The Connections Through Culture (CTC) programme nurtures fresh cultural partnerships between the UK and select countries in Asia Pacific and Europe. These grants support new ideas and collaborations from artists and cultural organisations. 

The latest round of the Connections Through Culture programme supports a diverse range of projects. From diversity and inclusion to climate change and beyond, these collaborations bring together partners across borders to generate fresh ideas and creative solutions to today’s  challenges. 

CTC supports new connections, exchanges, and collaborations between artists, cultural professionals, creative practitioners and art and cultural organisations. 

2025 Grant Recipients: Bangladesh

A Shared Journey of Learning and Creation: XR skill sharing, building collaborations

UK: Thomas Buckley / Play Office  
 
A collaborative exchange between artists in the UK and Bangladesh, ‘A Shared Journey of Learning and Creation’ will use XR, immersive storytelling, and oral history to explore memory, diaspora and identity. 

Midnight’s Third Child

Bangladesh: Kehkasha Sabah  
UK: Benjamin Cook  
 
This project is inspired by artist Naeem Mohaiemen's book "Midnight's Third Child" (Nokta, Dhaka, 2020). He explores how Bangladesh's cultural identity exists in a 'third space' - neither fully aligned with dominant postcolonial narratives nor confined to traditional boundaries. The project examines how Bangladeshi moving image artists navigate between local and global, traditional and modern, personal and political spaces. 

Resistance, Re-Imagine: International Photography Residency

Bangladesh: Pathshala Institute  
UK: GRAIN Projects CIC  
 
The residency exchange brings together photographers to explore the themes Resistance and Re-imagine. Focusing on diversity, inclusion, and climate change, the programme fosters collaboration and the exchange of knowledge and skills. Residents will co-create new artistic content that will be presented in exhibitions and publications, to inspire creative solutions to today’s challenges. 

The Space Between Us: Theatre, Access, and Exchange

Bangladesh: Sundaram 
UK: Birds of Paradise Theatre Company 
 
The Space Between Us: Theatre, Access, and Exchange brings together disabled artists and theatre practitioners in Bangladesh and the UK to explore accessible, inclusive performances. Online workshops, mentorship, and collaborative rehearsals will develop new performance pieces and share creative practices. A symposium and digital showcase will create practical resources for disability-led theatre in South Asia and the UK. 
 

The Story of Maya: Homecoming

Bangladesh: Neel Kamrul  
UK: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG)  
 
‘The Story of Maya: Homecoming’ is a new project by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) with Bangladeshi musician and composer Neel Kamrul. 

The project celebrates BCMG’s ‘Music in Dialogue’ programme, which includes education projects and tours in Bangladesh and Berlin. 

Two Places at Once

Bangladesh: Shubho O Saha, Back Art Foundation  
UK: Munotida Chinyanga, State of the [Art]  
 
‘Two Places at Once’ is a creative sound and storytelling project linking young artists and communities in the UK and Bangladesh. 

It focuses on the themes of climate, migration, and belonging, and sets up interactive “Soundrooms” in London and Dhaka. These spaces will be used for workshops, recording sounds, and community events. 

Unbinding bookbinding

Bangladesh: Drik Picture Library  
UK: Book Works  
 
This collaborative Research and Development project combines Book Works' creative and aesthetic approach to bespoke bookbinding with the hand-made and low-cost methods used by traditional bookbinders in Bangladesh, which Drik has incorporated in its international publications. It will involve research, artist surgeries, field visits to traditional bookbinders in Dhaka.