The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced a further commitment of £15 million to support heritage skills through its Skills for the Future initiative.
The special funding initiative will provide hundreds more training places to address skills shortages in the heritage sector.
Building on an already substantial investment of £26.8 million since 2009, HLF’s Skills for the Future programme aims to deliver high quality vocational learning in the skills needed to look after buildings, landscapes, habitats, species, and museum and archive collections. Encouraging potential trainees from all walks of life, it can also equip people to lead education and outreach programmes, manage volunteers or use digital technology.
Skills for the Future applicants will be encouraged to build in supplementary training, such as business planning or marketing, to prepare them for the modern heritage economy.
Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, said: ‘The Skills for the Future programme is a huge success story which will have a lasting impact on the sector and the wider economy. One of our key aims is to build organisational resilience within the sector. Ensuring people have the skills to look after our heritage is an important part of that.
The news was also welcomed by Matthew Hancock, Under Secretary of State for Education and Business Innovation and Skills. He said: ‘Skills for the Future offers paid opportunities to people of all ages and backgrounds, and provides the double benefit of protecting and nurturing skills and attracting people who might not have previously considered a career in the heritage sector.’
First-round applications need to be submitted by noon on 31st January 2013 for a decision in May 2013.
Online application packs are available at: LINK
HLF will be running a number of Skills for the Future pre-application workshops across the UK in November and December 2012. For further information call 020 7591 6042 or visit the website at: LINK
M&H Online Article: LINK
