Four maritime heritage projects in the southern hemisphere are to benefit from a total pilot-phase funding pot of £150,000
The International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) is thrilled to announce the first four projects that will participate in the ICMM Global Maritime Histories: Case Studies for Change Project, an exciting new initiative aimed at researching, promoting and connecting maritime heritage across the globe. Funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, this important initiative is designed to support innovative projects that explore and share maritime histories, with a particular emphasis on the diverse voices that have shaped our seas and oceans, and how such histories hold relevance and insight for contemporary maritime and oceanic challenges today.
The global project is planned to span several years with further funding opportunities available to maritime museums as part of a £1m multi-year pledge from Lloyd’s Register Foundation. It will provide funding to maritime museums and their communities for two types of projects. The first will facilitate historical or contemporary research, for example, on maritime safety, maritime and coastal community resilience to climate change, historical energy transitions that might support future decarbonisation, and potentially polluting wrecks. The second type of project will support network-building endeavours that facilitate maritime heritage knowledge-sharing and capacity-building activities. By doing so, ICMM and Lloyd’s Register Foundation aim to connect an even wider network of maritime heritage organisations globally, support research case studies that ‘learn from the past’ to meet contemporary maritime challenges, and to enable museums to speak with one voice on common themes that engage with global museum audiences.
ICMM President Kristen Greenaway expressed her enthusiasm at the announcement of the first grant recipients. She said, “We are delighted to announce the first four projects that will work with us on our Global Maritime Histories Project. The project not only furthers our commitment to preserving maritime heritage, and connecting maritime heritage institutions worldwide, but also ensures that stories from underrepresented communities and forgotten histories are given a voice.
“With the fantastic support of Lloyd’s Register Foundation, we are confident the project will inspire important work and provide a legacy for future generations to learn from and engage with our shared maritime past. In this pilot phase, we are particularly keen to ensure that we identify transferable models of activity and devise practical resources and toolkits that can benefit the wider maritime museum and maritime heritage community worldwide.”
Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a key partner in the Global Maritime Histories Project, has committed to funding the multi-year initiative in its entirety, underscoring the importance of maritime heritage in their mission. Alex Stitt, Director of the Heritage Centre at the Foundation, said, “We are proud to support the ICMM’s Global Maritime Histories Project, as a fantastic example of how we can harness global insights and local knowledge about our maritime past to help us meet the challenges of the present and future. By ensuring these diverse voices are heard and preserved, we are better equipped to shape a safe and sustainable ocean economy for all.”
Funding for four new projects
In its first year, the Global Maritime Histories Project has awarded funding to four new projects.
The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) will receive £50,000 for an Oceania Maritime Museum Administrators five-day training course in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Guam. Ten institutional members of the Pacific Island Museums Association (PIMA) will attend the course, exploring best practice on themes such as maritime archaeology, climate change, marine science public education programming and preventative collection management strategies.
The New Zealand Maritime Museum (NZMM) will receive £50,000 for ‘Ocean Literacy and Te Moananui a Toi’ to grow ocean literacy amongst museum visitors in New Zealand and the wider region through stories of the sea and ocean citizenship, explored through diverse research, immersive media and innovative design. The project will provide a test case for other museums of how best to engage public audiences, including children, with the challenges of marine conservation, oceanic pollution and climate change, under the banner of ‘ocean citizenship’, working with indigenous communities.
The Museo Marítimo Nacional (MMN), Chile, will receive £25,000 as lead partner for ‘Encounters: A Knowledge Sharing Workshop and New Network for Maritime Museums in Latin America’. MMN and its partners will host an in-person workshop/seminar at MMN in Valparaiso, to facilitate knowledge exchange on the heritage, collections and projects of medium and small maritime museums in Latin America.
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF) will receive £25,000 for ‘Seafarers of the Pacific: Celebrating the Maritime Culture of the Global South’. 2025’s AWBF will celebrate the seafaring knowledge, histories and traditions of the Pacific Islands. Participants and presenters from New Zealand, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Niue, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands will share their knowledge and experience through maritime artisanship, navigational wisdom, boatbuilding expertise and voyaging stories over the four-day Festival. The project’s funding from ICMM aims to build upon the knowledge-sharing of the AWBF by building a long-term network across the Pacific as a legacy of the event.
For more information on the Global Maritime Histories Project, please visit the ICMM website.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Fiona Greer – Communications Coordinator for the International Congress of Maritime Museums
fgreer@rmg.co.uk