Video is one of the most effective ways to bring a heritage project to life. However, for many museums, community groups, trusts and local authorities, the question isn’t whether video would help. Instead, it is how to fund it.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder of UK heritage projects, and video production is a legitimate, fundable part of many successful applications. This is true whether that’s an oral history documentary, a short film supporting a restoration project, or content designed to widen public access to a heritage story. This guide sets out how video fits into an NLHF application. It also covers what funders are actually looking for, and what to consider if you’re planning to include a video production budget in your bid.
Does the National Lottery Heritage Fund fund video production?
Yes. Video is not treated as a separate category of funding, but as a deliverable that supports the wider aims of a grant. NLHF funding is built around outcomes: public engagement, learning, community participation, and the preservation and interpretation of heritage. Video production can support all of these. This is why it appears as a legitimate cost line in a wide range of successful applications, from small community history projects to large-scale capital restoration schemes.
The key is that video shouldn’t be positioned as “nice to have” content. Instead, it needs to be framed as a way of achieving the specific outcomes the fund is assessing your project against. That includes reaching audiences who wouldn’t otherwise engage with the heritage in question, creating a lasting record, or making a site or story accessible to people who can’t visit in person.
Where video typically fits into an NLHF-funded project
Oral history and community memory projects. Filmed interviews are one of the most common and highly valued uses of video in heritage funding. They capture testimony and memory that would otherwise be lost, and create a lasting archive resource.
Documentaries supporting a wider project. A short documentary can sit alongside a restoration, exhibition or community engagement project, communicating its significance to a public audience. Furthermore, it supports the “learning and engagement” strand that most NLHF applications need to address.
Access and interpretation content. Video can widen access to a heritage site or story for audiences who can’t physically visit. This is an increasingly important consideration for funders focused on inclusive access.
Legacy and evaluation content. A film documenting the project itself, the process, the people involved, and the outcomes achieved can support the evaluation and reporting NLHF requires once a grant is delivered.
What funders look for in a video production element
A clear link to project outcomes, not just “a film about the project.” Every minute of proposed video content should map to something the fund is trying to achieve: public engagement, access, learning, or preservation of memory.
Realistic, scoped costing. Grant assessors are used to seeing production costs, and a vague or unscoped video budget line can undermine confidence in the rest of the application. As a result, a clear, itemised quote from a production company strengthens a bid.
Evidence the production partner understands funded heritage work. Applications are stronger when they can show the proposed production company has delivered NLHF-funded work before, and understands the reporting and public benefit requirements that come with it, not just the creative brief.
A plan for use after delivery, not just production itself, where the finished film will be shown, how it will be archived, and how it contributes to the project’s long-term legacy.
Building video into your application and budget
If you’re planning to include video production in an NLHF bid, it’s worth approaching a production company early, ideally at the application stage, not after funding has been confirmed. A production partner with heritage funding experience can help you scope realistic costs. It can also help you articulate the outcomes video will support in language that fits how NLHF assesses applications. Additionally, they provide the kind of clear, itemised quote that strengthens a bid rather than raising questions.
Heritage productions we’ve delivered with National Lottery Heritage Fund support
We’ve produced many NLHF-funded heritage films, each supporting a different type of project and outcome:
Lidice – A Light Across The Sea Produced in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Stoke City Football Club Community Trust. Watch on YouTube. A documentary exploring the profound wartime bond between Stoke-on-Trent and the razed Czech village of Lidice, sparked by local doctor and MP Barnett Stross launching the “Lidice Shall Live” campaign. The film has been screened nationally and internationally.
Forward North Staffords Produced in partnership with The World of Wedgwood Museum and the Staffordshire Regiment Museum. Watch on YouTube. A film commemorating the centenary of the Somme and the 168 workers from the Wedgwood pottery factory who left their jobs in the Potteries to fight alongside Major Wedgwood.
Bound by Clay Produced in partnership with Stoke and North Staffs Women’s Network. Watch on YouTube. A heritage documentary celebrating the vital, historical role of women in the North Staffordshire pottery industry.
Tigers at the Somme Produced in partnership with Leicester Museums. Watch on YouTube. A documentary detailing the history and wartime experiences of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, affectionately nicknamed “The Tigers” during the 1916 Battle of the Somme.
Working with Inspired Film and Video
We have direct experience producing video content for National Lottery Heritage Fund-funded projects, including Lidice – A Light Across The Sea, which was screened nationally and internationally. We understand both the creative brief and the public engagement and reporting requirements that come with lottery funding. Moreover, we’re happy to talk through video production costs and outcomes at the application stage of your project before you’ve submitted a bid, not just after.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, we produce heritage documentaries, oral history films and restoration content for museums, archives, heritage trusts and funded heritage projects across the UK. If you’re planning an NLHF application and want to talk through how video could support it, contact our team. We’re happy to advise on scoping and costing before you apply.
Related reading: Heritage Video Production Services