Spaces, Places and Belonging: Community Hub Training Needs Survey

Spaces, Places and Belonging is a new UK-wide programme of grants, training, and digital tools to help explore, share, and celebrate community history and heritage. What training and resources can the Community Hub provide that would be of the greatest benefit to you? We’d love your input on how we can shape them to better support your goals and needs. This survey is intended to inform the training and guidance offered by the Community Hub to those participating, sharing and preserving their community’s heritage. We are aiming to reach a wide range of community groups and their supporters to help shape what training resources become available. Who is the survey for? We welcome responses from:

• Individuals with experience or interest in conducting research into their community heritage
• Community groups with a passion for heritage (we are keen to hear from several individuals within your group), including those who are in the early stages of developing their community heritage work
• Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum and Heritage organisations supporting community-led research.

Structure of the Survey The survey is structured into six sections reflecting what previous consultation with community heritage groups has told us is the most important issues and challenges facing individuals and groups in their work. Sections 1 to 4 cover digital heritage, sharing heritage and storytelling, managing collections, funding and sustainability. Section 5 is for you to tell us about anything important that we have missed and how you would like to best engage with any training or guidance offered. Section 6 is where you can tell us a little more about you and your community / group. The results of this survey will help us to set the priorities for the Hub’s training and guidance programme in 2026. Important information 

• The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete in total.
• Your responses will be totally anonymous, with no identifiable personal information or details about you and your organisation collected.
• The survey data will be held securely on UCL severs and shared only with the Spaces Places and Belonging project partners.
• The survey will be open from 1 December 2025 - 16 January 2026.
• A report will be available on the CAHG website soon after closing

The Spaces Places and Belonging programme is funded by the AHRC (UKRI) and led by The National Archives in partnership with the UK & Ireland Community Archives & Heritage Group, Leeds Museums & Galleries and the National Library of Wales to support inclusive, community-led research across the UK’s galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) and heritage sectors. Questions? For further information about Spaces Places and Belonging please contact Sophie Anstee de Mas, Community Hub Manager: sophie.ansteedemas@nationalarchves.gov.uk . For questions about this survey please contact Andrew Flinn chair@communityarchives.org.uk TAKE THE SURVEY HERE: https://qualtrics.ucl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_d0xTKVosW7143AO