• The British Council has opened the call for submissions for the Biennials Connect Grants 2025.

• EU biennials and festivals from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain are encouraged to apply to the scheme by 14 September on this webpage: https://arts.britishcouncil.org/get-involved/opportunities/biennials-connect-grants.

• The grants directly benefit artists by providing up to €5,800 to support travel, the production of new work, networking, skills development, and showcasing through biennial partners.

Madrid, 5 August. The British Council, the UK’s organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, presents its Biennials Connect Grants, which aim to support visual artists and organisations from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain by facilitating new UK–EU partnerships, cross-cultural exchange, the creation of new work, and showcasing opportunities. The grants encourage EU arts biennials and festivals from these countries to support the participation of UK visual artists in their programmes, as well as UK biennials and festivals seeking to programme EU artists.

Applications must be submitted by the biennials or festivals themselves — not by individual artists — but will directly benefit both EU and UK artists by enabling opportunities for travel, the production of new work, networking, skills development, and showcasing through biennial partners. Visual arts institutions can apply for up to €5,800 (£5,000, with the potential for an additional £2,500 to cover project access costs) until 14 September on the Biennials Connect Grants webpage.

Among the selection criteria is that participating organisations must primarily be visual arts biennials or festivals based in eligible countries. They should support the participation of UK artists in the EU countries or EU artists in the UK and must work with artists aged 18 or over. Participating organisations should also share the British Council’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and embed best EDI practices in the activity.

Priority will be given to projects that foster collaboration between UK-based and international artists, curators, arts organisations, and/or festivals and biennials, particularly those involving visual artists at early or mid-career stages.