Connections Through Culture (CTC) is an arts grant programme run by the British Council in the UK and East Asia. It was established in August 2019 in Southeast Asia to provide grants to residents of the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam from the following groups: 
  • Artists 
  • Cultural and arts professionals
  • Representatives of art collectives, networks or organisations
The primary objective is to support exchanges and collaborations between the UK and Southeast Asia. Prior to Covid-19, the grant would have most likely involved international travel. However, with travel restricted and uncertain, the CTC grants are offered to develop and strengthen new and existing relationships between the UK and Southeast Asia, by providing funding to allow conversations to happen, and for the possibilities of online collaboration to be explored.  
 
We accepted applications for the Connections Through Culture Online Collaboration Grants and announced the recipients in September 2021.
 
 

Grant Recipients

In Malaysia, we offered the grant to seven online projects, each comprising partners from Malaysia and the UK.
 

About Making

Eleena Jamil (MY) × Dr. Stephen Knott (UK)
 
Cross-discipline exploration of different aspects of ‘making’ in art and architecture

Narratives of Soil: Phase Two

Eliza Collin (UK) × Wendy Teo (MY)
 
Exploration with practitioners and collaborators established from the first CTC project

Sarees and Secrets

 
Series of dialogues between three multi-generational and multi-disciplinary artists connected by their common love of the saree

Safe/Selamat

All Change (UK) × Francesca Beard (UK) × Priya Kulasagaran (MY)
 
Online programme of action research, creative conversation and exchange

Trash <––> Treasure

 
Art residency programme involving UK and Malaysian artists, examining culture through waste

Empowering Deaf Women in Malaysia Through Sign Poetry

Anthony Chong (MY) × Shane Gilchrist (UK)

Training of D/deaf women from across the Straits on poetry in English and Malaysian Sign Language

Musical Exchange Programme

The Rondo Production (MY) × Orchestra of the Swan (UK)

Fellowship programme designed to provide professional training for young musicians and to enhance their career development

 Connections Through Culture 2021 Stories

 

Grantees in Southeast Asia

Indonesia

Lead Grantee Counterpart Grantee Grant Project
Ignatius Susiadi Wibowo on behalf of Labtanya (South Jakarta) Deveron Projects (Huntly, North East, Scotland) Our Commons: Food Resources (English) or Harta Kampung Kota Kita (Bahasa Indonesia)
Joel Cahen of Newtoy Ltd (Chilham) Robby Ocktavian of Muarasuara (Samarinda) Sound Estuary: Workshop and collaborations between sound art practitioners and audiences in Indonesia and in the UK
Tesla Manaf Effendi, Kuntari (Bandung) – Alumni Grant Graham Daniels of Addictive TV (London) Digital release & online launch event. Artists Kuntari and Addictive TV join forces to release their collaborative project Pararatronic.
Mohamad Apie Dhelpilia Suhariyanto and Titis Embun Ayu Winasis on behalf of Pustaka Pias (Bandung) Maisy Summer of Small Fry Collective (Manchester) IDENTICAL: Artbook of Minority Communities
WOW Foundation (Represented by Laura White, London) Voice of Baceprot (West Jakarta) WOW’s Digital Artist in Residence - Voice of Baceprot
Zunifah, Jalan Gembira (Yogyakarta) Fiona Cullinan of Walkspace (Birmingham) Parallel Walking: Between Here and There, Between the Seen and the Unseen

Myanmar

Lead Grantee Counterpart Grantee Grant Project
Aung Myat Htay (Yangon) Grace Adam (Suffolk, East Anglia) The Moments: A collaboration of ideas exchange UK-Myanmar Contemporary Art workshop programme
Aung Min (Yangon) Tony Gammidge (Brighton) Safe Room: Art for trauma healing sessions and collaborations
Andrew Derek Halliday of Phantom Limb Touring (Southampton) Musica Htet (Yangon) A Sound Journey to Freedom: Intersectionality of visual and sonic arts
Dominique Robert DIllabough-Lefebvre (Cambridge) Saw Eh Do Wah (Mutraw, Karen State) Lives across boundaries: Film development project about environmental change and Karen borderlands.
Daw Htar Nwe (Yangon) Jack Jenkins Hill (London) Memory in Exile: Mixed media online archive of oral histories of diasporic populations in Myanmar

 

 

Philippines

Lead Grantee Counterpart Grantee Grant Project
Hannah Morales of Emerging Islands (San Juan, La Union) Mandy Barker (Leeds) Plastic Passages: Mapping Our Way Towards Collective Sea Change
Joseph Wallace (East Sussex) Jemina Legaspi (Bocaue, Bulacan) Environmental Storytelling Through Stop Motion Animation: An exploration of recycled puppetry, sustainable practice, and poetic visions
Patricia Mendoza of Matic Hub (Cebu) – Alumni Grant Gillian Easson on behalf of Creative Dundee (Dundee) #MaterialsWiki - A Virtual Knowledge Sharing with Arts & Design Students
Jerome Dulin of North Luzon Cinema Guild, Inc. (Tuguegarao) Noémie Mendelle of Scottish Documentary Institute (Edinburgh) Lenses X Cultures (Lenses Cross Cultures): Creative Documentary Film La
Mac Andre Rubio Arboleda (Manila) April Lin (London) Toolkits for Counterparts

Thailand

Lead Grantee Counterpart Grantee Grant Project
Piyawat Louilarpprasert (Bangkok) – Alumni Grant Scott Wilson (Birmingham) Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology
Ratchanok Ketboonruand (Chiang Mai) Carol Sinclair (Angus, Scotland) Crafting Happiness: Craft and Making for Health and Wellbeing in Thailand and Scotland
Chumpon Apisuk (Nan Province) – Alumni Grant Sinead O'Donnell (Belfast) Living with Closer Distancing: Activities and activities at the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art (BIFPA), with workshop with students from Bangkok University, Chiangmai University, and Ulster University (Belfast).
Weave Artisan Society (Chiang Mai) Naomi Mcintosh (Crathie, Scotland) Cross Cultural Tapestry: large scale 3D tapestry annex over a period of 3 months. UK artist collaborating with Thailand local team of weavers.
B-Floor Theatre Bangkok (Bangkok) Patrick J O'reilly of Tinderbox Theatre Company (Belfast) Digital Playground: Exploring the theme of Climate Change and the Body for physical theatre collaboration exploring climate change effects on the body.
Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn (Bangkok) Philippa Lovatt (St Andrews, Scotland) Tracing the Anthropocene in Southeast Asian and British Artists' Cinema: Film Screenings and Discussion

Vietnam

Lead Grantee Counterpart Grantee Grant Project
Bui Linh Ha (Hanoi) – Alumni Grant Esther Swift (Edinburgh, Scotland) Creative Hosting (to) Access Music: CHẠM (vn for 'touch') – Music and Well-Being project
Nhã Thuyên aka Đỗ Thị Thoan (Hanoi) Alexandra Büchler of Literature Across Frontiers / Llenyddiaeth Ar Draws Ffiniau (Aberystwith, Wales) Ù Ơ: Digital residency and poetic exchange between emerging Vietnamese and Welsh women poets and artists
Vu Thi Phuong Thao on behalf Blue H'mong textile community in Pa Co(Hanoi) Lola Lely of WAX Atelier co-op (London) Crafting without Borders: Cross-cultural arts exchange through online workshops between Blue H'mong craftswomen in Viet Nam and craftswomen at WAX Atelier Co-Op in London
Trang Trinh (Hanoi) Caroline Sharp (London) "My morning song": A cross cultural educational and musical partnership based on Elgar's Chasson de Martin
Nguyen Quoc Thanh of Queer Forever! on behalf partners Dinh Thao Linh, Ba-Bau AIR, and Dinh Thi Nhung, A Queer Museum / Ban Lon - Vagina Talks (Hanoi) Asia Art Activism (London) Cruising beyond the cloud computing, xuyên không across the sky (thực ra là light speed under the sea): Activities queerness, local and intercultural queerstories, transnational exchange of knowledge and practices
Luyen Thi Linh (Hanoi) Casson & Friends by Tim Casson (Lincolnshire) The Dance WE Made: Mentoring and performance of 4 Vietnamese dancers (2 disabled and 2 non-disabled) (COVID permitting) in public spaces in Hanoi
Chau Quynh Le on behalf of CPED: Center for Cultural Preservation & Economic Development (Hue) Victoria Elizabeth Roe (London) Weaving a Better World: Including Craft to Reset Sustainable Fashion based on Ta Oi women’s designs – workshops, manuals, and exchange
Tran Viet Huy on behalf of Đà Nẵng tui (Da Nang) Dylan Jones of The Coracle Society (Cardiff, Wales) Lênh Đênh - Journey on the Waves of Time: Activities for artists, craftsmen, and fishermen in Vietnam accessing current and historic uses of coracles (thuyền thúng) in Viet Nam and in the UK