The British Council – the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities – has announced the recipients of its 2025 Connections Through Culture (CTC) Grant Programme, which supports artistic collaborations between the United Kingdom and international partners.
This year, 127 projects have been awarded grants globally, with four from Australia, as listed below.
Each of the successful projects will bring artists and organisations from the UK and different parts of the world to exchange ideas, co-create and explore new approaches to pressing global challenges.
A spokesperson for the program said: ‘From reimagining traditional craft, digital technology and tackling the climate crisis through performance and visual storytelling, the 2025 grant recipients reflect the extraordinary power of the arts to spark innovation, dialogue and change.’
Helen Salmon, Director of British Council Australia, added: ‘Each of the 2025 projects tells a story of artists finding common ground, experimenting, and creating something new together.
‘These collaborations remind us that the arts thrive on mutual exchange and that when people connect across cultures, they create work that resonates far beyond their own communities.’
Launched in the Asia Pacific region in 2024, Connections Through Culture currently welcomes grantees from Europe and South Asia, with Nepal joining the program for the first time in 2025. This expansion means more artists than ever can connect with the UK, exchange knowledge, and co-create projects that celebrate cultural diversity and explore shared futures.
Ruth Mackenzie CBE, British Council Director of Arts, said: ‘What makes Connections Through Culture is the diversity it brings together. Different traditions, ideas, and artistic practices converging to create something new.
‘With its expansion, the program connects even more voices and communities, strengthening the role of arts in fostering peace, trust, and prosperity across borders.’
Through this cycle, the British Council says it will provide more than £1.1million (A$2,263, 327) in funding globally, supporting grantees to take risks, experiment and create work that transcends borders.
The four successful Australian projects in the 2025 round are as follows:
Bat Night Market
Australia: World Science Festival Brisbane
UK: Robert Charles Johnson
Bat Night Market is a multi-sensory installation set in a speculative future where bats are extinct. Styled as a futuristic Asian night market, it invites audiences to reflect on bats’ ecological importance and the impact of their loss. Its Brisbane presentation marks a new phase with fresh collaborators, running for ten days at Queensland Museum Kurilpa during World Science Festival Brisbane 2026 and featuring performances alongside the exhibition.
Collaborative Curatorship: Indigenous Voices at Rise 2026
Australia: Jacob Boehme
UK: Dance North Scotland
Choreographer and curator Jacob Boehme will lead a residency hosted by Dance North Scotland as part of their next Rise festival in 2026 that will focus on Indigenous and First Nations artists. He will pilot a new framework – a Land Lab – that will lay the foundation for future First Nations artist exchanges with the organisation.
During the residency, Jacob will adapt his acclaimed performance Guuranda for the landscapes of Findhorn through a process of deep cross-cultural dialogue. This will include online cultural immersion sessions and a three-week creative development period.
Bringing together Elders, First Nations artists, Scottish dancers, local experts and community participants, the project will be a shared exploration of landscapes, histories, languages and memory, that will culminate in performances during the festival.
From the Margins: Creative Survival within Marginalised Economies
Australia: TextaQueen
UK: Raju Rage
From the Margins brings together creatives Raju Rage and TextaQueen to explore the theme of ‘Marginalised Economies’, focusing on issues of diversity and accessibility for precarious and underrepresented artists. The project will unfold through a hybrid in-person and online engagement model, cultivating international dialogue, creative exchange and collaborative resource making for creative survival.
Regenesis
Australia: Dr. Sam McGilp
UK: Luisa Charles
Regenesis is a new media art and regenerative design project that seeks to build new knowledge in ecologically sustainable practice for emerging technologies through neurodivergent perspectives. This grant supports the initial development of this creative work, culminating in an online artist lab with neurodivergent new media artists in Australia and the UK.
Visit the British Council website: Connections Through Culture | British Council
