People are dancing in a gymnasium
Dienstag 20 Mai 2025

Cultural Bridge supports arts and cultural organisations across the UK and Germany to develop partnerships that explore social arts practice.

By enabling new and existing connections, the programme supports a growing network of organisations committed to sharing expertise and skills, exchanging ideas and collaborating on artistic practices and projects that explore themes and issues faced by communities across both countries.

The 2026-27 Cultural Bridge programme application portal will be open from 1 October until 12 November 2025.

We have released updated guidance for applicants. Please ensure you have read it and checked your organisation’s eligibility to apply before considering an application. 

If you have any questions, please read our FAQs before contacting us. You can also register for one of our upcoming Information Sessions—see below. 

How much is available?

A total of £370,000 (approximately €430,000) is available in the 2026-27 funding round. This budget will be split between our two funding tiers outlined below and we anticipate making up to 20 awards.

Tier 1: Practice exchange & development of new partnerships, up to £10,000 per partnership
Supporting the development of brand new partnerships between arts and cultural organisations in the UK and Germany. 

Tier 2: Co-development and project delivery for established partnerships, up to £30,000 per partnership
Supporting further development of partnerships, where organisations already have working experience.

Organisations can apply for a contribution to personal access costs in addition to the funding outlined above. For further information, see the full guidance. 

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must: 

  • Be an organisation based in the UK or Germany (see guidance for further definition of ‘organisation’
  • Be able to demonstrate expertise in social arts practice, working with communities 

Cultural Bridge is open to all art forms. The 2026-27 funding round will prioritise support for: 

  • Smaller arts and cultural organisations that don’t already receive significant or sustained funding 
  • Organisations based or working with communities outside major cities, e.g. in rural areas or less populated urban centres.
  • Organisations that empower local communities through their creative work
  • Organisations whose work aligns with our programme aims and place themes
  • Organisations that foster equity, diversity and inclusion through their leadership and practice

The Cultural Bridge programme promotes an equitable, diverse and inclusive network. The activity we support, and the workforce of arts and culture organisations we fund, should reflect the diversity of the UK and Germany.

Information sessions

Find out more about the funding opportunity and ask questions at one of our upcoming information sessions held on Zoom. We encourage you to read the full guidance ahead of the session so you can prepare your questions.

Upcoming dates:

English language sessions

German language sessions

Key dates

Fund opens: Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Application deadline: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Decisions: by 2 February 2026
Activity starts: from 1 April 2026
Activity ends: 31 March 2027

Help to apply

We want to make the Cultural Bridge programme application process accessible to all organisations. If you need support to make an application, we can help in several ways. The guidance is available in accessible formats, including formatted PDF and Plain Text. If you require an alternative format, please get in touch. If you need additional support applying, our programme leads in the UK and Germany are available. Please see their contact details below.

Contact us

Please make sure you have read the guidance in full and checked the FAQs before contacting a member of the programme team.

UK organisations contact:
Lorna Palmer
Programme Manager, Cultural Bridge
contact@cultural-bridge.info  

German organisations contact:
Silvia Bonadiman Programme development
Fonds Soziokultur e.V.
bonadiman@fonds-soziokultur.de

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2022-23 we reached 600 million people. For 90 years, the British Council has built global connections through the arts, education, and the English language. Every year, 100 million people improve their English language communication skills and prove their English proficiency with us. We deliver 4 million exams in 140 countries, enabling access to UK qualifications. In partnership with 40 national governments and supporting 4 million educators, we improve English teaching and empower learners worldwide with lifelong skills for work, study, travel and communication with the world.

Externe Links

Teilen