Shared Future News receives grant from the Shared History Fund to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland
Shared Future News
17 March 2021
Shared Future News has been awarded a grant through the Shared History Fund.
The Shared History Fund, which The National Lottery Heritage Fund is distributing on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office, will support groups in marking the centenary of Northern Ireland in 2021, in thoughtful, inclusive, and engaging ways.
The fund received high levels of interest, and following a competitive application and assessment process, 39 projects across Northern Ireland were awarded grants, including Shared Future News.
What does Northern Ireland mean to you?
Shared Future News will use the funding to create a podcast of interviews asking people “What does Northern Ireland mean to you? The question sounds simple, but we want to hear and share what this place means to individuals from a range of backgrounds and a range of time spent here.
We hope this will provoke rich conversations around what their centenary ancestors thought about this place, as well as their own modern day experience of living and working in Northern Ireland. And we look forward to hearing what our interviewees think this place should be like 100 years from now.
Allan Leonard, editor of Shared Future News, said:
“We’re grateful to the Northern Ireland Office and The National Lottery Heritage Fund for providing this funding. Thanks to this grant, we will be able to share untold stories about Northern Ireland’s history and broaden our perspectives on what the centenary means to a diverse set of interviewees.”
In awarding grants, The National Lottery Heritage Fund prioritised those organisations that best demonstrated how they were inclusive of different audiences and interpretations of the past, in line with the Principles of Remembering.
These are a set of principles that The National Lottery Heritage Fund developed in partnership with the Community Relations Council in 2011, to help groups navigate difficult history and to ensure the stories told throughout the decade of centenaries were thoughtful and inclusive of a range of perspectives.
The projects funded by the Shared History Fund are diverse and cover a wide range of subjects and key moments in Northern Ireland’s history, from discovering untold stories of our past, to the development of different communities, to hopes for the Northern Ireland of the future.
Mukesh Sharma, chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Northern Ireland, said:
“As a leading funder of heritage throughout the UK, we understand the central role that heritage plays in people’s lives and their communities. We also recognise that there are aspects of heritage that can be challenging. No one narrative is more important than another, and it’s important that we create a space that allows a range of stories to be told. The Shared History Fund supports projects that will not only mark the centenary, but will show how we can engage with difficult heritage going forward.”
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About Shared Future News
Shared Future News is an online publication that shares stories of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. It was established in 2008 as part of a cross-community initiative to encourage active citizenship and participation in public policy. Volunteers have reported on the activities of grassroots organisations, across the generations and political spectrum.
Shared Future News was established as a Community Interest Company in 2020. Its public benefit is to make freely available quality published news, information, and personal stories on the topics of peacebuilding, reconciliation, and diversity. Its vision is a shared Northern Irish society where peace is improved by reporters and researchers. Its objective is to provide depth and context to peacebuilding activities in Northern Ireland and beyond.
https://sharedfuture.news • @SharedFuture • #SharedFuture
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
The National Heritage Memorial Fund, which also operates as The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is delivering the Shared History Fund on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.
The Shared History Fund uses funds provided by the UK Government and is not National Lottery funding. Outside of this fund, The National Lottery Heritage Fund uses money raised by the National Lottery, inspiring, leading, and resourcing the UK’s heritage, to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future.
Since The National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £41 billion for projects and over 565, 000 grants have been awarded across the UK.
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk • @HeritageFundUK • @HeritageFundNI • #NationalLotteryHeritageFund • #SharedHistoryFund
