History For Change Network

The ‘History for Change’ conference took place in 2018 as part of the Heritage Lottery funded ‘Homeless History of Newcastle’ project. The event celebrated local history projects with a ‘radical’ aim or theme, bringing together speakers from a range of projects across the North East and beyond.

Many attendees expressed surprise about the breadth and diversity of projects happening across the region and the social relevance of many local history projects, as well as regret that they often had been unaware of other groups’ work.

Northern Cultural Projects has been active in the fields of community history and heritage in the North East for over a decade.

In 2020 we want to set up a network of like-minded groups, organisations and individuals with an interest in community-driven history/heritage projects that challenge existing perceptions and focus on ‘hidden’, contentious and diverse histories in the North East, including projects that use history to shed new light on current social issues and to gain a better understanding of the present.

Membership will be free, and meetings will take place in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The network wants to

• Act as a hub and offer regular meetings to share ideas and exchange knowledge.
• Foster new collaborations.
• Invite experts from universities, funding bodies etc. to provide advice.
• Provide mentoring for groups and organisations to develop project ideas and funding         applications.
• Encourage the use of unused public and private space for events and exhibitions.
• Share findings and stimulate exchange and dialogue through a conference.

At this stage we are trying to establish if there is enough interest to go forward.

Please let us know if you / your organisation would be interested in becoming involved by replying to this message or by emailing <>.

We have also put together a short survey at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/55S25YR
to find out in more detail what people would expect from this network.

Please feel free to share this information.