In 2020, North East Lincolnshire Council were successful in receiving a solicited grant of £250,000 from National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in support of building capacity and driving engagement in an Area of Focus.
Introduction
In 2020, North East Lincolnshire Council were successful in receiving a solicited grant of £250,000 from National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in support of building capacity and driving engagement in an Area of Focus. The programme commenced in March 2021 with the establishment of the Heritage Network led by Heritage Lincolnshire and a ‘Heritage Starter Fund’ awarding grants of up to £10,000 for grassroots heritage projects, with the potential to use this as a basis for a larger heritage bid. A key aim of the Heritage Starter projects are to reach and engage new audiences, consequently enhancing heritage awareness across the borough.
The challenge
North East Lincolnshire (NEL) is a borough with low levels of investment in heritage (bottom 25 per cent of areas funded by NLHF) and high levels of deprivation. Subsequently, NEL is recognised as one of 13 Area of Focuses for NLHF.
The heritage sector in NEL has tended to be made up of small groups that were poorly coordinated. Yet NEL has a wealth of heritage given its port location and maritime and industrial past, heritage buildings, local history and origins, local legends and surrounding natural location. The heritage sector has needed to gain confidence in their integral role in contributing to regeneration and place shaping, thereby developing a sense of ownership. Resultingly, engagement with heritage in NEL has been somewhat limited, comprising of similar demographic audiences and enthusiasts. The development of the Heritage Network and Starter Fund aimed to address this challenge and build capacity.
Given the low levels of heritage investment, many heritage groups, organisations and those community groups that have an interest in heritage aspects have little or no experience of writing heritage focused funding bids, finding the process daunting and inaccessible. There was a clear need for a stepping stone opportunity to write a bid for a smaller amount of funding and, in doing so, learning about the key aspects of a funding bid. This in turn could potentially help the development of partnerships, for which there were few, with organisations often ploughing a lone furrow in any heritage engagement activity taking place.
The solution
NELC working in partnership with Heritage Lincolnshire launched the Heritage Starter Fund which has enabled organisations in North East Lincolnshire to access Heritage Fund support for the first time with tailored assistance, and an easy to access process alongside enhanced heritage sector empowerment and engagement.
Coupled with sessions during the Heritage Network, groups and organisations have gained confidence in understanding how to work with collaborators, engage existing and new audiences, how to showcase heritage, develop ambition for future development acting as catalysts for further bids, cost and budget plans and measuring of success via outcomes.
The Heritage Network sessions and associated newsletter have in themselves also provided a platform for Heritage Starter Fund recipients to promote their project and highlight the ongoing successes and engagement opportunities to a wider audience.
Additionally, funded projects have had the opportunity to engage in one-to-one support with experts, to enable them to identify the direction of travel their projects may take and, therefore, to act as a support mechanism for future funding bids.
As a result of the development of Heritage Starter Fund applications, heritage can reach a far greater proportion of households, is identified more clearly and looked after, people gain skills and learn about the importance of local heritage, well-being is enhanced, organisations become more resilient and confident in developing larger bids, the local area becomes a better place to live, work or visit and the local economy is boosted. In short, heritage contributes directly to ‘sense of place’
Furthermore, organisations are able to relate to where their project fits in the wider picture in NEL, including broader initiatives, such as Towns Funds, Cultural Development Fund, Heritage Action Zone, Cleethorpes Townscape Heritage Initiative, development at the port (the Kasbah) and North East Lincolnshire’s new Creativity Strategy and associated Board.
The impact
Seventeen Heritage Starter Fund Projects were awarded funds, totalling £142,807, with seven completed to date. Following this approximately £820,000 has been invested by NLHF in four organisations, three of whom received Heritage Starter Funds and one who has worked closely with the programme, developing a Heritage Channel. Eight Heritage Network meetings have responded to areas where applicants may have struggled such as cost plans and outcomes.
Of the seven completed, the following outputs include:
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39 collaborators/other organisations involved
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22 voluntary/community groups
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13 expert/advisory bodies
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15 paid staff
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361 participants/beneficiaries
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6,980 audience members
Highlights from the completed projects include:
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Visitor, Economy, Services and Retail Group (VESR) ‘The Vikings are Coming’, involved 15 collaborators to develop two Viking-themed festivals.
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Our Big Picture ‘Great British Fish and Chips: The Grimsby Chapter’, has researched the Grimsby chapter of a graphic novel and exhibition and has since received £21,000 from the Imperial War Museum, to examine the events of the Cod Wars.
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Capacity Buildings Limited ‘Capturing Cleethorpes Culture’, staged a re-enactment of the Cleethorpes Charter Day, drawing 80 participants and 180 audience members.
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Steve Thornton Photography (alongside Pastures Development Company) ‘Fish Town 1990 to 2020. The EU Years’, exhibition and book drew 2,800 people, involving 75 student participants.
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Linkage Community Trust ‘Exploring Weelsby Hall’s Heritage and Environment’, produced a fascinating client-focussed documentary celebrating the heritage of their building, with 11 collaborators, ahead of a capital bid.
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Grimsby Town Sports and Education Trust ‘The History of Grimsby Town’, reminiscence hub drew 2,400 audience members, 50 participants and triggered memories of those suffering loneliness working with Friendship at Home.
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Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire ‘The Remarkable Legacy of Edward Watkin’, involved 150 young participants to research and present about Edward Watkin’s impact on NEL.
How is the new approach being sustained?
A key emphasis from the application process was for applicants to demonstrate how their proposal will support the development of ambitious projects in the future. All successful applicants were able to demonstrate a plan that had some consideration for this and, potentially, to act as a basis for a large NLHF bid. Subsequently, applicants have been provided with the opportunity for one-to-one sessions, to provide them with the skills they need to consider the direction of travel of their project and support with how this translates into a larger bid.
Of the completed projects to date:
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VESR have established a partnership with Heritage Lincolnshire and gained further funding from NLHF to deliver their Viking-themed festivals in September 2022 and 2023.
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Our Big Picture have used their ‘Grimsby Chapter’ as a basis for their successful fund from Imperial War Museum and to form chapters in a wider book regarding fishing ports in the UK.
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Capacity Buildings Limited have ambitions to develop the re-enactment with a youth focus.
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Linkage Community Trust will develop their capital bid.
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Grimsby Town Sports and Education Trust have been successful in a larger NLHF bid to develop a permanent museum.
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Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire are developing ideas to encompass KS1-3 alongside digital assets.
Projects that have yet to complete have all expressed an ambition that could develop their work beyond the ‘seedcorn’ Heritage Starter Fund.
An emphasis and consideration during recent Heritage Network sessions has been the future of the network and how this may evolve beyond the programme. This is coupled with the recent NELC Creativity Strategy and formation of a Creativity Board, where heritage engagement will sit within a wider portfolio of creativity, culture, arts and heritage, playing a fundamental role as part of the delivery of the strategy over time.
Lessons learned
The programme has to date been a great success. It has been recognised during Heritage Starter Fund application process that some applicants find certain areas challenging, such as clear cost plans and communication of outcomes and this has been mitigated by working closely with Heritage Lincolnshire and adapting Heritage Network sessions to support with such areas.
From the feedback from completed Heritage Starter Fund Projects, we have also gauged from recipients any areas that they would consider changing in the future. Common themes include the need to engage with more young people and providing them with key roles in shaping project futures, payment timescales following receipt of invoices, timescales fitting with wider aspects that could enhance collaboration, unavoidable restrictions impacted by Covid regulations, more gradual than immediate dialogue with hesitant participants and forms to enable lessons learnt to be traced more effectively.
Finally, whilst the projects have demonstrated high levels of engagement, there is still a tendency for older generations and/or enthusiasts to be drawn to some of the projects and project leaders have identified the need to introduce heritage to new and younger audiences in an increasingly diverse way.
Contact
James Trowsdale, email: [email protected]