Arts Derbyshire

18.07.2025

Grant Funding: British Council Biennials Connect Grants are Offering Up to £9,500 to UK and International Biennial Festivals

Home / News / Festivals / Grant Funding: British Council Biennials Connect Grants are Offering Up to £9,500 to UK and International Biennial Festivals

Biennials Connect Grants are now offering grants of up to £9,500 to UK and international biennials / festivals in eligible countries.

Biennials Connect Grants support visual artists’ participation in UK and international festivals and biennials. The grants directly benefit artists by facilitating opportunities for travel, the production of new work, networking, skills building and showcasing through biennial partners.

Application deadline: 14 September 2025, 23.59 (BST)

Information session, option 1: 9 July 2025, 9.00–10.00 (BST)

Information session, option 2: 9 July 2025, 15.00–16.00 (BST)

Notification of decisions will be sent to applicants in the autumn of 2025.

Projects start in February 2026.

Projects finish by the end of February 2027.

Their Biennials Connect Grants are open to UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and international biennials, festivals and art organisations. Individual artists are not eligible to apply. International biennials / festivals must be based in eligible countries. The full list of eligible countries can be found below

Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Venezuela and Peru

East Asia: The mainland of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Viet Nam and Thailand

Middle East and North Africa: Egypt, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Algeria and Morocco

Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Wider Europe: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan

Non-ODA

East Asia: Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea

European Union: France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain

Middle East and North Africa:  Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman

*Official Development Assistance is UK taxpayers’ money that supports aid and development in low- to middle-income countries. They deliver programmes that promote economic development and welfare in these countries which contribute to building friendly knowledge and understanding with the UK.

Eligibility Criteria

Before making your application, please read the Application Toolkit and ensure your application meets these conditions:

Organisations applying must:

  • be one of the following:
    • UK biennials or festivals supporting international visual artists’ participation
    • international biennials or festivals supporting visual artists’ participation from the UK
    • or other visual arts organisations collaborating with a biennial/festival.
  • be based in UK or an eligible international country (please see downloads below for the full list of eligible countries)
  • be primarily a visual art biennial or festival. Multi-arts biennials and festivals can apply but they must demonstrate a focus on visual arts within their programme
  • be supporting artists over the age of 18. If artist travel is included in the project, the artists must be able to travel internationally on valid passports (organisations must arrange travel, transport, accommodations, insurance and visas themselves)
  • be supporting artists you have either not previously worked with or supporting new projects with artists you have worked with before
  • share the British Council’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and will embed best EDI practices into the activity
  • share the British Council’s commitment to paying artists fairly and will ensure artists are fairly compensated for their participation.

Applications by individual artists will not be eligible.

  • The core activity or biennial / festival presentation will be from February 2026. The final activity and evaluation must take place before February 2027. Project proposals should have a timeline ending no later than February 2027.
  • Grant applications can be made for projects involving multiple artists, but only one application per biennial organisation can be submitted.
  • Festivals can receive a maximum of one Biennials Connect Grant per edition. If you received a grant for a previous or current festival, you can apply and receive another for a forthcoming festival but you cannot receive multiple grants in one festival edition.

 

Deadline: 14 September

Grants/Funds up to: £9,500

How to apply: https://arts.britishcouncil.org/get-involved/opportunities/biennials-connect-grants

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