Tamil Heritage Month

With many in the Tamil community choosing to make Lewisham their home, Tamil is the fourth most widely spoken language in the borough. This celebration acknowledges the contributions of the Tamil community to Lewisham and British culture. Learn more about the national Tamil Heritage Month campaign.

Thai Pongal, also celebrated in January, is a multi-day harvest festival observed by the Tamil community honouring the sun, nature and farm animals for their contributions to a bountiful harvest. 

Apply for a micro grant to help celebrate Tamil Heritage Month in January 2026

Applications close at 11:59pm on Sunday 2 November 2025. We will not be able to consider late applications. 

We are inviting applications for small grants to support community-led celebrations for Tamil Heritage Month 2026. Grants of up to £1,000 are available to help bring your ideas to life.

Tamil Heritage Month is a time to recognise and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of British Tamils, whose contributions continue to shape and enrich the United Kingdom across business, sport, education, healthcare, politics and beyond.

In 2025, Lewisham Council celebrated Tamil Heritage Month for the first time, recognising the invaluable contributions of the Tamil community to the borough’s social, economic and cultural landscape. This month offers an opportunity to share Tamil language, arts and traditions with wider communities, and to honour the strength and creativity of Tamil individuals and organisations.

Whether you're planning a community event, workshop, performance, exhibition, shared meal, or something entirely different, we want to hear how you would celebrate Tamil heritage and culture in Lewisham.

Application Criteria 

Please read the following criteria before submitting your application: 

• applicants must demonstrate lived experience of being part of, or working closely with, Tamil communities
• activities must celebrate, explore or raise awareness of Tamil heritage, identity or community experience
• members of Tamil communities should be involved in the planning and/or delivery of the project

Please note: We can fund organisations as well as individuals, however if you are making an application as an individual you must be endorsed by a constituted organisation. This could be a housing association, residents association, voluntary sector organisation, faith organisation, food bank or local school. All we require is you provide the details of your endorsing organisation. We will follow up with this organisation to confirm your relationship and organise payment of funds.  

Funded organisations must ensure that:  

1. A bank account is in operation into which payment can be made. We cannot pay into individual bank accounts; if your group does not have an official bank account you will need to ask an organisation to hold the money for you (contact us if you need help with this).  
2. All legal and insurance liabilities associated with the project are fulfilled  
3. Appropriate safeguarding measures are implemented such as DBS checks  
4. All projects are completed between Thursday 1st and Saturday 31st January 2026
5. A completed monitoring form with appropriate information is provided at the end of the project. This will include a 1-pg narrative report on your event or activities along with pictures and quotes from attendees and any data collected on number of attendees, feedback etc. The deadline for completed monitoring forms will be Friday 27th February 2026  

If you have any concerns or questions about the above requirements or anything else related to this application form, please email cultural.grants@lewisham.gov.uk. 

If you are hosting a street party then you will also need to apply for a road closure.

All funded projects will be requested to send information about their projects along with any pictures (with any necessary permissions) prior to the event so that our communications team can support with promoting your event as widely as possible.  

Tamil Heritage Month Grant Timeline 

• Programme launch: Friday 10 October 2025 
• Deadline for applications: 11.59pm on Sunday 2 November 2025 
• Assessment panel meets: Week commencing Monday 10 November 2025 
• Successful applicants informed: Friday 21 November 2025 
• Monitoring forms due: Friday 27 February 2026
• Events take place: Between Thursday 1 and Saturday 31 January 2026
• Monitoring forms due: Friday 27 February 2026