The British Council has announced the recipients of the 2024 Connections Through Culture (CTC) Grant Programme – a platform fostering vibrant collaborations between artists in the United Kingdom and Asia-Pacific.
The programme supports 84 innovative projects, ten of which are collaborations between participants from the United Kingdom and Australia fostering stronger partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.
This year’s grant cycle marks an exciting milestone as the programme expands to include South Asia, welcoming grantees from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka alongside those from Australia, New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
The CTC grant programme will provide over £741,000 ($1.4M AUD) in funding, enabling artists and cultural organisations to bring their creative visions to life. These grants aim to build lasting cultural partnerships between the UK and Asia-Pacific regions that transcend borders, fostering dialogue, innovation, and mutual understanding.
The British Council’s Connections Through Culture Grant Programme stands as a testament to the organisation’s commitment to cultivating international artistic connections and promoting the exchange of ideas and creativity.
The 2024 grantees represent a dynamic mix of projects across diverse disciplines, including film, creative technology, literature, visual arts, theatre, dance, design, fashion, craft, and music.
The array of collaborative efforts across borders and artistic disciplines will lead to new thoughts and ideas created to address global challenges such as diversity and inclusion and climate change.
“We are thrilled to announce our 2024 grantees, with ten outstanding collaborations between UK and Australia,” said Helen Salmon, Director of British Council Australia.
“These partnerships build on the deep curiosity and creative connections between our two nations, offering fresh opportunities for mutual understanding.”
For more information about the British Council and their programs, visit: www.britishcouncil.org.au for details.
Image: Personal by Jodee Mundy Collaborations – photo by Jade Ellis
Connections Through Culture Projects supported from Australia:
A Queer Care Exchange
UK: Daniel Regan, Arts & Health Hub
Australia: Gareth Hart
What systems, manners and manifestations of care arise through queerness? Globally, across environmental, political and community sectors, we notice a growing need for care and an alarming state of care as a radical act. In queer circles, this manifests through protest & for change, through mourning & vigil, in building families of choice. Daniel Regan and Gareth Hart will deep-dive into thinking and practice, exploring how care can be a central force in creative and community contexts.
Belfast
UK: c21 Theatre Company Limited
Australia: Fleur Murphy, National Celtic Festival, Portarlington
Belfast is an ambitious site-specific theatre project, marking Northern Ireland’s c21 Theatre Company’s first collaboration with Australian playwright Fleur Murphy. This innovative work explores the intertwined histories and futures of two coastal locations – Belfast in Northern Ireland and Port Fairy in Australia (formerly known as Belfast in the 1840s). It delves into the profound effects of climate change on these communities, reflecting on their rich pasts, present challenges, and uncertain futures.
Collaborative development of new performance work The Act by Amrita Hepi & Tilly Lawless
UK: Transform
Australia: Performing Lines
The Act is an innovative performance work that explores the intersections of dance and sex work, examining the body in professional service across these industries. This project, led by acclaimed Australian choreographer Amrita Hepi in collaboration with writer and sex worker Tilly Lawless, aims to create a nuanced, thought-provoking piece that challenges perceptions of labour, authenticity, and representation. Everybody dances, everybody has sex, though the line for a professional in these industries is different.
Global First Nations RISE Festival R&D
UK: Dance North Scotland
Australia: BlakDance
In partnership with BlakDance, the national industry organisation for First Nation contemporary dancers and choreographers in Australia, and independent Moari dance artist Paige Shand, Dance North is conducting research and development to realise the vision of a co-curated Global First Nations contemporary dance festival and exchange programme for Dance North’s annual festival of contemporary dance and performance, RISE, in 2026.
Jodee Mundy’s Personal: an expanded programme for deaf artists and families
UK: SPILL Festival
Australia: Jodee Mundy Collaborations
SPILL and Jodee Mundy Collaborations are presenting a programme of peer-to-peer artist development and intergenerational creative outreach connected to Jodee Mundy’s virtuosic performance work Personal. Personal uses multimedia, documentary and access aesthetics to explore the contradictions of inhabiting two worlds: living in a Deaf family, where sign language is natural, and living in a society that sees only the family’s disability.
March Static 2.0
UK: Contemporary Music for All (CoMA)
Australia: Speak Percussion
March Static is a contemporary music work for massed wind, drum, and percussion players by acclaimed composer Thomas Meadowcroft (AU/DE). It is performed by an ensemble of local players directed by Speak Percussion (AU) and CoMA (UK). Ethereal chords wash over the audience, interrupted by fragments of marching percussion. The project reimagines the marching band, celebrating community and peace over military might.
Off the Hook
UK: Upswing Circus
Australia: Quiet RIOT
Off the Hook is a pioneering project that reimagines the traditional variety show by merging circus arts with soul, funk, and physical performance, all set against a backdrop of contemporary social commentary. This cross-continental collaboration between Upswing (UK) and Quiet RIOT (Australia) brings together diverse artists from both countries, creating a unique platform for skills exchange and cultural dialogue.
Preserving & Reclaiming Queer Diaspora Histories: Archival Collaboration between the UK and Australia
UK: Naeem Dxvis
Australia: Lilah Benetti
Led by their global community, Lilah Benetti and Naeem Dxvis seek to amplify and reimagine Indigenous, Black, Queer, and Trans histories through innovative art-making and anarchiving methodologies. Within creative labs centred on reciprocal knowledge exchange, world-building and truth-telling, the initiative fosters resonance in global dialogues, addressing historical omissions while critically engaging with the narratives that shape us.
Special Envoy: Cultivating Connections
UK: In Between Time
Australia: pvi Collective
Special Envoy: Cultivating Connections is a new model of international cultural exchange based on ‘staying, not going’. A collaboration between Helen Cole (In Between Time, UK), Kelli McCluskey (pvi Collective, Australia), and Katherine Connor, Executive Director of PAC (managers of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2025-2030), Special Envoy is a powerful provocation with the arts sector to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint and create fairer and more equitable access to international networks and opportunities now climate change is a reality.
YIRRAMBOI x Fierce: Creative Exchange
UK: Fierce Festival
Australia: YIRRAMBOI
YIRRAMBOI and Fierce will address the severe underrepresentation of Australian First Nations artists in the UK by initiating a research and development phase to build and develop a network to bring First Nations artists to the UK through presentations, commissions, and new collaborations.