Northern Cultural Projects CIC are an organisation specialising in leading arts and heritage projects that benefit the community, often working closely with older people, people with disabilities and minority ethnic communities.

Twenty volunteers from both the Iranian and wider community came together to take part in the project. Thirteen of these participants were trained in oral history recording and transcribing before taking part in the interviews on Iranian immigration and history.

Nineteen audio, video and written interviews were collected and became part of the Discovery Museum’s ‘Destination Tyneside’ gallery. A research placement student aided the volunteers in disseminating their findings and conducting further research into Iranian history. They eventually went on to volunteer as a member of the group, focusing on creating downloadable, educational material from their discoveries.

The group’s findings became the foundations of four heritage talks which took place at Newcastle University and a behind the scenes tour of the Oriental Museum in Durham.

This grant has definitely helped us move forward as an organisation. We have established greater visibility in the region and drawn considerable attention to our work.

Silvie Fisch, Project Lead of Northern Cultural Projects CIC

Throughout the project, the general public were welcomed to multiple Iranian heritage celebrations hosted by the group. These included Norouze (Persian New Year) celebrations at Newcastle University’s Culture Lab, and an Iranian Culture Day which showcased traditional crafts and cultural activities.

Silvie Fisch, Project Lead of Northern Cultural Projects CIC, said: “This grant has definitely helped us move forward as an organisation. We have established greater visibility in the region and drawn considerable attention to our work. We are grateful that HLF trusted us to deliver a project that was not without risks and challenges. In the end we received fantastic feedback from the Iranian community who felt that the project had brought them closer together. Their enthusiasm to learn about and celebrate their culture and heritage was exceptional.”