Today the Cultural Bridge programme has announced 20 partnerships between UK and German-based organisations, who have been awarded a total of £310,000 in funding to develop artistic practices and projects exploring themes and issues faced by communities across both countries.
With investment from seven major 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, Cultural Bridge is a unique collaboration between the UK and Germany.
The 2024 - 2025 programme marks the network’s third year of funding artistic exchange between the UK and Germany, bringing the total number of organisations supported by Cultural Bridge since 2021 to 72, through 35 partnerships. Four of the 2023 - 2024 partnerships have been awarded additional funding to further develop their work and several of the previously funded organisations continue to connect and share practice.
The open call for applicants to the 2024 - 2025 funding exceeded expectations, with 138 applications from potential partnerships between the UK and Germany, demonstrating the cultural sector’s desire to learn, share and develop work that enables social change through international collaboration. Applications were assessed and reviewed by an independent jury of professionals across the UK and Germany.
The partnerships being announced today will explore a wide range of themes and artforms, from prison theatre, youth led and disability led work, climate change, migrant activism, feminism, rural arts and more.
The funded partnerships from Wales include an existing partnership between Hijinx Theatre (Cardiff, Wales) and tanzbar-bremen e.V. (Bremen, Germany) that will bring together learning disabled and neurodivergent artists to develop a large-scale street theatre performance and a new partnership between Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC (Ffiwsar) (Llanrwst, Wales) and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften (Quakenbrück, Germany) who’s work will focus on socially engaged work in rural areas and questioning access/ power imbalances.
Ben Pettitt-Wade, Artistic Director, Hijinx said:
“The Cultural Bridge Funding will allow us to bring together learning disabled and neurodivergent artists from Wales and Germany to work together in the creation and presentation of a large-scale street theatre performance: ROBOTS. The project will facilitate a unique opportunity for exchange between our artists and organisations as they collaborate on the dramaturgy and choreography before performing together at two street theatre festivals in Germany.
For some of the learning disabled and neurodivergent artists involved, this will be their first time to travelling internationally, a vital opportunity for progression in both their professional aspirations and towards more independent lives.”
Hijinx Theatre (Cardiff, Wales) and tanzbar-bremen e.V.
“Our creative practices are place and people based. Meppen in Germany and Llanrwst in Wales will be the primary focus areas for slow travelling field trip exchanges via the European rail network. This includes provocations, questions and challenges to explore the process of journeying, the temporary communities formed on public transport and how people respond to interactions with strangers as we start conversations. We will explore new ways of connecting arts and society, with the primary aim of getting to know each other, our working methods and practices as well as our context.”
Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften
Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC was formed following a 3 year research and development project by Ffiwsar, Natural Resources Wales and Cartrefi Conwy called Dyffryn Dyfodol, supported by ACW Connect and Flourish fund which enabled partners to come together and explore ways of collaborating with communities and creatives in rural Conwy and led to the creation of this new organisation.
The 2024 – 2025 partnerships are:
Tier one (new partnerships receiving funding up to £10k):
- ARCHITEXTS OF CHANGE - Angeprangert! Spoken Word (Weißwasser, Germany) and Young Identity (Manchester)
- Bridging Rural Communities - People, Process, Places - Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC (Llanrwst, Wales) and Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften (Quakenbrück, Germany)
- Chemnitz & Manchester Residency - Quarantine (Manchester, England) and ASA-FF e.V./ Freundinnen- und Förderkreis Arbeits- und Studienaufenthalte in Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika (Chemnitz, Germany)
- Co-creating across borders: A tale of two cities - Brighton People's Theatre CIO (Brighton, England) and English Theatre Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany)
- Collectively Crossing: Affiliation Bridges - Kunstverein Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany) and Bistro 21 and Bidston Observatory Artistic Research Centre (BOARC) (Prenton, England)
- Colour Stories. Sharing journeys of a dyer's garden - artpark Hoher Berg UG gemeinnützig (Schermbeck, Germany) and Brink! (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- Common Values, Shared Dreams - The Mighty Creatives (Leicester, England) and Werkhaus e.V. (Krefeld, Germany)
- Empowering mixedabled/inclusive dance across international communities - Anjali Dance Company (Derby, England) and com.dance (Horben, Germany)
- Feminism and Migrant activism - Stellar Quines Ltd (Fife, Scotland) and MPower (Berlin, Germany)
- New sustainable models for artist-led spaces - Assembly House CIC (Leeds, England) and E-WERK Luckenwalde (Luckenwalde, Germany)
- The Invisible City - Tortoise in a Nutshell (Edinburgh, Scotland) and Theater Gruene Sosse (Frankfurt, Germany)
- Uncomfortable Dialogues - Unveiling Marginalized Black Experiences through Dance, Film, and Storytelling - MINCE e.V. (Berlin, Germany) and Miss Lulu Creates LTD (London, England)
- Unlocked - Geese Theatre Company (Birmingham, England) and aufBruch (Berlin, Germany)
- Wetland: sharing practices of care and hospitality to engage communities and redfine former industrial spaces - Cement Fields (Kent, England) and Floating e.V. (Berlin, Germany)
Tier two (existing partnerships receiving funding up to £30k):
- An Audio Hunt in Easterhouse - Produced Moon (Glasgow, Scotland) and Storydive (Hamburg, Germany)
- ENTER: Robots exchange - Hijinx Theatre (Cardiff, Wales) and tanzbar-bremen e.V. (Bremen, Germany)
- Let the Grassroots Grow - SET Centre CIO (London, England) and riesa efau (Dresden, Germany)
- My Body is my Castle - An intergenerational and performative research - 4.D (Dortmund, Germany) and ACCA (Leeds, England)
- Rap School of Life - Improving Language and Mental Health - Kanzi GmbH (Berlin, Germany) and Forward Ever Education CIC (Birmingham, England)
- The Shake - The MAC (Belfast, Northern Ireland) and coculture e.V. (Berlin, Germany)
“I am thrilled that Hijinx Theatre and Dyffryn Dyfodol CIC have been selected as part of Cultural Bridge 2024-2025. This will allow them to engage with their partner organisations in Germany, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experience in socially engaged practices and community work. Our ongoing collaboration with Cultural Bridge continues to provide Welsh arts organisations with the chance to participate in international initiatives, fostering new connections with partners in Germany and throughout the UK.”
Dafydd Rhys, CEO Arts Council of Wales
You can find information on all funded partnerships here on the Cultural Bridge Website.