About the Programme
Connections Through Culture is a grants programme run by the British Council in the UK and East Asia.
This programme aims to develop exciting cultural exchanges and collaborations between artists, arts professionals, and arts organisations, and to support long-lasting relationships between people from East Asia and the UK.
Calls for applications in 2021 vary in different countries and some have already started. Please proceed to the following British Council corporate pages for full information:
- CTC UK-China
- CTC UK-Taiwan
- CTC UK-Southeast Asia cluster:
- Indonesia - Vietnam - Malaysia - Myanmar - Philippines - Thailand
The China programme has been supporting artists and arts professionals for more than a decade. In Taiwan, we started the first open call in July 2019. In August 2019, Connections Through Culture was launched in Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
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.
Grants are offered to applicants working in the following areas: drama, dance, visual arts, literature, film, music, architecture, design and fashion.
Applicants living in the UK or in any of the East Asian countries featured in this British Council programme can apply for the grant:
- artists
- cultural and arts professionals
- representatives of art collectives, networks or organisations
Connections Through Culture UK-Southeast Asia Online Collaboration Grantees, 2021-2022:
We award 37 grant project teams (inclusive of six alumni grants) this year.
Indonesia
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Ignatius Susiadi Wibowo on behalf of Labtanya (South Jakarta) | Deveron Projects (Huntly, North East, Scotland) | Our Commons: Food Resources (English) or Harta Kampung Kota Kita (Bahasa Indonesia) |
| Joel Cahen of Newtoy Ltd (Chilham) | Robby Ocktavian of Muarasuara (Samarinda) | Sound Estuary: Workshop and collaborations between sound art practitioners and audiences in Indonesia and in the UK |
| Tesla Manaf Effendi, Kuntari (Bandung) – Alumni Grant | Graham Daniels of Addictive TV (London) | Digital release & online launch event. Artists Kuntari and Addictive TV join forces to release their collaborative project Pararatronic. |
| Mohamad Apie Dhelpilia Suhariyanto and Titis Embun Ayu Winasis on behalf of Pustaka Pias (Bandung) | Maisy Summer of Small Fry Collective (Manchester) | IDENTICAL: Artbook of Minority Communities |
| WOW Foundation (Represented by Laura White, London) | Voice of Baceprot (West Jakarta) | WOW’s Digital Artist in Residence - Voice of Baceprot |
| Zunifah, Jalan Gembira (Yogyakarta) | Fiona Cullinan of Walkspace (Birmingham) | Parallel Walking: Between Here and There, Between the Seen and the Unseen |
Malaysia
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Eleena Jamil (Cyberjaya) | Dr. Stephen Knott (London) | About Making: Cross-discipline exploration of different aspects of ‘making’ in art and architecture, |
| Eliza Collin (Lostwithiel) – Alumni Grant | Wendy Teo of Borneo Laboratory (Kuching) | Narratives of Soil: Phase Two: Exploration with practitioners and collaborators established from the first CTC project |
| Abhirami Arumbakkam (Maidenhead) | Sumitra Selvaraj and Dhinesha Karthigesu (Petaling Jaya) | Sarees and Secrets: Series of dialogues between 3 multi-generational and multi-disciplinary artists connected by their common love of the saree |
| Suzanne Lee with Francesca Beard (London) | Priya Kulasagaran (Petaling Jaya) | Safe/Selamat online programme of action research, creative conversation, and exchange |
| Joanne Loo Yingjia (Kuala Lumpur) | Ummi Kalthum Junid (Norwich) | Trash <––> Treasure art residency programme of UK and Malaysia artists |
| Anthony Alexander Chong Vee Yee (Selangor) | Shane Gilchrist (Belfast) | Empowering Deaf Women in Malaysia through Sign Poetry: Training of d/Deaf women from across the Straits on poetry in English and Malaysian Sign Language |
| Kenny Ooi Chia Fu of The Rondo Productions (Penang) | Orchestra of the Swan (Belfast) | Musical Encounter Training for young composers and musicians, between 18 to 26 years old |
Myanmar
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Aung Myat Htay (Yangon) | Grace Adam (Suffolk, East Anglia) | The Moments: A collaboration of ideas exchange UK-Myanmar Contemporary Art workshop programme |
| Aung Min (Yangon) | Tony Gammidge (Brighton) | Safe Room: Art for trauma healing sessions and collaborations |
| Andrew Derek Halliday of Phantom Limb Touring (Southampton) | Musica Htet (Yangon) | A Sound Journey to Freedom: Intersectionality of visual and sonic arts |
| Dominique Robert DIllabough-Lefebvre (Cambridge) | Saw Eh Do Wah (Mutraw, Karen State) | Lives across boundaries: Film development project about environmental change and Karen borderlands. |
| Daw Htar Nwe (Yangon) | Jack Jenkins Hill (London) | Memory in Exile: Mixed media online archive of oral histories of diasporic populations in Myanmar |
Philippines
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Hannah Morales of Emerging Islands (San Juan, La Union) | Mandy Barker (Leeds) | Plastic Passages: Mapping Our Way Towards Collective Sea Change |
| Joseph Wallace (East Sussex) | Jemina Legaspi (Bocaue, Bulacan) | Environmental Storytelling Through Stop Motion Animation: An exploration of recycled puppetry, sustainable practice, and poetic visions |
| Patricia Mendoza of Matic Hub (Cebu) – Alumni Grant | Gillian Easson on behalf of Creative Dundee (Dundee) | #MaterialsWiki - A Virtual Knowledge Sharing with Arts & Design Students |
| Jerome Dulin of North Luzon Cinema Guild, Inc. (Tuguegarao) | Noémie Mendelle of Scottish Documentary Institute (Edinburgh) | Lenses X Cultures (Lenses Cross Cultures): Creative Documentary Film La |
| Mac Andre Rubio Arboleda (Manila) | April Lin (London) | Toolkits for Counterparts |
Thailand
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Piyawat Louilarpprasert (Bangkok) – Alumni Grant | Scott Wilson (Birmingham) | Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology |
| Ratchanok Ketboonruand (Chiang Mai) | Carol Sinclair (Angus, Scotland) | Crafting Happiness: Craft and Making for Health and Wellbeing in Thailand and Scotland |
| Chumpon Apisuk (Nan Province) – Alumni Grant | Sinead O'Donnell (Belfast) | Living with Closer Distancing: Activities and activities at the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art (BIFPA), with workshop with students from Bangkok University, Chiangmai University, and Ulster University (Belfast). |
| Weave Artisan Society (Chiang Mai) | Naomi Mcintosh (Crathie, Scotland) | Cross Cultural Tapestry: large scale 3D tapestry annex over a period of 3 months. UK artist collaborating with Thailand local team of weavers. |
| B-Floor Theatre Bangkok (Bangkok) | Patrick J O'reilly of Tinderbox Theatre Company (Belfast) | Digital Playground: Exploring the theme of Climate Change and the Body for physical theatre collaboration exploring climate change effects on the body. |
| Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn (Bangkok) | Philippa Lovatt (St Andrews, Scotland) | Tracing the Anthropocene in Southeast Asian and British Artists' Cinema: Film Screenings and Discussion |
Vietnam
| Lead Grantee | Counterpart Grantee | Grant project working title or description |
| Bui Linh Ha (Hanoi) – Alumni Grant | Esther Swift (Edinburgh, Scotland) | Creative Hosting (to) Access Music: CHẠM (vn for 'touch') – Music and Well-Being project |
| Nhã Thuyên aka Đỗ Thị Thoan (Hanoi) | Alexandra Büchler of Literature Across Frontiers / Llenyddiaeth Ar Draws Ffiniau (Aberystwith, Wales) | Ù Ơ: Digital residency and poetic exchange between emerging Vietnamese and Welsh women poets and artists |
| Vu Thi Phuong Thao on behalf Blue H'mong textile community in Pa Co(Hanoi) | Lola Lely of WAX Atelier co-op (London) | Crafting without Borders: Cross-cultural arts exchange through online workshops between Blue H'mong craftswomen in Viet Nam and craftswomen at WAX Atelier Co-Op in London |
| Trang Trinh (Hanoi) | Caroline Sharp (London) | "My morning song": A cross cultural educational and musical partnership based on Elgar's Chasson de Martin |
| Nguyen Quoc Thanh of Queer Forever! on behalf partners Dinh Thao Linh, Ba-Bau AIR, and Dinh Thi Nhung, A Queer Museum / Ban Lon - Vagina Talks (Hanoi) | Asia Art Activism (London) | Cruising beyond the cloud computing, xuyên không across the sky (thực ra là light speed under the sea): Activities queerness, local and intercultural queerstories, transnational exchange of knowledge and practices |
| Luyen Thi Linh (Hanoi) | Casson & Friends by Tim Casson (Lincolnshire) | The Dance WE Made: Mentoring and performance of 4 Vietnamese dancers (2 disabled and 2 non-disabled) (COVID permitting) in public spaces in Hanoi |
| Chau Quynh Le on behalf of CPED: Center for Cultural Preservation & Economic Development (Hue) | Victoria Elizabeth Roe (London) | Weaving a Better World: Including Craft to Reset Sustainable Fashion based on Ta Oi women’s designs – workshops, manuals, and exchange |
| Tran Viet Huy on behalf of Đà Nẵng tui (Da Nang) | Dylan Jones of The Coracle Society (Cardiff, Wales) | Lênh Đênh - Journey on the Waves of Time: Activities for artists, craftsmen, and fishermen in Vietnam accessing current and historic uses of coracles (thuyền thúng) in Viet Nam and in the UK |