Barnet Council has awarded £70,000 to support ten community-led and locally based heritage projects this year, as part of Barnet’s cultural programme Light and Flight, a year of creativity, connection and belonging.
This grant programme, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will allow artists, residents and local partners to uncover hidden histories, share stories and create new work inspired by Barnet’s past, present and future. Light and Flight is supported by a Cultural Impact Award, part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture programme.
Cllr Anne Clarke, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure, Arts & Sport, said: “Light and Flight is an ambitious and inclusive cultural programme shaped with and for the people of Barnet.
“We want to make our heritage more visible and meaningful for everyone, and the Community Heritage Grants will really help local organisations uncover, explore and share the stories, places, people and traditions that shape our borough.”
Barnet Council received 49 competitive applications for funding of £5,000 – £10,000, for heritage projects that celebrate Barnet’s unique culture and creativity.
Successful recipients of the grant include*:
- Colindale Communities Trust – Highlighting the story of the Hendon Aerodrome and the Grahame Park estate
- East Finchley Community Trust, in collaboration with The Finchley Pollinator Project – Reconnecting people, green spaces, and local history through historic walking routes
- Burnt Oak Nepalese Community – Documenting and celebrating the lives, memories and cultural roots of Nepalese people in Burnt Oak
- JUST INCARNIVAL Arts and Culture – Celebrating Barnet’s diverse cultural identities through carnival arts and migration stories
- Heritage Community Crafts - Exploring crochet traditions preserved by African and Caribbean seniors in the UK
- Stonegrove Estates Youth Project / St Peter's Stonegrove – Commemorating the journey of the Stonegrove community
- F.U.S.E Youth Project – Making a documentary film about youth clubs in Grahame Park and Colindale
- Art Against Knives – Illuminating spaces across the borough that exist in the shadows with a community archive
- CB Plus – Celebrating the lived experiences of Barnet’s African diaspora communities.
- Barnet Education Arts Trust (BEAT) – Exploring local stories, people, and traditions through interdisciplinary arts
Stuart McLeod, Director of England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “It’s fantastic to see the first community grants awarded as part of the Light and Flight project. Thanks to National Lottery players, these projects will allow communities across Barnet to explore, protect and share the heritage that makes the borough so special. Heritage has a huge role to play in instilling pride in communities and bringing people together and these projects will do exactly that.”
Grant recipients will be offered guidance on the delivery and evaluation of their projects, with the aim of supporting longer-term organisational capacity, to secure future funding and sustain impact beyond the life of the grant.
Earlier this month, the council announced a series of creative commissions for the Light and Flight programme, including the appointment of award-winning artist Matthew Rosier, working in collaboration with leading public art organisation UP Projects, to create a major artistic commission. For more information on this these artistic commission unfolding across 2026, visit: https://www.barnet.gov.uk/news/matthew-rosier-and-projects-appointed-deliver-major-artistic-commission-barnet
Light and Flight will continue to reveal further programme details and opportunities for residents to get involved throughout 2026.
Visit lightandflight.co.uk to discover more and sign up to the newsletter for the latest updates as the programme builds towards its celebratory finale in November 2026.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
*Successful recipients of the grant and full details of their projects:
Colindale Communities Trust – Arrivals – Animating the Stories of Grahame Park is a ten-month community heritage project which highlights the story of the Hendon Aerodrome, and the Grahame Park estate which is built on its footprint, as a place of arrivals and journeys. Leaning into the area’s aviation heritage, it animates the diverse journeys of communities coming to the estate.
East Finchley Community Trust, in collaboration with The Finchley Pollinator Project – Pollinators, Pathways and the Historic Walks of Finchley is a community heritage project running from February 2026 to February 2027 that reconnects people, green spaces, and local history through three historic walking routes.
Burnt Oak Nepalese Community – This community-led heritage project will document and celebrate the lives, memories, and cultural roots of Nepalese people in Burnt Oak.
JUST INCARNIVAL Arts and Culture – Digital Migrations and Carnival Futures is a heritage project celebrating Barnet’s diverse cultural identities through carnival arts and migration stories.
Heritage Community Crafts - Stitching Stories will explore the craft of crochet, highlighting how Seniors (aged 65+) from Africa and the Caribbean practised this craft in their countries of origin and continued to preserve these traditions after journeying to the UK.
Stonegrove Estates Youth Project / St Peter's Stonegrove – Stonegrove Stories Set in Stone will celebrate and commemorate the physical and metaphorical journey of the Stonegrove community.
F.U.S.E Youth Project – F.U.S.E will be making a short documentary film, FLY Heritage, exploring the heritage of youth clubs in the Grahame Park and Colindale area.
Art Against Knives – This community archiving project will make it possible for 50+ socially excluded young people to illuminate spaces across the borough that exist in the shadows, amplifying their stories of safety and belonging.
CB Plus – The Heritage Capes Project: What We Carried is an intergenerational creative heritage initiative celebrating the lived experiences of Barnet’s African diaspora communities.
Barnet Education Arts Trust (BEAT) – The Music, Poetry & Lyric Writing Project is a creative heritage initiative that engages secondary students across Barnet in exploring local stories, people, and traditions through poetry, music, and interdisciplinary arts.
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. The Community Heritage Grants are made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Light and Flight is presented by Art in Barnet. It is funded by the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture – Cultural Impact Award, awarded to Barnet Council for a transformative creative project that echoes the Mayor’s commitment to celebrating diverse communities and local heritage, and shining a light on London’s hidden stories.
Additional support for Light and Flight is provided by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.
About the London Borough of Culture and Cultural Impact Awards
Cultural Impact Awards are part of London Borough of Culture, a Mayor of London initiative. They are awarded to transformative creative projects that bring about a positive impact on local communities and a step change in local policies and strategies. The aim is to bring Londoners together, celebrating the unique and diverse culture and heritage of our boroughs.
Barnet, Greenwich and Merton have received Cultural Impact Awards for ambitious cultural projects in 2026 that will led by local artists and draw visitors from across the city and beyond.
So far, London Borough of Culture has engaged over 3m people in person and online, created over 25,000 opportunities for young people, leveraged more than £22.2m funding, involved 5,100 artistic partners, over 5,000 volunteers, and 569 schools.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
Follow @HeritageFundUK on X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund