The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) has been given a grant to create “the world’s biggest online portal of English folk music, song and dance manuscripts,” according to their news feed. The grant, awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), totals 585,400 euros (nearly 900,000 dollars).

“The Full English,” as the program is called, will help the EFDSS to create a free public portal that will give online visitors access to 58,400 items from among the country’s most important folk music collections. This includes the archives at the British Library in London, Clare College in Cambridge, and the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. The initiative will unite the works of various famed English folk musicians such as Harry Albino, Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaugh Williams, Clive Carvey and Lucy Broadwood.

“The Full English” will also be the Heritage fund’s greatest educational program with planned activities that will involve an estimated 20,000 people. In these activities the EFDSS will seek to cultivate a greater understanding, awareness and appreciation of folk music in England’s nine regions. They will also provide training and volunteer opportunities for up to 223 individuals.

Using money collected from England’s national lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund gives grants ranging from 3 thousand to 5 million euros in value to groups and organizations that “sustain and transform [their] heritage,” according to the HLF’s official website. This includes funding of public parks, museums, archaeological sites, wildlife preservation projects and cultural traditions, such as the Full English program out forth by the EFDSS.

–Cristiano Lima