A special anniversary fund to award an additional £40,000 of grants for Manx culture during 2022has been set up by Culture Vannin.

The charity, based in St Johns, is celebrating 40 years of the Manx Heritage Foundation Act, that founded the charity that is known as Culture Vannin today.

Chair of Culture Vannin, Chris Thomas said: 'As Culture Vannin celebrates 40 years since itsfounding legislation was drafted, we are delighted to offer a one-off scheme of grants relating to theculture and cultural heritage of the Isle of Man and its people.'

Applicants can apply for a grant of either £2,500 or £5,000 for a project relating to one of thefollowing categories:1) Archaeology2) Industrial development3) Architecture4) Arts and crafts5) History and law6) Language and literature7) Music, folklore and folk dance8) Natural history and ecology

In the event that no suitable applications are received for a category, Culture Vannin may choose tomake multiple awards in other categories. Wherever possible, the project should be delivered within2022, but another year is possible.

Dr Breesha Maddrell, Director of Culture Vannin, said 'Projects which embrace innovation andchange will be given priority - this could be to cover the development of a special body of work, or anew way of sharing and promoting existing materials. There should be some element of onlinedelivery to ensure accessibility. We are particularly interested in projects that use collections orarchives as an inspiration, and those which bring the past, present or future into dialogue.'

Applications are welcomed from today, with a closing date of Monday February 14. Full termsand conditions, along with the application form, can be found here.