- Communities in conflict and climate-affected regions to benefit from £8.95 million over three years through the Cultural Protection Fund (CPF), the UK's main response programme to international heritage protection
- The renewed programme includes management of Culture in Crisis, an events series and web portal previously managed by the V&A
- 2026 marks a decade of the CPF’s work to safeguard heritage at risk from conflict and climate change
The UK has extended its flagship international Cultural Protection Fund (CPF), for a further three years, renewing support for communities safeguarding heritage threatened by conflict, climate change and global instability.
Led by the British Council, in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), CPF will invest £8.95 million to support community-led efforts to protect cultural heritage worldwide.
Building on a decade of success, CPF will continue to strengthen local leadership and expertise, supported by international collaboration and partnerships.
The CPF will also assume management of Culture in Crisis, a global programme developed by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) over the past decade.
It will provide expert insight, targeted training, and sector-leading events for cultural heritage professionals worldwide.
A new programme of events under the programme will be announced in spring.
CPF will also maintain the Culture in Crisis Portal, the world’s largest database of heritage preservation activities, which brings together over 1200 projects connecting over 600 organisations, funders and practitioners, with over 35,000 users from 182 countries each year.
Since 2016, the CPF has awarded over £56 million in 160 projects in 20 countries, enabling organisations and communities to protect, document, and conserve culturally significant sites, objects, and traditions.
In 2024–25 alone, projects funded by CPF created 480 paid roles, worked with 127 partners, protected 58 monuments and conserved over 10,000 objects.
Projects include the safeguarding of one of the oldest and most globally significant fossil sites on Earth, including the protection of 1.5-million-year-old hominin footprints at Ileret in Kenya, and the revival of Maqam music in Mosul, Iraq, a centuries-old musical tradition after being almost eradicated.
The fund has also supported urgent interventions to protect heritage and communities affected by severe crises, including in Gaza and Sudan.
A new funding call for projects protecting cultural heritage at risk will open this spring.
Ruth Mackenzie, Director of Arts at the British Council, said:
“Cultural heritage connects communities to their identity and history, but faces major threats from conflict and climate change. Thanks to this funding, we can continue our work with communities and experts to ensure that tangible and intangible heritage is a living part of how we understand ourselves.
“As the Cultural Protection Fund marks its tenth anniversary, this renewal celebrates a decade of impact while committing to protect heritage for future generations."
Ian Murray, UK Arts Minister said:
“When culture is protected and shared, all of our lives become richer. The Cultural Protection Fund helps safeguard some of humanity’s most vulnerable treasures and practices and I’m proud that the UK can support projects across the world through partnerships and by sharing expertise.
“Once languages, traditions, sites and objects are lost, there’s no way to bring them back. If we only get one opportunity to preserve these treasures - it’s vital we do it now.”