Creative Island – in partnership with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation – is launching a new £250,000 heritage fund: ‘Past Futures’ – A People’s History of the Isle of Wight.
‘Past Futures’ is an 18-month programme funded by The National Heritage Lottery Fund to broaden the range of voices telling the history of the Island.
The ambition is to uncover, capture and record the rich cultural heritage of the Island to help Islanders reflect on their identity.
The project benefits from having a consultant dedicated to supporting potential applicants through the process, who will also look to identify new stories and communities of people.
There will also be a digital consultant to ensure applicants have fully developed the digital needs of their proposal.
This programme establishes a small, grassroots fund to build confidence, celebrate, and shift the perception of the people and history of the Isle of Wight, focusing on the towns, villages, workplaces, customs and traditions that shape us as a distinctive set of communities.
Gavin Stride, Director of Creative Island, says:
“This is exactly what we were hoping for with Creative Island. That we would be able to collectively make the case for the Isle of Wight and attract new resources to benefit the widest possible range of voices.”
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Jacqui Scott, Chief Executive of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation, adds:
“We hope that the projects funded will create a broader audience for the Island’s heritage, and that the programme will demonstrate how beneficial heritage projects can be in enabling our communities to flourish.
“We are delighted that National Lottery Heritage Fund have focused these funds on such a unique part of our region.”
The programme aims to increase the knowledge, confidence and skills of the museum and wider heritage sector through a programme of capacity building and small grants of £5,000 to £10,000, to support a diverse range of community partners to reflect the Island’s heritage in their own, unique ways.
The programme will engage new audiences, thus strengthening identity, pride and confidence in ourselves.
Kelly Wetherick, who has been appointed the role of the Programme Lead, will be leading in outreach, capacity building, and enabling the successful delivery on the creation of compelling projects.
Can somebody please translate all that twaddle into plain English so I can understand what they are talking about?
I wasn’t sure either, but it seems to contain at least 2 consultants regardless of what it might achieve. I’m now wondering if there will be for instance a beneficial heritage project for the ‘voices’ of those who use the foodbank. That’s certainly shaped our communities and needs a broader audience.
My thoughts exactly.
I find these projects worrying. I recall one in a mainland coastal town which attracted lottery funding for a rather unclear purpose. The guy heading the organisation was driving round in a jag the week after the award was made. Clarity and transparity is not hard.