Connections Through Culture Grants 2025, image

The Connections Through Culture grants programme nurtures fresh cultural partnerships between the UK and select countries in Asia Pacific and Europe, including Ukraine. These grants support new ideas and collaborations from artists and cultural organisations at any stage of development.

The grants supported in this round of the Connections Through Culture programme focus on two areas: diversity and inclusion as well as addressing climate change. The collaborations across borders and artistic disciplines will lead to new ideas to address these global challenges.

The grants support new connections, exchanges, and collaborations between artists, cultural professionals, creative practitioners and art and cultural organisations.

2025 Grant recipients: Ukraine

Two women working together to examine and document artworks in a museum storage space.

Anglo-Ukrainian Conservation Dictionary

UK: UA-UK Cultural Heritage Initiative

Ukraine: The National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Kyiv

By creating an open access Anglo-Ukrainian conservation dictionary, they will help build culture bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world. Many of the leading conservation training programs and art institutes utilise English as a working language. This project will overcome language barriers, support Ukraine’s war effort and be a tool in post war recovery and future collaborations.

Two actors holding hands and performing an emotional scene on stage under theatre lights.

Codename Othello: In Dialogue with Shakespeare

UK: York International Shakespeare Festival

Ukraine: The Ivano Franko National Academic Drama Theatre in Ivano Frankivsk

Modern Ukrainian playwrights are reimagining Shakespeare’s characters and plots to articulate the lived experience of war, trauma, and resistance. ‘Codename Othello’ by Olga Annenko is a compelling example of this. They will tour two parallel productions - one in English and one in Ukrainian. The double bill will tour to festivals between April and June 2006.

A group of people sitting around a table, reading scripts and discussing ideas in a creative workshop.

Creating Communities through Poetry: Translating Experience between Ukraine and the UK

UK: University of Exeter

Ukraine: Lviv BookForum

A series of online and hybrid creative writing and translation workshops will be hosted to foster solidarity, build communities, and help participants process diverse life experiences through the power of Ukrainian wartime poetry. The acclaimed poets Yuliya Musakovska and Fiona Benson will lead the bimonthly workshops with guest soldier poets, including Artur Dron.

A violinist performing under colourful light projections, blending music and visual art.

Hiraeth: Our Silent Anthem

UK: Luke Harris

Ukraine: Bohdan Hrashchenko - Children's Music School Nº35

This is a research-led collaboration making the invisible visible. The project translates a displaced Ukrainian violinist’s live EEG brainwaves and the seismic vibrations from a Kyiv music school into a visceral, immersive film. Using AI and contemporary composition, this multi-sensory artwork gives form to the unseen wounds of conflict, telling a powerful story of human connection and resilience.

Dancers moving energetically during a rehearsal in a bright studio space.

Through the body, to be heard

UK: Jones the Dance

Ukraine: Public Organisation AU Association Contemporary Dance Platform

This collaboration will support dance artists Anna Seymour (UK) and Oksana Andreeva (Ukraine) to share and develop inclusive practices for creating work as, and with, Deaf dancers. It will deepen dramaturgical thinking unique to Deaf-led work, enriching practice, pedagogy and a performance of ‘Family Tree’. It will amplify unheard voices around the themes of decolonisation and grow an inclusive network.

A lively open-air concert at night with people dancing and colourful lights on stage.

Trochi Cymru Ukraine

UK: BBC Cymru Wales

Ukraine: Music Export Ukraine

A youth music exchange brings emerging Ukrainian artists to Cardiff for a residency with Welsh peers, creating new music together through workshops and studio sessions. Supported by mentors and producers, the collaboration culminates in a joint performance at the Immersed Festival 2026. Building on a successful pilot, the project celebrates identity, resilience, and underrepresented languages while forging lasting cultural links and solidarity.