Image: Karbon Homes -Renewal (Karbon Homes)
Young people to co-create heritage projects across England, combining local history with creative interpretations through murals, podcasts and augmented reality trails
Historic England has announced funding for 21 youth-led heritage projects across England, as it aims to engage young people with local cultural history.
The projects, funded through the ‘History in the Making’ programme, will run for 18 months starting January 2025.
The initiative, which attracted nearly 100 applications, provides grants of up to £15,000 per project. Each project will be co-created with young people aged 13-25, with a particular focus on under-represented communities. Historic England’s Young Advisers played a key role in the selection process.
Among the projects receiving funding are: a new mural on Newcastle’s Byker Wall estate; a podcast series documenting the history of Masjid Ibrahim mosque in Newham; and an augmented reality trail exploring King’s Lynn’s queer histories.
In Bradford, four projects will align with the city’s 2025 UK City of Culture programme, including a musical heritage project utilising QR codes to share local stories.
Impact assessment data from the previous year’s programme suggests 93% of participants had increased motivation to engage in community activities after the programme. Historic England said the programme has shown measurable improvements in participants’ confidence, skills development, and local area knowledge.
Ellie Djerir, Head of Participation Programmes at Historic England said participants “felt more confident, developed new skills and learned something new about their local area.”
Heritage Minister Sir Chris Bryant highlighted the government’s commitment to equal opportunities, noting that the programme will “enrich the lives of young people, develop their confidence and unearth history to shape their future.”
Projects include
Shared Stories, Bradford
Shared Stories will celebrate musical and cultural histories across Bradford. Young people will conduct interviews and research before creating their own musical and audio responses. These new works will be shared via QR codes around the local area. Part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Canal to Garden: Unearthing Greater Manchester’s Green Heritage, Manchester
Canal to Garden will engage young people in Greater Manchester to uncover and celebrate the hidden history of local canals and flora through hands-on gardening, historical research, and creative expression. It will result in a heritage garden that tells the story of our local environment.
Platform Panel Project, St Leonards-On-Sea
A diverse team of early career young creatives are at the heart of the Platform Panel Project. They’ll be creating new panels for station platforms in St Leonards-On-Sea that respond to local history alongside zines and audio interpretation.
On the Map – Marking the History of Masjid Ibrahim, Newham, London
The young people at Masjid Ibrahim, a mosque in Newham, want to explore and document the history of their mosque and the people connected to it. They will interview community elders and create a series of podcasts and video reels. Young people will commemorate their work physically through a mural at the masjid, which will act as a portal to the digital content created.
Renewal: Byker’s bold past and bright future, Newcastle
Young people from the Byker estate will be exploring the origins of this ground-breaking housing development and considering how the past can inform the estate’s future. Their findings will create a new mural and shutter designs on community-run buildings at the heart of the estate.
Positive Notes, Peterborough
Peterborough has been perceived as lacking a distinct identity. This project seeks to create a deeper connection to local cultural history by creating an art trail across the town. Words and artwork will appear across the city to spark dialogue and celebrate the overlooked histories of under-represented young people.
Pride in the Moorlands, West Midlands
LGBTQIA+ young people in the rural Staffordshire Moorlands are often very isolated. This project will bring them together to explore local queer history. Young people will work with an artist to co-create a place maker celebrating the stories they want to commemorate. This will be unveiled at the first Pride event in the area, co-produced by these young people.
Summat Creative, Bradford
This project focusses on the overlooked history of people with learning disabilities who worked in Bradford’s mills in the 1800s and 1900s. After historical research and creative exploration, learning disabled young people will help create a model of a mill and fill it with their own creative responses to the stories they’ve unearthed.
Our Home, Our Stories, Staffordshire Moorlands
This project will work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to build a sense of connection to the new land they find themselves in. This project seeks to develop a sense of belonging and connection to the area by exploring the heritage and historical significance of the Staffordshire Moors. The place marker will be designed by these young people and created by a local artist.
Whitaker Park: Sounds of the Past, Rawtenstall
Whitaker Park and was once known for sound and music, but its bandstands are now silent. This project seeks to bring the music back. Young people will be paid to work with a curator to uncover these histories before creating sound-based responses. QR codes in the park will link to these new soundscapes.
Queer Histories of Lynn, King’s Lynn
Young people will create an augmented reality trail through King’s Lynn town centre exploring the queer histories of the town. This will connect to a permanent artwork created in partnership with True’s Yard. What form this artwork takes will be in the hands of the young people.
