Jewish Small Communities Network, a small charity based in Manchester, in partnership with historians at Swansea University, has won a National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant of £73k for the project “Connecting Small Histories: Ensuring Sustainability in Jewish History Projects”. Thanks to National Lottery players, the project aims to help record and capture the proud heritage of Jewish social and economic contributions to their towns, and connect them to the wider history of Britain. Between April 2020 and May 2021 we will be working in 6 locations across the country, Bradford and Sunderland, St Annes and Eastbourne, Cumbria and Somerset. There we will be holding pop-up workshops collecting research and interviews, and working with volunteers from community members, local schools and heritage groups.
Our project was approved before #COVID-19 and is able to proceed despite it.
On the JSCN website, we will be creating a special Heritage Hub to hold and collate information and resources about our own work and an even wider range of Jewish heritage and history projects. The project will culminate with
⁃ an online Reading Festival encouraging communities to connect their histories
⁃ an online Commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day 2021
⁃ and an online History Festival in March 2021 to present local findings, highlight other Jewish Heritage research, and launch the Connecting Small Histories book.
Ed Horwich, JSCN Director, said:
“This is the biggest project we have launched to date and gaining Swansea University as partners is a significant endorsement for JSCN.
We are delighted to have received this funding support thanks to National Lottery players. This will enable us to work with communities and volunteers across the country to highlight the legacy of the Jewish community’s involvement in UK life."
Patricia Skinner, for Swansea University, said, “We’re excited to be partnering with JSCN on this project, which extends our public history and heritage work into a new and exciting area, thanks to Heritage Lottery funding.”
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About SWANSEA UNIVERSITY
Empowering local communities to engage with their history, to create positive and lasting change, is at the heart of what Swansea historians do. A dedicated Project Officer will be working closely with JSCN throughout the project, and drawing on expertise in oral history, public engagement and Jewish history in the History Department.
@SwanseaHistory
https://www.swansea.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/research/
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
National Lottery Heritage Fund grant applications up to £100,000 are assessed by a local panel considering the application against our required outcomes. Connecting Small Histories: Ensuring Sustainability in Jewish History Projects has been granted support by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans.
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
Further information
For further information, images and interviews please contact JSCN: heritage@jscn.org.uk
