Apply Now: Local Heritage Grant Scheme (UK)

They want to support local people and improve access and engagement with Torbay’s heritage. This new investment will resource a Torbay Local Heritage Grant Scheme to run across mid-2023 to late 2025. It will also enable advice and support for local grant recipients, and evaluation.

This new scheme will help them with their ambition to celebrate and increase local engagement with their UNESCO Global Geopark designation. Local organisations, groups and societies will be able to apply to the Scheme. The grant scheme will:

• Provide the momentum for more engagement with the different designations around the bay. This will work alongside the overarching theme of their UNESCO designation, such as scheduled monuments, listed buildings.
• Allow smaller scale partners to access support that they otherwise could not consider. For example, developing activity or resources that support intangible heritage or untold stories.

Aim

• The aim of grant scheme is:
  • To improve access and participation in Torbay’s heritage and raise awareness of, and celebrate, their UNESCO Global Geopark designation.

Focus Areas

• Like the Heritage Fund, they do not define heritage. They ask you to tell them what you think is important and should be preserved. This can mean any of the things listed below and more:
  • historic buildings
  • industrial legacy
  • the natural environment
  • collections
  • traditions
  • stories

Funding Information

• The grants available range from small amounts, to much bigger amounts. Grants are available:
  • from only £500 up to a maximum of £5,000 for activity. This could used be for events, temporary displays, lecture series etc.
  • up to £7,500 for capital. This could be used for purchasing permanent equipment, physical improvements to places etc.

Expected Outcomes

• Here are some examples of what they are looking for in the outcomes:
  • This can mean:
    • People can access and enjoy your project proposal easily.
    • People who may have never attended heritage events watch, visit, or participate in the activity you organise.
    • Your proposal may have different platforms or outlets (so a talk may be recorded, or shared through YouTube, or in a leaflet)
    • A wider range of people from different age groups, backgrounds and places work together as part of your project idea.
    • Your idea may be one that develops over time and uses community ideas to develop in the future.
    • The project will present or celebrate stories about Torbay’s heritage which you think are not being told.
• The local area will be a better place to live, work, or visit:
  • This can mean:
    • Project ideas that make a place more attractive, using local heritage as an inspiration.
    • You have a project in mind that will encourage people to come and explore a place or enjoy a given locality, through heritage.
    • The project is something which you know is appealing to people – residents or visitors – and which celebrates Torbay’s amazing stories.
    • The project presents a different perspective on heritage in your neighbourhood.

Eligible Projects

• Examples of project ideas are:
  • A heritage society wants to fund a programme of local events which celebrate themes in the Heritage Strategy. They want to present these events during the Geopark festival. They want to encourage people to learn more about their UNESCO designation.
  • A youth group wants funding to buy equipment to create films celebrating lesser-known local stories. They want to help people to discover new facts about their history.
  • A museum wants to create a new exhibition or buy equipment for public lectures. They want to reach audiences who have not previously visited.
  • A volunteer group wants to create a new trail to explore a place that is less well known. They want to share its story with local communities. They want to encourage people to come together and be more active.

Eligibility Criteria

• They welcome proposals which demonstrate an understanding of environmental and social responsibility. This means a proposal is:
  • environmentally responsible in itself (subject or theme), or,
  • simply reflects a sustainable and socially responsible approach to delivering the outcomes.

For more information, visit Torbay Council.