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.

Aichi Triennale, Japan welcomes the participation of influential Ghanaian-born British artist and filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah and UK based conceptual photographer Hrair Sarkissian in their International Contemporary Art Exhibition curated under the title of ‘A Time Between Ashes and Roses’. Aichi Triennale is one of the largest international art festivals in Japan, featuring a diverse range of Japanese and International artists. Both artists’ participation is being supported by us at the British Council through Biennials Connect.

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, UK hosts Japanese filmmaker Eri Makihara as ‘Artist in Focus’ at the 20th edition of the festival taking place 27-30 March 2025. Through her artistic practice Makihara centres the experience of Deaf people within the dominant hearing culture. This will be the first major showcase of Makihara's work outside of Asia. BFMAF is an artistically ambitious organisation for new cinema and artists’ moving image based in North Northumberland. 

An artist (to be announced) will present a work at the 36th edition of Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil titled 'Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice' –  a line from the poem 'Da calma e do silêncio' (Of calm and silence) by Afrobrazilian poet Conceição Evaristo. 

Bogiaisso Video Art Festival, Italy brings international video art into dialogue with fisher communities and island residents of Chioggia, in the southern edge of the Venetian Lagoon. Significant works from international artists are shared and discussed with the local working community. In Spring 2025, UK multi-disciplinary artist Abbas Zahedi will participate in an artistic residency researching and responding to the local context, and later attend the Bogiaisso Video Art Festival, 25-28 August 2025.

In response to their curatorial theme of Invention & Innovation, British Textile Biennial, UK, invite Bangalore-based artist Dhara Mehrotra to participate in an artist residency at the Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery in Lancashire, to develop an installation expanding on her research into mycelium networks and their regenerative environmental properties. British Textile Biennial runs from 2 October until 2 November 2025. 

Coventry Biennial, UK – a social, political and critical platform for contemporary art taking place across Coventry and Warwickshire from October 2025 to January 2026 – will build on their connection with Kolkata-based organisation Emami Arts to offer emerging Indian contemporary artists a significant opportunity to make, and/or present artworks exploring the roles and impacts of collections and archives in an international context.  

EAF (Edinburgh Art Festival), UK, deepen their close collaboration with Colombian Cultural Foundation Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA) and landmark project Around a Tree, which gathers global stories and experiences of the climate emergency (with contributions from Ireland, Scotland, Kenya, Germany and Colombia). Brazilian artists and collectives will be invited to bring their voice to this project as part of its continued production and have presence at EAF25 and COP25 in Brazil.   

Led by artist-run initiative 98B COLLABoratory, ESC Biennale, Philippines, has transformed urban spaces in Escolta, Manila through site-specific works that engage the public. Their 2025 edition will play around the theme tambay reflecting the Filipino spirit of gathering and hanging out. UK artists will be selected via open call to participate in residency alongside local artists, culminating in a project for the Biennale in November 2025.

A new site-specific installation by Derry-born mixed-media artist, Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh, will be commissioned for the 41st EVA International Biennial, Ireland (29 August – 26 October 2025) at Sadlier’s fishmongers in Limerick City. Ó Dochartaigh will also engage in a series of public and networking events with Irish and international peers. The commission forms part of an international curator-led ‘Guest Programme’ on themes of independence and autonomy, curated by Netherlands based Eszter Szakács. 

Groove Biennale, South Africa is an inclusive architecture and music festival celebrating the alternative nightlife scenes in Johannesburg, employing experimental interdisciplinary design to engage the city's traditional architectural profession with youth culture and nightlife. A day will be dedicated to learning and exchange, including a workshop facilitated by three UK-based visual artists for students, queer communities and others interested in the cities’ arts, music and cultural sector. The three-day festival takes place in Johannesburg from 30 January until 1 February 2025 and is presented by DORMANTYOUTH in partnership with Jägermeister x Night Embassy.

Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF), Nigeria is an arts and language festival by and for African creatives across the UK, West and East Africa, curated by Open Arts Foundation. In June 2025, British-Nigerian architectural designer and artist, Antoinette Yetunde Oni, will collaborate with local northern Nigerian textile artisans on an art installation recounting the story of the region's long history of textile production. Yetunde Oni will also lead a fellowship and workshop for ten emerging artists on socially engaged creative practices.

'Waste Not Want Not – Up-cycled' is an artist residency bringing together Turkish artist Elif Ağatekin and Welsh artist, Bonnie Grace, over ten days in June 2025. Drawing on themes central to the festival’s (International Ceramics Festival, UK) emerging concerns of sustainability, the artists’ work will include sherds from important historical ceramic sites in Wales as well as contemporary industrial ceramic waste. The residency will include demonstrations at the festival, an exhibition at Aberystwyth, and displays and outreach workshops at Ruthin and Nantgarw.

The 13th edition of Liverpool Biennial, UK (7 June – 14 September 2025) ‘BEDROCK’, will examine the city’s foundations, from the sandstone bedrock of the city and region, pavements and distinctive architecture, to the civic, colonial, and personal beliefs that ground people and places in it. The Biennial will invite a new commission from the award-winning Ugandan multi-disciplinary artist Odur Ronald who mainly works with and explores the multi-faceted possibilities of aluminium printing plates.