Support the Future Talent Programme
Help us to empower new voices within the heritage sector
The Future Talent programme supports young people from underrepresented backgrounds into paid short and longer-term placements in Historic England offices across the country. This includes young people from the following groups:
- People from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds
- Individuals with disabilities and/or who are neurodiverse
- Those disadvantaged by their social or economic circumstances
Placements enable participants to gain valuable hands-on experience of working in the heritage sector, developing skills to enable them to take their next steps into a heritage career. Through their voices, experiences and talents, participants also enrich Historic England (and the wider sector) by creating a more diverse and representative workforce.
As a national organisation with connections to other heritage sector experts and government, Historic England is not only able to offer these opportunities throughout England but encourage positive change across the sector.
How you can help
As we continue this important work, we are actively seeking funding for numerous placements over the next three years.
Each short-term placement (4-12 weeks) requires £4,000 of funding and each longer-term placement (six months) requires £15,000 of funding.
Please contact us for further information on how to support the programme, or simply donate via our website.
During 2022 and 2023, 30 participants took part in the Future Talent programme.
After completing a short-term placement, participants could then apply for a longer and more intensive longer-term placement of six months, allowing them to take the next step on their journey within the heritage sector.
Feedback has been positive, with 100% of participants expressing an interest in a career in heritage following their placement:
“The placement has opened up a whole load of other career paths for me...working with Historic England has made me much more likely to apply for jobs in this field.” Programme participant
As a result of the programme, participants also felt that they were equipped with the tools and resources to look for heritage jobs, inspiring them in their next career steps:
“I learnt more about how multi-faceted the heritage sector can be, and so there may be more suitable opportunities to work in the sector than I previously imagined. For example, I’m interested in the community engagement part of heritage and wasn’t aware of that before.” Programme participant
We’re working with a diverse range of partners to help the programme reach underrepresented groups within the heritage sector, including The Mobility, Blueprint for All, The Leonard Cheshire Foundation, Career Ready and Barbassa.
We are immensely grateful for the support we've received from The Mercers' Company, which is generously funding four Emerging Talent placements and six Step Up placements between 2023 - 2027.