Today, The National Archives is launching its 2023-24 grant funding programmes for the archives sector.
In 2011, The National Archives became the sector leadership body for archives in England. We work with the archives, and with other Government departments and cultural bodies, to encourage sustainable, innovative and resilient archives across the UK. The funding that we provide helps to deliver Archives Unlocked, our vision for archives.
Since 2006, we have run several grant funding programmes for the archives sector, working alongside a number of charity partners. Last year, we gave over £625,000 to 47 different archives across the UK and have given nearly £3 million since 2017.
In the last five years, we have:
- secured £500,000 of special funding, to sustain archives through the COVID-19 pandemic
- saved important collections at risk, such as the Debenhams archive
- made records accessible to researchers and the public through cataloguing, such as those of London Metropolitan Archives’ Africa Centre
- funded innovative projects that connect people with their history, from Northumberland to Plymouth.
In 2022, we set up a new Grants and Funding Office, and reflected on how we could run our funding programmes most impactfully, going forward. We consulted 125 archives in a sector survey and spoke to thirty other key stakeholders and partner organisations.
We have worked hard to make our funding more accessible, more responsive and more evidence-driven, while continuing to fund the vital work of the archives across the UK. You can read more about our new approach, and our new programmes, on our Grants and Funding webpages.
For anyone interested in finding out more, we are holding a launch webinar on Wednesday 14 June, where we will share some of the results of our consultation, introduce our new programmes (including four grant programmes which will be immediately available to apply to), and answer your questions.
You can sign up for the launch webinar on Eventbrite.