The Cultural Bridge partnership which supports intercultural exchange and dialogue in the field of participative arts and culture between Germany and the UK, welcomes applications for a new 2024 - 2025 programme of funding.

Cultural Bridge is a unique investment programme between all UK arts councils and leading German cultural institutions that supports the development of cross-border partnerships.

Since launching in 2021, it has so far enabled 44 organisations that place communities at the heart of their work, to build and develop new partnerships that allow exploration and exchange of practice across the UK and Germany.

Cultural Bridge will be inviting applications for its 2024-2025 programme from mid October 2023. This is an opportunity for organisations based in the UK and Germany who embody cultural democracy and wish to forge or develop bilateral partnerships, to work together and share artistic practice. 

Full application guidance is available. You can also sign up to the mailing list to receive further information and updates about the funding opportunity. 

Key information

The Cultural Bridge programme has investment from seven partners: Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London, Arts Council England, Arts Council Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland and Arts Council of Wales/Wales Arts International.

The programme has two funding tiers:

Tier 1: New Partnerships, up to £10,000 per partnership.

Supporting new partnerships between UK and German cultural organisations, both organisations must have demonstrable experience of socially engaged practice.

Tier 2: Established Partnerships, up to £30,000 per partnership.

Supporting existing partnerships between UK and German cultural organisations, both organisations must have demonstrable experience of socially engaged practice. All Tier 2 applications should include some direct engagement/ participatory practice with communities.

There is no requirement for match funding, but existing partnerships applying for Tier 2 are encouraged to build wider partnerships and leverage other income/in-kind support. 

Decisions will be made against the criteria of the fund (full guidance to be released in September 2023) and will aim to be inclusive of both Germany and the UK’s cultural diversity and geography.

The aims of the programme

  • Supporting international exchange and development opportunities for cultural organisations based in the UK and Germany

  • Enabling social change through the development of participatory approaches across a range of artforms and in response to one or more of the programme themes:

    • Re-invigorating post-industrial places/communities

    • Places with fewer opportunities to engage

    • Places and communities transformed by grassroots activism

    • Redefining the use of public space

  • Exploring new models of innovative practice, in particular testing imaginative ways of working with communities that offer new and positive responses to social engagement.

Who can apply?

The Cultural Bridge programme targets organisations who embody cultural democracy through:

  • placing communities at the heart of their work

  • supporting people from across their communities to develop their creativity and discover their individual voices

  • empowering their communities to work together to shape local place, shared identity, and collective agency

  • exploring new ways of connecting arts and society, particularly through fostering co-creation between communities, artists, and other partners

This programme is open to all cultural organisations* with proven expertise in socially engaged/participatory practice. We welcome applications from organisations supporting a wider network of individual creative practitioners through their work.

Applications are invited from new partnerships (Tier 1) or established partnerships (Tier 2).

Partnerships must include at least one German partner and one UK partner, from any one of the four nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

All partnerships will be asked to nominate a lead. The lead partner can be from Germany or one of the four UK nations and will act as the main point of contact, on behalf of the partnership, with responsibility for reporting back to funders.

Multiple applications from different partners for the same activity will be ineligible.

[*By ‘organisation’ we mean a group of people working towards a common goal with a governing document that covers the type of project being applied for, such as a charity, a limited company, an unincorporated group or a registered organisation. All organisations need to have a bank account in the organisation’s name, with two signatories (people allowed to sign cheques).]

Who cannot apply?

  • Individual artists – this programme is currently focussed on bi-lateral partnership development for registered organisations only.

  • Organisations based (living or registered) outside of the UK or Germany.

  • Organisations who cannot demonstrate that they have a track record of socially engaged practice.

Key dates

  • Wednesday 11th October 2023 Cultural Bridge 2024 - 2025 Application Portal opens

  • Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 5pm (UK) 6pm (Germany) Cultural Bridge 2024 - 2025 Application Portal closes

  • Wednesday 31st January 2024 Applicants notified of final outcome 

  • April 2024 - March 2025 Cultural Bridge 2024 - 2025 funded projects delivery period

Sign up to the Cultural Bridge mailing list for updates on the current funded partnerships and news about the 2024 - 2025 application process.