UK/Germany 2018

A season celebrating cultural connection

Matthew Herbert’s Brexit Big Band recorded local musicians across Europe and performed with some of them at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt. © Haus der Kulturen der Welt

UK/Germany 2018 was a dynamic, year-long programme which explored and celebrated all forms of cultural connection between the UK and Germany; from theatre, music and dance, to digital engagement and storytelling.

The #UKGermany2018 launch party at Berlin's trendy Villa Neukölln brought together a diverse crowd to learn about the year ahead, network and party the night away.

Making connections through art, creativity and collaboration

Bringing together British and German museum outreach professionals with our partner Berlinische Galerie © British Council

Connecting people

UK/Germany2018 brought together over 100 partner organisations with audiences and artists from Ulm to Cuxhaven, Munich to East London.

Whether face to face, or through virtual environments, they engaged in artistic dialogue and active citizenship.

During an exciting weekend in Berlin with UK-German Connection, we worked with 60 enthusiastic German and British pupils to explore the history and future of cultural heritage.

Connecting young people through diverse topics such as cultural heritage, gender and the natural world was a hallmark of UK/Germany 2018.

The learning opportunities offered by the programme placed diversity, representation, and open access to cultural institutions at the fore.

'The British Council transformed a working relationship into a family one. These are the partners we want to have, these are the partners that, as an organisation, we want to grow with.'

Ana Alvarez, Founder & CEO, Migration Hub Network

Supporting diversity and inclusion

Storytelling for resilience

We brought the British Council’s Language for Resilience programme to the city of Berlin.

Taking a virtual tour of the Language for Resilience exhibition using Google Cardboards. © British Council

“Storytelling is a way of communicating between human beings, but also a way to dig deep in ourselves to have a better understanding of ourselves.”

Justine Hardy, a trauma psychotherapist speaking as part of the International literaturfestival Berlin

A storytelling workshop hosted at our partner Migration Hub Network. © British Council

The programme included a virtual exhibition, storytelling workshops, readings at the International Literature Festival Berlin, and design sprints aimed at solving communication problems.

Providing a platform for young people

Throughout the season we hosted numerous youth-oriented events. We brought photographers, Sarah Amy Fishlock and Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte to Ulm for a week of workshops with school pupils centring on the work of Martin Parr. © British Council.

Creating and presenting work together

We connected partner organisations to young artists and creatives, who experienced exhibitions, readings, and performances and then used British Council platforms to present their own work.

Over 20 affiliate organisations and hundreds of young creatives came together.

Leonie Brandner took part in our opportunity for emerging artists from the UK and Germany. In partnership with the Liebermann Villa, she was able to develop and showcase her work as part of their art exhibition “London 1938”.’ © Leonie Brandner.

We opened our social channels in order to provide an inclusive platform to social influencers, young creatives and entrepreneurs.

In doing so, #UKGermany2018 represented aspirations of a shared and collaborative future.

Digital storytelling

We produced a series of twelve videos which tell the stories of exciting young creatives as well as German-British collaborators and friends.

These videos have had almost one million views and have been watched across all 16 federal states.

UK choreographer, Rachael Nanyonio travelled to festivals all over Germany, gaining inspiration from world-class practitioners, including Company Wayne McGregor.

Watch the film series from UK/Germany 2018 on YouTube.

Sharing UK literature and supporting new writers

Workshops at our partner Stiftung Nantesbuch brought together literature experts, authors and literary fans. © British Council

UK/Germany 2018 began with a Literature Seminar that explored the topics of gender and sexuality in UK writing, and brought together translators, academics, publishers and interested readers with British authors.

Following the seminar we ran a nationwide poetry competition for young people in partnership with the Haus für Poesie, Berlin.

As the first step in the scholarship programme, our writers took part in an introductory workshop and participated at our British Council Nature Writing seminar

Nature writing

Our Nature Writing Seminar in Munich shed light on this literary movement.

We were excited to offer six ambitious young writers the opportunity to create, discuss and develop their nature writing in Germany.

Young people attended workshops, and three young British writers together with three German counterparts developed their practice and organised outreach programmes in schools as part of a scholarship programme.

Partner with us

‘British Council people are creative but at the same time very uncomplicated and hands on.’

Gabriele Tuch, Haus der Kulturen der Welt

$Matthew Herbert of Brexit Big Band which played at Wassermusik said he sees music and its storytelling as a "language that makes sense of a complicated world." © Laura Fiorio\/HKW$

Matthew Herbert of Brexit Big Band which played at Wassermusik said he sees music and its storytelling as a "language that makes sense of a complicated world." © Laura Fiorio/HKW

‘It was a rare experience to work on a programme that was an elegantly crafted... The imagination and depth of knowledge of the British Council was this bridge-builder, and the architects were the diligent and thoughtful British Council team.’

Justine Hardy, Novelist, Founder, Healing Kashmir

Bringing together organisations and people from the UK and Germany lay at the heart of the 2018 season.

‘Different perspectives form the basis for new ideas - which in turn is a prerequisite for innovation.’

Birger Schmidt, Founder, Lernort Stadion

Get in touch

If your organisation is interested in developing bilateral partnerships, please reach out to our Head of Programmes and Partnerships, Joseph Field.