Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories
The Everyday Heritage Grants are for projects that celebrate working class histories and the historic places that make up everyday life.
Across three rounds, we have funded 141 projects across the country that invite participants to take a role in shaping how their local heritage is recognised and celebrated. We’ve funded projects about social clubs, pubs, sports and music venues, farms, factories, local industries, railway stations and much more.
All of the projects are co-created with local communities, to shine a light on diverse stories of working class heritage that are often overlooked or forgotten. The organisations and individuals could apply for up to £25,000 for their projects. We received over 1000 applications across the three rounds.
The aims of the Everyday Heritage projects are that:
- Participants will feel a greater connection to the place where they live or work
- Participants and/or audiences will have a greater appreciation or understanding of diverse working class heritage, and/or feel that their local stories are recognised and valued
- Participants will co-create the projects and have the opportunity to develop, shape and make decisions about how their local heritage is recognised or celebrated
- Barriers to engaging with heritage faced by participants will be recognised and addressed
- Participants will see an improvement in their wellbeing and/or develop skills, social connections or confidence through active participation
One of the outcomes we hoped for, was that we would appeal to organisations that have never applied for or received Historic England funding before. In the most recent round, 83% of applicants had never applied to us for funding before, and 91% had never received Historic England funding.
We worked with a neurodiversity expert to ensure the application process was as accessible and inclusive as possible, and built on feedback from applicants in every round. We know there is still more to do to make our grants as simple as possible to complete. 69% of applicants agreed or strongly agreed that the application form was easy to complete, showing that we still have some work to do in future rounds. 87% of applicants agreed or strongly agreed that the guidance was clear.
In the first two rounds, the majority of the applications and projects we funded were in urban areas, so for round three, we focused on rural and coastal locations.
We don’t currently have any plans to run this grant call again.
The interactive map below shows all of the projects we have funded across the three rounds.
-
Engaging Working Class Young Men with Local Sporting Heritage
'Halifax Stars' is a project that celebrates local boxing heritage. This case study was produced with verd de gris arts.
-
Telling Overlooked Local Stories Through Ambitious Heritage Programming
'Unearthed: Collective Histories' was a 12-month pilot programme of commissions, workshops and events about 20th century histories of Clapham, London.
-
Responding to Local Needs Through Heritage to Increase a Sense of Belonging and Cohesion
The 'Out of the Blue' project shows how you can engage with diverse groups and the importance of this work.
-
Creating a Lasting Legacy Celebrating Workers' History with Homeless People
The 'Navvies' project explores and commemorates the heritage of the 17,000 working-class labourers who dug the Manchester Ship Canal.
-
Exploring Working-Class Local Heritage with School Children
The 'Beneath our Feet' project is an excellent example of working with school-aged children and teachers to tell working-class heritage stories.
-
Using Trauma-informed Approaches to Uncover Sensitive Stories
‘Moments of Grace’ is a co-created project about working-class experiences of marginalised health professionals in London.
-
Building Young People’s Heritage Skills Through Active Participation and Co-creation
The 'People of Jane Pit' project engaged young people with collaboration and access to learning heritage skills.
-
Using Heritage Projects to Create Opportunities for Young People to Learn New Skills
A case study about the Youth Blacksmithing project by Newbigin Community Trust.
-
Uncovering the Role of Sikh Mothers in Smethwick's Industrial Heritage
A case study on the 'Rags to Riches: How Sikh Mothers Made Smethwick' project, led by the Sikh Development Academy.
-
Working with Volunteers to Address a Lack of Bengali Representation in Public Collections
A case study on capturing and preserving the images and oral histories of the Bengali community in East London, led by Four Corners.
-
Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Your Participants in Heritage Projects
A case study on planning and providing access support for project leaders and participants when sharing and discovering sensitive histories.
-
Addressing Sensitive Topics Through Heritage Projects
A case study about 'Remembering Greenheys and Len Johnson', a Steam Hubs and Pubs CIC project.
Also of interest
