The Cardiff Story Museum has been successful in its application to receive further funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The Museum has been awarded £53,700 as part of the Our Heritage grant scheme. Added to the other funding received from the Cardiff Museum Development Trust, Waterloo Foundation and the Landfill Communities Fund, the team are now able to begin their Cardiff’s Communities project.
The aim of the Cardiff’s Communities project is to refurbish the Museum’s first floor gallery, work with Black and Minority Ethnic community groups and young people to research, collect and interpret their history.
The project will create the first in a series of temporary exhibitions that look at sport, leisure, culture and communities in Cardiff. The Museum will also be seeking to encourage young people and diverse groups to visit and volunteer within the Museum.
Cabinet Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture, Cllr Ramesh Patel: “The Cardiff Story Museum is a vital resource in providing an introduction to the city for visitors and a community resource for residents, providing a great insight into the city’s history. The new project allows the team to expand their work with community groups, and bring to life more of the capital’s history.
“I’m particularly pleased to hear that the Museum team will be working with young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs). As an administration our aim is to make Cardiff a NEET free city. Working with the Museum will provide people with new skills and develop confidence.”
He added: “I must also thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for their continued support of the Museum. From the start HLF has been a great champion of the museum, providing initial funding of £440,000 to the project. The new investment from them and other others has made it possible to launch the Cardiff’s Communities Project.”
“We’re all really excited to get started,” explained Museum Manager, Victoria Rogers. “It’s going to be a real partnership project with the Cardiff community. We’ll be involving and working with people from all walks of life, to collect and record the sporting, cultural and leisure heritage of the city, and the histories of all the diverse communities and interest groups who together make the Cardiff we all know and love.
“At the moment, the Cardiff Story Museum galleries look at themes like working life and the architecture in the city – things that have created the city’s identity in a physical way.
“What’s really exciting about this project is that we’ll be able to look at sport, culture, language, faith, ethnicity; all the things that have created the ‘soul’ of the city’s identity too.”
Jennifer Stewart, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales, said, “We are thrilled that this latest HLF grant will enable Cardiff Story Museum to develop and reach out to all of Cardiff’s communities to ensure their histories are told and accurately reflect the make-up of the City as it has become today.”
