The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s new “Dynamic Collections” grant programme is intended to support the heritage sector to build resilience in its recovery from COVID-19 by enabling collections to evolve to meet the changing needs of the communities around them, and to reflect more people's history and experiences.
Grants of up to £250,000 are available to UK museums, libraries and community organisations for projects which involve a wider range of people in heritage and promote public engagement with collections. Grants of over £250,000 may also be awarded, albeit occasionally, particularly for more significant, strategic projects involving multiple organisations or partnerships.
The Heritage Fund defines a “Dynamic Collection” as one which:
o Enables different perspectives to be heard and a variety of stories to be told.
o Is actively managed and reviewed, and
o Is used by, and meaningful to, a wider range of people.
The fund has 3 funding priorities for the development of “dynamic collections”:
1. Collections Management - bringing new solutions to long-term issues in collections care and use, and leading to more efficient collections management and development.
2. Engagement - transforming the way people engage with collections, and making the long-term changes needed to build a diverse audience, and
3. Re-interpretation - helping people whose experiences have previously been excluded to feel represented and heard by supporting projects which reflex the richness and complexity of UK heritage through collections.
Projects proposals should:
o Actively involve the public in collections management, use and development.
o Make collections relevant to a wider range of people, and
o Take a creative, strategic and sustainable approach to collections.
To apply, eligible organisations should register and apply through the Heritage Fund application portal. Though not a condition of the grant application process, organisations are invited to complete a Project Enquiry Form for feedback on their project proposal.
Further information, guidance and access to the application portal is available on the Heritage Fund website.
Applications may be made up to and including Friday 31st March 2023 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they arrive.
Contact details for the fund are:
Dynamic Collections
The Heritage Fund
7 Holbein Place
London
SW1W 8NR
Tel: 020 7591 6042 or 020 7591 6044
Email: enquire(at)heritagefund.org.uk
