The British Council is calling for applications for the latest round of its British Council’s Connections Through Culture (CTC) which opened Oct 16 to Nov 08, 2020.

The programme is a bilateral grants programme designed to seed exciting cultural exchanges between artists and arts organisations, and nurture cooperation and long-lasting relationships between the United Kingdom, and for 2020-2021, five Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Connections Through Culture was created in Southeast Asia in August 2019 to promote arts and cultural exchange between the UK and Southeast Asia.

This British Council arts grant is a first-of-its kind project to spark innovative ways for participants from five Southeast Asian countries and the UK to collaborate through the arts.

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 grants will 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.

Alongside similar initiatives across East Asia, artists, arts professionals and art group/collective representatives from the five South East Asia countries and the UK are eligible to apply for the online grants valued from £2,500 to £7,500.

Grantees from Southeast Asia and the UK may use the fund for platforms and conversations to meet with specialists, peers in the field, and other participants based in the UK and in Southeast Asia between January to June 2021.

Successful grantees of the 2020-2021 round will be announced in late November 2020.

Applicants can find full information here:

https://www.britishcouncil.my/programmes/arts/connections-through-culture

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. They build connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language.

Last year, they reached over 80 million people directly and 791 million people overall including online, and through broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, they are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body