Iris Awarded Grant By National Lottery Heritage Fund To Preserve And Celebrate Heritage of Iris Prize

On 2 December 2024, Iris Prize Outreach announced a £137,500 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to preserve and celebrate the heritage of Iris Prize, the organisation behind Cardiff’s LGBTQ+ film festival and the world’s largest short film prize.

Established in 2006 the Iris Prize has proudly shared LGBTQ+ stories with audiences in Cardiff and across the UK. Keen to ensure that the films that have competed for the Iris Prize and the experiences of our communities are captured and persevered for the benefit of future generations Adleisiau Iris will record oral histories to give context to the Iris Prize archive. Without this funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund this rich resource reflecting the changing nature of LGBTQ+ communities would remain inaccessible and at risk of being lost forever.

The National Lottery funded project will enable the community to capture oral histories documenting how the stories shared at the annual film festival have reflected the concerns and interests of LGBTQ+ people over the years.  We’ll also be able to digitise resources and catalogue our collections to make them accessible for generations to come.

Volunteers will be able to take part in the project, assisting with the recording of the oral histories and digitising the archive. Training will be offered to support skills development and allow even more people to play a part in preserving Iris’ heritage.

In the long-term, the project will build the heritage skills of Adleisiau Iris volunteers, strengthen the network of groups and organisations working together to celebrate the first twenty years of the Iris Prize and raise public awareness of the importance of looking after films and the associated materials that give them context.

Berwyn Rowlands, Chief Executive of Iris Prize Outreach said:

“We are thrilled to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we’ll be able to ensure the LGBTQ+ stories shared through and inspired by the Iris Prize remain accessible to future generations.

“It feels like only yesterday we were dreaming of creating something like Iris. Little did we know that almost 20 years later we would be looking back and reflecting on some magical memories of sharing global LGBTQ+ stories and Cardiff charm. This project is going to be emotional and historically significant as we protect and share the legacy of Iris.”