Awarded Projects

Seed Corn Grants Awarded Round 2

Greater Manchester Youth Network

‘Held in Care’ is a youth-led heritage project exploring what heritage, place and belonging mean to care-experienced young people. Through a series of creative workshops, young people from across Greater Manchester will work together to explore how their shared experiences form part of our collective heritage and how these stories should be recognised, protected and remembered.

The project will culminate in a youth-designed creative resource, which participants will share with care-experienced young people across Greater Manchester to gather wider feedback. Alongside this, we will bring together archive, museum and library partners to begin shaping a longer-term, collaborative approach to preserving and celebrating care-experienced heritage.

We expect the project to increase young people’s confidence, pride and sense of belonging, while helping heritage organisations better understand their role in recognising and safeguarding the histories of care-experienced young people. The learning will directly inform the next phase of GMYN’s Care Repository, ensuring it is designed by young people from the outset.

Jo Campbell, Head of Business Development says: “This funding gives us the time to do something really important: to listen before we build. ‘Held in Care’ isn’t about creating an archive overnight; it’s about giving care-experienced young people the space to decide what their heritage is, what should be remembered, and how it should be held. That learning will shape everything that follows, and we’re delighted to be taking this first step with the support of The National Archives.”

TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland)

We intend to use the grant to pilot a new way of collecting and sharing Scottish Deaf stories in British Sign Language, using the Scottish Deaf Archive as a starting point for lived-experience storytelling. Led by Deaf storyteller Tania Allan in partnership with TRACS and Deaf History Scotland, the project will support up to six Deaf participants to engage with archive material and create short BSL films reflecting their memories, stories and connections to Scottish Deaf heritage.

The project will test practical approaches to filming, translation, accessibility, editing and low-cost equipment, while exploring how storytelling and heritage documentation skills can be developed within the d/Deaf community. The anticipated outcomes are a small collection of BSL story films, shared learning on effective and sustainable methods, a final community event, and a report with recommendations to inform future funding and a potential toolkit for archives working with Deaf communities.

Joanne Urwin, the Storytelling Development Officer at TRACS,  says: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this award, which will make it possible to explore new ways of sharing Scotland’s Deaf heritage through British Sign Language storytelling. This support means we can work directly with Deaf participants to bring archive material to life through personal memories, lived experience and visual storytelling. I hope the project will not only create meaningful new stories, but also help develop a practical model that other archives and Deaf communities can build on in the future.”

Khizra Foundation (Everyday Muslim)

Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative will develop and test a simple digital submission form using existing web infrastructure to test a new community-led method of collecting heritage, that enables communities across the UK to record and submit their own oral histories, photographs and archive materials.

Working with community partners alongside a UK-wide open call to established community organisations, we will pilot the system in real community settings. Participants will record interviews locally and upload them through a structured process supported by consent templates, metadata prompts, and guidance. To make participation accessible, we will produce a practical toolkit and a short video demonstrating how to record interviews, prepare digital files and submit material suitable for long-term preservation.
The project will evaluate whether a distributed, digitally supported collecting model can widen participation, reduce barriers created by travel and volunteer capacity, and generate evidence for future investment in community-led digital archiving.

Sadiya Ahmed, Founder of Everyday Muslim says: “The opportunity to test new ways of collecting is invaluable to a small organisation like Everyday Muslim. If we are able to collect oral histories and other materials digitally, it would support our vision to increase accessibility and equity in our collecting.”

Metroland Cultures

Whose History? is a one-year pilot with No More Exclusions and Red Thread, working with Metroland Cultures to co-design a youth-led, community organising approach to archival research and oral history through the history of the Brent Community Law Centre (1971–2001). Young co-researchers will be paid to explore archive materials, develop interview questions, and conduct pilot oral history interviews with former BCLC workers. The project will produce a guide for the heritage sector while supporting young people and community organisers with new research skills and a deeper connection to Brent’s history of social justice.
Louise Shelley, Interim Director at Metroland Cultures, says: “We’re thrilled to receive this support to work with a group of young people and community organisers as co-researchers, developing a collaborative approach to archival research and oral history while learning from the work and organising of the Brent Community Law Centre (1971–2001).”

The Telling Stories Press

This grant will enable young Norwich residents who identify as LGBTQ+ to form a new storytelling collective and work with The Telling Stories Press to publish their own illustrated books. Their publications will respond to the Norwich Castle’s retrospective exhibition of pioneering LGBTQ+ activist and cartoonist David Shenton, and the collective will lead a celebratory book launch in which they’ll present the Castle with a new stories to share with their visitors.

Rose Feather, Director of The Telling Stories Press CIC, says: “We can’t wait to work with this new storytelling collective in response to David Shenton’s retrospective of joy, protest and the power of coming together to make change. This project feels like passing on the baton to Norwich’s queer young people, and we’ll work together to make new published books which will live on proudly in Norwich Castle after our book launch on the exhibition’s last weekend.”

Jan Pitman, Learning Manager for Norfolk Museums Service, also says: “The project aims to provide young people—particularly those from underrepresented and marginalised backgrounds—with meaningful, creative engagement in heritage and storytelling. This project aligns strongly with our mission to make history personal, participatory, and relevant to the lives of local audiences.”

Miracle Theatre

Miracle Theatre has been awarded funding from the Spaces, Places and Belonging Community Hub to deliver A Leap of Faith, a community‑led oral history project exploring how people in Cornwall experience, express and share faith today. Working with specialist partners, schools and community groups, we will train young people in oral history interviewing, ethical recording, digital skills and drama‑based confidence building. They will gather stories from older residents and members of diverse faith and non‑faith communities, culminating in a small online exhibition. The project will strengthen young people’s skills, deepen community connections, and help preserve voices that are currently under‑represented in Cornwall’s heritage collections.

Sally Crooks, Co-Artistic Director of Miracle Theatre, says: “We’re delighted to receive this support from the Spaces, Places and Belonging Community Hub. This project gives young people the chance to develop new skills, build meaningful connections across generations, and help capture stories that reflect the diversity of contemporary Cornwall. We’re excited to create a welcoming, community‑led space for shared learning and storytelling.”

Seed Corn Grants Awarded Round 1

Black Men Teach

Black Men Teach CIC will use their £5,000 grant to develop a community-led programme that centres belonging, identity and aspiration for Black boys. This programme will create safe and affirming spaces where they can feel seen, heard and valued. The project will allow Black Men Teach to strengthen local partnerships, pilot new activities, and lay the foundations for sustainable, long-term impact within communities.

Johnoi Josephs, Co-Founder of Black Men Teach CIC, says: “This funding comes at a crucial moment for our organisation as it allows us to invest in spaces that foster belonging and challenge misconceptions, while supporting Black boys to thrive educationally and personally. We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity and excited about what this project will make possible.”

Inspiring Yarns CIC

Inspiring Yarns CIC will use their grant to deliver the ‘Fabric of our Community’ project.  This intergenerational project will enable them, through story-telling and textile arts, to create a textile map of their community, highlighting areas of significance to Northern Ireland’s rich textiles history.

Claire Anketell, CEO of Inspiring Yarns CIC, says: “We are absolutely delighted to accept this grant to deliver our Fabric of our Community project. The project combines everything we are passionate about as an organisation and creates a tactile art piece which will document how people feel connected through textiles.”

Museum X

Museum X is ‘an experimental museum bringing people, places, and stories together to test ideas and reimagine African and Caribbean heritage in a whole new way.’ They have secured funding for their project ‘Our Living Archives’ which will see them work with rural descendant communities in Cornwall to explore how archives can better reflect lived experience, migration histories and the region’s global connections.

Sandra Shakespeare, Founding Director of Museum X CIC, says: “We are pleased to receive this Seed Corn award from The National Archives in such a competitive round. This funding allows us to test creative, community-led approaches to building ‘living archives’ that expand how heritage is collected, interpreted and shared.”

Newleaf Foundation

A Seed Corn grant will facilitate the Newleaf Foundation’s initiative to conduct approximately 40 life-story interviews with women from diverse backgrounds, including Somali, Pakistani, Afghan, Romanian, Nigerian, and Caribbean communities. These interviews aim to illuminate the lived experiences of immigrants and individuals from minority ethnic groups who have encountered mental health challenges, substance abuse issues, and domestic violence.

The interviews will be systematically transcribed and, when necessary, translated to ensure accessibility to a broader audience. Subsequently, these narratives will be archived on a free digital platform, thereby establishing a lasting repository that documents the resilience and strength of these individuals.

Proud Gypsy Traveller

Through their project, ‘Stories in Motion: Preserving Ethnic Gypsy & Traveller Histories’, Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC will work with Gypsy and Traveller individuals and families in South Yorkshire and surrounding areas to record and celebrate lived histories, cultural traditions and personal stories that are rarely represented within mainstream archives. Through creative community workshops, participants will share oral histories, photographs and reflections on travelling, home, identity and belonging. The material gathered will be curated into a portable pop-up exhibition and digital display, ensuring these stories can be shared both within the community and with wider audiences.

For generations, Gypsy and Traveller heritage has largely been recorded by external institutions. This project will support the community to begin reclaiming that narrative — documenting their own histories, in their own voice, and shaping how their culture is represented and preserved. The project will also help Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC build the skills and partnerships needed to develop a longer-term vision for a community-led Gypsy and Traveller archive and heritage space.

Remembering the Past

‘Shared Ground’ is a partnership project between Remembering The Past, Burradon and Camperdown Community Association and Imagining Better. It will explore how sharing memories and experiences can build relationships and inspire future community action. Based in Burradon, and examining community in North Tyneside, the project will bring older and younger residents together to map important communal spaces, reflect on how the village has changed, and consider what these shared stories mean for its future. The pilot will strengthen local connections, support wider participation in Burradon Forum, and create a more inclusive record of village heritage.

Alexandra Watson, Director of Remembering the Past, says: “This funding gives us the chance to pilot a more future-focussed approach to heritage work. By creating space for people across generations to listen to one another, we hope to uncover shared values and support small but meaningful steps that help Burradon continue to thrive.”

Southend Museums

Southend Museums have secured funding for their Loss to Legacy project. Sarah Wayman, who will be project managing this initiative, says: “This funding will kick-start urgent work to memorialise The Cliff, which closed suddenly in July 2025 after over 50 years as an LGBT pub. Its closure marks the end of an era. For half a century, The Cliff was a hub of LGBTQ+ life in south-east Essex, but this funding will ensure its significance can live on and support our community to become custodians of our own history.”

Vittorio Richetti, curator at Southend Museums, says, “With this grant, we will begin training community members as oral historians to gather and archive the stories, memories and recollections of those who socialised at The Cliff over the decades. It will also allow us to start working in partnership with the community to co-design a fitting memorial for The Cliff. Both the memorial and the archive of oral histories will be a huge asset to the local and wider academic communities to learn about and remember the huge impact of this unique queer space.”

This New Ground

‘Archive of Us – Unlocked Voices’ is a pilot heritage project led by This New Ground, a female neurodivergent-led arts organisation working with adults with a learning disability in Portsmouth. The project places adults with a learning disability at the centre of heritage-making as paid co-curators, story leaders and facilitators. Building on 50 oral histories collected by researchers with a learning disability, the project team works in partnership with Portsmouth Archives and Libraries to test new, accessible ways of interpreting and sharing these stories through a pop-up exhibition, listening posts and community zine-making workshops.

Nathalie Russell-Clarke, Co-Director for This New Ground, says: “For the first time, people with a learning disability are not just contributing their stories to an archive – they are deciding how those stories are shared, valued and understood. This funding allows us to turn unheard histories into a public, accessible space where people with a learning disability are recognised as leaders in their own heritage.”

Voyage

Voyage Youth will be working on a new intergenerational heritage project that will support 15 young people in Hackney to help formally archive the stories of our Windrush elders. Through this programme, young participants will be trained in community archiving, oral history and heritage documentation, working closely with elders whose experiences helped shape modern Britain.

The project will culminate in the formal archiving of the elders’ book and related materials in Hackney. Working with partners including Hackney Archives and the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, the project will ensure these powerful stories are preserved and accessible for future generations. By connecting young people directly with living history, the programme aims to inspire new pathways into heritage, culture and the creative industries while honouring the legacy of the Windrush generation.