The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund have issued their 2013 Call for Applications for the Arts, Culture and National Heritage Sector. The closing date for applications if 12 April 2013.

Application Pack

The Application Pack may be downloaded from the National Lotteries Board web site and applications are for projects which are planned to last no more than one year.

Priorities for Projects

The priorities for distribution of funds is to contribute to development needs, enhancement of social and moral responsibility, and economic viability of programmes designed to advance rural, under-privileged and poor communities. Specific priority areas include (1) support for courses designed to protect and promote traditional knowledge and cultural expressions (2) promotional works of arts and craft produced by groups of disabled people and women (3) Development and preservation of cultural heritage site for revenue generation including tourism attraction, and economic viability for the community (4) Promote and support entrepreneurial development through training of women and providing necessary infrastructure and facilities for framing projects as a primary response to economic development and reduction of unemployment levels.

Specific Priority Areas for National Heritage projects

For the National Heritage activities priority will be given to provincial and local heritage organisations that submit proposals focusing on the following areas: (1) Identification, Research, Documentation, Conservation and Exhibition, (2) Heraldry, archives and libraries focusing on addressing part imbalances, national building and indigenous knowledge (3) Indigenous knowledge systems (cultural tradition, oral history, rituals and popular memory) (4) Restoration of national heritage of significance as identified by the relevant statutory heritage authority such as the National Heritage Council and the South African Heritage Resources Agency. The maximum application in the National Heritage activity is R15 million and only one application per organisation can be submitted.

How we can help

The ETHER Initiative is a commercial enterprise and as such cannot be involved in any project as a partner. This fund is only available to non-profit organisations, government bodies, and parastatals.

However, many of the activities will require support in many areas and we are able to provide help as a service provider to projects in a number of ways such as (1) using our ETHER Base system to assist you with inventorisation and documentation of heritage, and to provide support for implementing best practice SPECTRUM procedures for improving how your heritage objects, archives and materials are managed, (2) Using our ETHER Repositories for handling your digitised content, and helping introduce a digital element into the projects, (3) support from our ETHER Virtual Tour Guide and Virtual Exhibitions, which can help with making heritage sites more attractive for the modern tourist armed with their mobile phone in search of new an modern experiences to connect themselves to what they see as they travel.

Give us a call or make contact via email. We can help make your application for funding more attractive and noticeable.