Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation’s Community Investment Committee met this month to review the penultimate round of funding applications, focusing on Art, Culture & Heritage and Wellbeing through Nature for 2026. The committee reviewed each application with the ambition to provide funding and a platform to underrepresented voices and communities living in Letchworth.
Arts, Culture & Heritage
Each Arts, Culture and Heritage grant application feeds into the town’s Culture Strategy, to deliver cultural activities that share the story of the Letchworth Garden City, ensure inclusivity and diversity are given equal access to opportunities and to increase young people’s engagement with the arts in Letchworth Garden City.
Disability Arts Online were awarded £10,000. They have partnered with Broadway Gallery to create: Anything, Anywhere for Anyone, bringing together a group of abled and disabled Letchworth residents together to create a body of work, to be unveiled at Broadway Gallery. The resulting exhibition will demonstrate Letchworth’s commitment to inclusive cultural participation and provide a visible platform for young disabled people as artists, contributors and cultural voices.
Khalsa Youth Football Academy were recipients of a grant of £10,000. They have developed a series of creative workshops ranging from poetry to photography in the aim of getting 50 young people to contribute to a creative collection called Letchworth Voices. The project will give young people opportunities to create, communicate and collaborate through creative expression that communicates their unique experiences and perspectives from the South Asian diaspora living in Letchworth.
Wellbeing Through Nature
The committee also reviewed applications around Wellbeing Through Nature, prioritising applications that focussed on improvement of the mental health of Letchworth residents. These applications and awarded grants underpin the 2026-28 Wellbeing through Nature Strategy, to promote ‘Learning, Caring and Health’ through nature incorporated activities to the Letchworth community.
Herts Mind Network were awarded £10,000 for their programme Growing People, to provide weekly sessions, over ten weeks to deliver gardening activities to 30 adults facing mental ill health, led by a Horticultural Therapist alongside their volunteers. Activities will include gardening, food growing and biodiversity projects in the aim to reduce social isolation, increase confidence and develop a connection to nature and community.
Impactful Lives submitted a successful application for £9,040 to launch their Thriving Together wellbeing programme designed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ individuals living in Letchworth. This programme will be delivered across key green areas in Letchworth: Norton Common, Howard Park and the Greenway.
The committee also awarded over £25,000 to Letchworth Foodbank and Letchworth Schools Family Support Team. Both organisations provide a robust and vital service that have a profound effect on families and individuals in Letchworth, that rely on their interventional services and support.
Applications for the last quarter of 2026 are now closed with the final round of funding completed. The last meeting, in December, will reflect on the sustained impact made in 2026 and will set objectives for the new Letchworth Garden City Community Trust, who will lead the Community Impact Committee from 2027.
You can find more information on the new Community Trust at www.letchworth.com