Connections Through Culture | grants for online UK-Southeast Asia collaborations

For 2020-2021, the British Council will be supporting online collaboration projects between Southeast Asia and the UK. Available grants in 2020 in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Connections Through Culture (CTC) is an arts grants programme run by the British Council in the UK and East Asia. It was established in August 2019 in Southeast Asia to provide grants to residents of the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam from the following groups:

Artists
Cultural and arts professionals
Representatives of art collectives, creative hubs, networks or organisations
Researchers

It was created to further international face-to-face discussions needed to develop projects beyond initial expressions of interest. It built on the wider CTC programme that has been running in China since 2006.

The British Council will be accepting applications till November 8th 2020 for Connections Through Culture Online Grants. Projects will be needed to be completed between January to June 2021.

The primary objective is to support exchanges and collaborations between the UK and Southeast Asia. Prior to Covid-19, this would have most likely involved international travel. However, with travel restricted and uncertain, the CTC grant should be used to develop and strengthen new and existing relationships between the UK and Southeast Asia, by providing funding to allow conversations to happen, and for the possibilities of online collaboration to be explored.

Celebrating the diverse cultural expression in both regions, the programme offers support, information, advice and networking opportunities for professional development. Grantees both from the UK and the East Asian countries benefit from the inspiration gained from exchanging ideas and sharing their cultural history.

Who can apply?

Collaboration Grants

Open to individual artists or professionals or, for cultural organisations or collectives living in the UK or in any of the five (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) Southeast Asian countries featured in this programme.
Open to creative hubs in Southeast Asia listed countries who want to collaborate with a UK-based creative hub.

Arts and Creative Economy Research Grants

Open to all independent researchers or emerging research groups (five years and younger) based in the Philippines or the UK with areas of interests in both countries. Women researchers and action research proponents are strongly encouraged to apply.
An individual or group representative from Southeast Asia can apply with a counterpart in the UK (or vice versa). One individual will need to be named as the lead applicant, and the other as the counterpart applicant.