Each September, Open Cambridge aims to celebrate local history and culture available to all across the city. In 2024, we started to offer small pots of money to community organisations to help lift the financial burden of putting on an event. Our Open Cambridge Community Grants are available via application to help cover costs such as room hire, refreshments and the printing of materials.
Why take part? Open Cambridge celebrates the spaces, people and histories of Cambridge. It offers a platform for local organisations, community initiatives and learning institutions to open their doors to the public and share their unique stories. The University’s Public Engagement team support the administration, marketing and promotion of the programme.
Criteria: Your event must be free for everyone. It must be something not usually available for the public to attend or normally a charge occurs. It must fall within the dates of the festival.
What we can do? The Open Cambridge team will support you through the process all the way to event delivery. We can: upload your event to the system, organise ticketing (if required), offer support and guidance around venues, risk assessments and event logistics. There is more information about how we can support you on our coordinator's hub.
Not sure what to do? Here’s some event inspiration:
- Talks
- Can you link to the broader theme of Heritage Open Days 2025 theme: Architecture?
- Do you have a story to tell about your local community, places or spaces?
- Do you know of any famous people linked to the history of your area?
- Are you working on an inspiring project you’d like to let people know about?
- Workshops & exhibitions
- Do you have a skill, knowledge or passion you’d like to share?
- Is your area known for something?
- Can you celebrate and showcase local artists or historical archives?
- Tours
- Can you open your space to visitors?
- Do you have an interesting, historical building in your area that has a story to tell?
- Is there something new to learn or reveal within your local nature spaces?
- Do you know of any hidden gems that nobody knows about?
More information about how to submit events and other important information can be found on our coordinator’s hub here. If you have any questions about the festival, submitting events or anything else, please get in touch with us at opencambridge@admin.cam.ac.uk.