Focus area: Heritage
The East and SouthEast of England are rich in both built, cultural and natural heritage. Their long histories of invasion, defence, trade, pilgrimage and pleasure have meant that our region has more heritage assets than any other in the country.
Over a third of listed buildings in England are in the Greater South East (GSE), and it has the most museums and galleries of any region in the UK. Many of these benefit local communities economically, but also give a sense of identity and pride to them, and as such can play an important part in levelling-up areas of social and economic deprivation.
We aim to work with regional stakeholders to support them in this. We have a strong trackrecord in this area already, through our centres and institutes, including CreativeUEA and the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Kent’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) and Centre for Heritage, the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab and the Keep, the joint archive it hosts with local authorities. We also have experience in hosting longterm funded programmes in this area, including Creative Estuary and the Consortium for the Humanities & the Arts South East England AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (CHASE).