New UK-New Zealand Artistic Collaborations Unveiled Through British Council's Connection Through Culture Grants

The British Council is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Connections Through Culture (CTC) Grant Programme, which supports a new wave of artistic collaborations between the United Kingdom and international partners.

This year, 127 projects have been awarded grants globally, with four from Aotearoa New Zealand. Each brings artists and organisations from the UK and different parts of the world to exchange ideas, co-create, and explore bold new approaches to some of today’s most pressing global challenges.

From reimagining traditional craft, digital technology and tackling the climate crisis through performance and visual storytelling, the 2025 grantees reflect the extraordinary power of the arts to spark innovation, dialogue, and change.

"Each of the 2025 projects tells a story of artists finding common ground, experimenting, and creating something new together. These collaborations remind us that the arts thrive on mutual exchange and that when people connect across cultures, they create work that resonates far beyond their own communities," said Natasha Beckman, Director British Council New Zealand and the Pacific, “I’m particularly excited about the breadth of connections, from ancestral mātauranga to contemporary digital artforms at all stages of development.”

As the programme grows, so too does its reach. First launched in the Asia Pacific region, Connections Through Culture welcomes grantees from Europe and South Asia, with Nepal joining the programme for the first time in 2025. This expansion means more artists than ever can connect with the UK, exchange knowledge, and co-create projects that celebrate cultural diversity and explore shared futures.

"What makes Connections Through Culture so special is the diversity it brings together. Different traditions, ideas, and artistic practices converging to create something new," said Ruth Mackenzie CBE, British Council Director of Arts. "With its expansion, the programme connects even more voices and communities, strengthening the role of arts in fostering peace, trust, and prosperity across borders."

Through this cycle, the British Council will provide over GBP 1,100,000 (NZD 2.57m) in funding globally, supporting grantees to take risks, experiment, and create work that transcends borders.

2025 Grantees

Hiwa-i-te-rangi: Returning, Reconnecting, Reawakening

New Zealand: Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum

UK: Oriental Museum, Durham University

Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum will host an eighteenth-century pauku (war cloak) on a five-year research and exhibition loan from the Oriental Museum, Durham University. The pauku is a rare and prestigious kākahu (cloak), one of only five in existence, and all are held overseas. The pauku's haerenga (journey) to New Zealand represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reconnect all five kākahu and return knowledge to senior Māori weavers to awaken the environmental and technical expertise embodied in the cloak, safeguarding mātauranga (knowledge) for future generations.

Ka Mua Ka Muri - Walking Backwards Into the Future

New Zealand: CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image

UK: LUX Scotland

Ka Mua Ka Muri - Walking Backwards Into the Future explores artistic strategies for sustainable futures through moving image practice. Through film screenings and online conversations, the project connects artists from Aotearoa and Scotland to examine how contemporary moving image technologies activate ancestral knowledge, sustain connections to land and home amid displacement, and inspire new models of activism and resilience. It reconsiders historical gestures of resistance to address today’s political and social challenges.

The UK-NZ Playwriting Exchange

New Zealand: Auckland Theatre Company

UK: Simon Stephens, one of Britain's best known playwrights. The National Theatre production of his adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time has been seen by over a million people.

The UK-NZ Playwriting Exchange will bring acclaimed British playwright Simon Stephens to Aotearoa New Zealand for an intensive week-long programme in February 2026, hosted at Auckland Theatre Company. The collaboration will engage over 80 New Zealand theatre practitioners across professional, educational, youth, and public sectors through co-designed workshops. The project includes specialised workshops for writers, directors, actors, teachers, and emerging artists, culminating in a public performance of Stephens' Sea Wall, which was specifically written for and originally starred acclaimed actor Andrew Scott.

Whanganui X Dundee: Textile Legacies

New Zealand: UNESCO City of Design Whanganui

UK: UNESCO City of Design Dundee

Whanganui X Dundee: Textile Legacies is a residency programme that connects indigenous and ancestral textile practices between Whanganui, New Zealand and Dundee, Scotland, to foster meaningful cultural and creative exchange. The project initiates a new connection between two UNESCO Cities of Design, supporting the development of contemporary textile design specialists through a reciprocal international residency.

About Connections Through Culture

The Connections Through Culture programme is designed to nurture fresh cultural partnerships between the UK and countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. These grants are instrumental in supporting new ideas and collaborations from artists and cultural organisations at any stage of development. The grants support new connections, exchanges, and collaborations.

For more information about the Connections for Culture programme, please visit www.britishcouncil.org.nz/programmes/arts-creative.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

www.britishcouncil.org

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