Open call: Biennials Connect Grants

Applications open: 23 June 2025 

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 applications in the autumn of 2025.

Projects start in February 2026.

Projects finish by the end of February 2027.

Our 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. 

Recipients of Official Development Assistance (ODA)* 

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. We deliver programmes that promote economic development and welfare in these countries which contribute to building friendly knowledge and understanding with the UK. 

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. 

• We’re awarding grants to enable biennials and festivals in the UK to support international visual artists participation and international biennials and festivals in eligible countries to support UK visual artist participation.
• Visual arts organisations which are neither biennials or festivals can apply if they partner with a biennial or festival. We encourage UK and international biennials and festivals to partner on applications – for example, by co-commissioning an artist. If you are considering making a joint application, we encourage you to speak to the Visual Arts team in advance, please email visual.arts@britishcouncil.org.
• This grant is for biennial and festival organisations to specifically support travel, artwork production, networking, professional development and skills building activities, or public programme for artists such as residencies and events as well as access requirements.
• The lead applicant must be a biennial or festival based in the UK or internationally, or art organisations partnering with a biennial or festival, not individual artists.
• Activity may take place online and/or in person.
• If face-to-face activity is planned, you must follow latest guidance provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for the relevant countries.
• Core activity should take place from February 2026 to February 2027. The final activity must take place before the end of February 2027. 
• Final reports and evaluations must be shared before the end of February 2027. Audience figures must be shared before the end of the quarter your activity ends in. For example, if your final activity takes place in April 2026, you would share audience figures before the end of June 2026 (the end of quarter two). You can view the evaluation and audience figure reporting frameworks in Further Resources below. 

Priority will be given to projects that:

• foster collaboration between UK-based and international artists, curators, arts organisations and / or festivals and biennials
• involve visual artists in the early or mid stages of their career
• are initiated by, or engaging with ,organisations and artists based in countries which are Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients. These projects can apply for grants of up to £9,500. We expect to award up to eight grants to ODA related projects. 

A limited number of grants will be available for projects not engaging with ODA recipient countries (non-ODA). These projects can apply for grants up to £5,000. We expect to award up to two grants to non-ODA related projects. 

We are particularly interested in applications by biennial or festival organisations supporting artists whose practice is collaborative, cross-cultural or community based.

We have up to £9,500 available for: 

• UK biennials/festivals collaborating with visual artists based in ODA* countries 
• international biennials/festivals based in ODA* countries collaborating with visual artists in the UK.

We have up to £5,000 available for:

• UK biennials/festivals collaborating with visual artists based in non-ODA* countries 
• international biennials/festivals based in non-ODA* countries collaborating with visual artists in the UK 

* International biennials/festivals must be based in eligible countries. The full list of eligible countries and further explanation on Official Development Assistance (ODA) can be found below. 

You can apply for up to an additional £2,500 for project access costs. Project access costs are about removing cost barriers so that d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people can create the project. These might include, but are not limited to, sign language interpreters, captioners, or personal assistants for disabled artists or producers.

Applications should be submitted online and you'll need to create a free account to complete your application. 

An application must be submitted by one lead applicant. The form has collaboration enabled so you will be able to invite your project partner to collaborate on the form. 

If you would like an offline version of the application form, you can download one from the list below. However, all applications must be made online via Good Grants. The offline form is a sample and may not reflect the final form you must complete. This will be dependent on your answers to some questions.

Key application steps

• For detailed application guidance download our application toolkit.
• You're welcome to attend an information session – this is optional.
• Complete the online application before the deadline of 14 September 2025, 23.59 (BST). 

If you have any access needs in order to complete the application, please contact us.

You can find out more about our Biennials Connect Grants through our online information sessions. Click on the links below to find out more and register. 

• Register for the online information session, 9 July 2025, 9.00–10.00 (BST)
• Register for the online information session, 9 July 2025, 15.00–16.00 (BST)

You're welcome to contact us with any questions.