottery funding.
Banners and historic photographs inside the Shipbuilders Gallery.
Inside the new shipbuilding gallery which is showcasing the area's rich heritage. Credit: The Dock Museum.

Projects

Sharing Barrow's past, present and future

The Dock Museum in Barrow-in-Furness has undergone a major refurbishment to celebrate the area’s rich shipbuilding and engineering 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.
People walk around the exhibits including peace banners and posters
Exhibition and collection items on display in the new building at Salt Mills. Credit: The Peace Museum.

Projects

Bradford’s unique museum exploring peace moves to Saltaire

The Peace Museum has made its collection more accessible in its new permanent home at Salt Mills in Saltaire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A group of people are in a studio taking part in a movement and dance workshop
Young people take part in a movement and performance workshop as part of the Catalyser learning programme. Photo: Hunter Gatherer.

Projects

Choreozone: Activating an Archive

Clod Ensemble is celebrating and sharing the lived experience of performance artists, improving access to the collections and inspiring a younger generation.

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