Heritage Lottery Fund in Merton

Programme for this morning 10am start Sarah Gould, Service Manager Heritage & Local Studies, LB Merton: The role of heritage partners in the borough 10.20 Lucy Hares, Heritage Lottery Fund: An introduction to HLF and what is heritage What HLF can and cannot fund, and HLF’s priorities The main grant programmes, with case studies of projects Support available for applicants in developing a bid 11.30 Tea/coffee break Group session where people can discuss their ideas and scope out a

project proposal. 12.30 finish.

What is the Heritage Lottery Fund?

• Lottery distributor - ‘good causes’ • Regional and country offices • Distributes £250m per year, £8.6m in London, £2.4m

to small grants, and increasing in 2012/13 • Awarded over £4.5billion over past 15 years,

supporting over 30,000 projects

The Heritage Lottery Fund in Merton

• Merton hasn’t received as much funding as other London boroughs

• One of five development priority boroughs in London • £4,912,408 awarded in LB Merton since 1994 • HLF want to see more applications from the borough • More support available for organisations to submit

‘fundable applications’ • Not ring-fenced money

What is heritage?

“…everything tangible and intangible that we have inherited from the past, and value enough to want to share and sustain for the future.”

What does HLF mean by heritage?

• Countryside, parks, gardens and wildlife;

• Exploring the histories behind cultural and local traditions;

• Industrial, transport and maritime history;

• Records - such as local history archives, oral history;

• Historic buildings and sites; • Museum collections

Who can apply?

• Not-for-profit organisations, not individuals

• Need a registered Constitution and set of accounts

• Private owners can apply for activities, but HLF are unlikely to fund capital/conservation works to their heritage items or land

What’s a project?

• Time-limited • Has specific aims • Work that’s above and beyond

the day-to-day work and responsibility of your organisation

What we don’t fund

• Projects that don’t focus on heritage • Work that’s already started • Repeat projects we’ve funded before • Salaries of existing staff • Overseas travel • Planning work i.e. options appraisals • Promotion of political or faith groups

Other funding restrictions

Not standalone projects, purely consisting of: • Visitor facilities – cafes, toilets, car parks • Publishing research findings • Creating digital materials (websites, DVDs) • Replicas • New works of art, memorials, monuments • Learning materials or new learning spaces • Projects to reduce environmental impact

But these could all be part of a wider HLF project

Projects that use the arts

What makes a heritage project, which involves arts activities, different from an arts project?

• Focus on the past, and on the diverse heritage of the UK

• Involves direct contact with the heritage • Involves one or more heritage organisation • Helps people to learn about heritage

A project which is only concerned with organising a

one-off celebratory event, performance or exhibition is unlikely to meet our priorities

Main grant programmes

• Young Roots - £3,000-£25,000 • Your Heritage - £3,0000-£50,000 • Heritage Grants - over £50,000

Targeted programmes

• Parks for People • Townscape Heritage Initiative • Landscape Partnerships • Repair Grants for Places of Worship • Skills for the Future (closed)

Young Roots • Awards between £3,000 to £25,000 • Ten-week assessment time • No deadlines • Can fund 100% of project costs • Pay grant in three instalments – 50%, 40%, 10%

• Youth-led projects • Delivered in partnership between a heritage

organisation and a youth organisation • Creative, encourage volunteering and celebrating

young people’s achievements with a wider audience

Case study: Sailing to Britain Applicant Tara Arts Partners: Croydon Museum, with the National Maritime Museum

and the Museum in Docklands Grant award £17,800 Heritage focus: During 1800 – 1914 hundreds of Lascar seamen

from China, India, Bengal and West Africa migrated to London, many then worked in the textile mills along the River Wandle.

The project: 30 young people from Arts Beat took part in workshops to research and interpret this heritage. They received training in oral history techniques, recording interviews with decedents of Indian migrant Lascars, and visited the National Maritime Museums and Museum in Docklands to carry out further research.

The Museum of Croydon ran 4 workshops with the young people to help shape their ideas for an exhibition, which was the held at the Clocktower for 3 weeks. The museum and young people also ran workshops for new audiences to learn about this local heritage, and developed an education pack and short performance about Lascar heritage.

Your Heritage

• Awards between £3,000 to £50,000 • Good for first time applicants • Ten-week assessment time • No deadlines • Can fund 100% of project costs • Pay grant in three instalments – 50%, 40%, 10%

Meeting our aims

• Learning (mandatory)

• Conservation or • Participation, or all three!

Case study: Reflection: 50 years of mental health heritage Applicant: Richmond Borough Mind Grant award: £49,800 Heritage focus Richmond Borough Mind celebrated it’s

50 year anniversary in 2009. Following changes through various mental health Acts, different support networks and improving attitudes to mental health, what have been the challenges and successes of this local organisation, and how do past users remember those times?

Participation Volunteers were trained by the Oral

History Society to carry out at least 20 oral history interviews with past clients of Richmond Mind. Others researched changes to mental health support in the borough and south London since the 1950’s. A project steering group met regularly.

Learning Participant's research and the oral histories

were integrated into a documentary film which was screened several locations. An exhibition about Mind’s 50-year heritage toured local hospitals and community centres, and information is now stored at the National Archives.

Heritage Grants

• Awards over £50,000 • Two-round process, with development phase

between rounds (which HLF can fund) • Apply with an overall vision at round one, and in

detail at round two • Three month assessment time for each round • Under £1m - decisions made by London Committee

on a quarterly basis • Over £1m – decisions made by national Board of

Trustees who meet every 2 months

Case study: Heart of the Park project, Morden Hall Applicant National Trust Grant award £999,000 Heritage focus: The 19th century stables at the centre

of Morden Hall Park were run-down and have never been accessible to the public, and the nearby waterwheel was deteriorating badly.

Conservation: The stable buildings and landscape were carefully restored and the snuff mill waterwheel was repaired. The waterwheel is now too fragile to turn but a new hydro-electric turbine has been installed, making the site 100% carbon-neutral.

Learning: New interpretation about the site’s history has been displayed in the stables, a schools programme has begun, oral histories have been collected and a documentary film about the site has made by volunteers. Regular community workshops on sustainable living and conservation are planned.

Participation: Volunteers were trained to help with site clearance and future visitor stewarding. The NT aimed to diversify their volunteer base and attract younger participants.

HLF pre-application service

• Initial heritage idea • Read HLF guidance notes,

case studies, ‘Thinking About…’ • Talk to partners locally • Submit a pre-application form online • Get a written response in

10 working days • Grant surgery in Merton • Develop idea, we can meet again if

necessary • Apply!

Key tips

• The best partnerships start early, with agreements on what you can all commit to and deliver

• Share your pre-application and the feedback from HLF with your partners

• Attend the grant surgery, and send us your budget before you submit

• Give lots of detail in your application form and project plan – numbers are helpful to assess value for money

• Demonstrate good project management and training where necessary.

What we assess

• Value for money and related benefits of project

• Relevant to UK’s heritage • Meets our aims • Response to a need or opportunity • Well planned and managed project • Capacity and capability of applicant organisation • Financially realistic and a need for lottery funding.

Success factors

• Primary reason for rejection has been insufficient funds

• Weaknesses tend to be in the areas of heritage learning and participation

• Some projects have unclear or irrelevant partnerships i.e. no support from a museum, archive or natural heritage organisation

• Can be concerns about costs and risks in project planning and management

• Increased competition from statutory providers (local authorities, local archives and museums, national charities)

Contact us

Lucy Hares Development Officer HLF London Tel 0207 591 6174 Email lucyh@hlf.org.uk www.hlf.org.uk