British Council: Festival Connect Fund 2025

Overview

They invite applications from festivals based in SSA and the UK with collaborative proposals that promote cultural exchange, mobility, and community impact.

What they fund

Festival Connect 2025 supports festivals and festival-led projects that include one or more of the following:

• Artistic collaboration and co-production between SSA and UK partners
• Festival making and delivery, including community engagement
• Mobility and exchange between SSA and UK (and within SSA)
• Capacity building, including mentoring and coaching
• Use of creative technology or digital components
• Marketing and storytelling activities that engage audiences aged 18–35

Activities may include performances, exhibitions, artist residencies, workshops, talks, and other cultural engagements in digital, in-person, or hybrid formats.

Who can apply?

• Applicants must be festivals that have completed a minimum of two previous editions (in-person or digital).
• All applications have to be a partnership between the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa (see below for list of eligible countries).
• Festivals applying should promote cultural exchange, community engagement, and creative innovation (see list of eligible art forms below).

Eligible countries

Projects must be based in:

• Sub-Saharan Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

In partnership with:

• UK: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.

All applications must involve a confirmed partnership between an organisation or festival in SSA and a counterpart in the UK. A letter of intent, signed by both parties, is strongly encouraged and will strengthen the application.

Festivals are responsible for contacting and agreeing to collaborate with their partner. The British Council does not have a centralised directory of artists, and each festival is free to contact the artists or organisations they consider relevant to carry out the collaboration through which they will apply for funding.

Eligible art forms

The festival must include programming in at least one of the following areas:

• Creative Technology
• Film
• Literature
• Music
• Theatre and Dance
• Multidisciplinary Arts

Funding available

• A total of 100,000 GBP is available for this year's Fund.
• Applicants can apply in three tiers of scales  – £5000 GBP, £10,000GBP, or £15,000 GBP.

Applicant notes

Festival Connect aims to support connections between festivals across SSA and the UK. Across the three grant tiers they encourage collaborations between Festivals and organisations in SSA and the UK including projects with individual artists and professionals or organisation.

They ask applicants to name their partner organisations. It is desirable to have the confirmation and commitment between the counterpart Festivals and organisations at the time of the application, for which a letter of intent signed by both parties is requested as an option. Proposals with confirmed collaboration will be positively evaluated.

Partnerships will depend on the nature of the activity they wish to undertake within their festival. For illustrative purposes, the following is a list of projects that can be supported (this list is not exhaustive): 

• Performance, concert, showcase or exhibition by artists. 
• A presentation, talk, workshop, panel or training activity given by SSA/UK professionals 
• Undertaking an artist residency with an SSA and or UK artist within the festival’s framework. 

Activities can be in a digital, face-to-face or hybrid format. The British guest can be involved in more than one activity within the festival, either alone or with other artists from other countries.