Background

The British Council’s Architecture, Design and Fashion team has set up a fund for international biennales and festivals to support participation by UK-based designers and to support UK biennales and festivals to present work by international designers.

This online application form contains 4 sections: 

1. General information
2. Project description 
3. Budget
4. Supporting documentation, checklist and declaration

Eligibility

Biennales and festivals outside the UK wishing to showcase work by UK-based designers, or UK biennales and festivals wanting to showcase work by international designers are eligible to apply.

Grants are designed to facilitate the implementation of activities, such as collaborations and exchanges, or exhibitions and installations. The grant can be used to support travel costs, production costs, as well as other miscellaneous costs associated with the showcasing of work.

Grants are not designed for research and development.

Due to the nature of the funding, in the Financial Year 2024-25 priority will be given to:

• Activities that either take place in Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipient countries (for biennales and festivals outside the UK) or with designers based in those countries (for UK biennales and festivals). Nevertheless, there will still be a limited number of grants available to support collaboration outside this group of countries.
• Projects involving designers in the early stages of their career, i.e. within 10 years of practice.
• Projects that foster collaboration between UK-based and international designers.

Terms of the grant

Grants will be offered by the British Council’s Architecture, Design and Fashion team to the biennale/festival organiser to cover costs concerning the participation of architects and / or designers. The value of each grant should be up to £5,000. An estimated total of 8-10 grants will be offered in the Financial Year 2024-25.

The British Council’s support must be acknowledged alongside the UK presentation and on all promotional materials, including social media.

Upon completion of the activity, applicants will be required to supply attendance figures and a project report. A grant agreement will be issued with detailed terms and conditions.

Application process

Biennale or festival organisers to supply information on designers selected to present work, funding expenditure and plans for audience engagement. Activity must take place between September 2024 and August 2025.

Applications must be sent via Submittable online application form by 23:59 BST, Sunday 23 June 2024 and should include:

• This completed application form.
• Supporting documentation on the activity and biennale/festival, e.g. reports or presentations about the biennale/festival.
• Examples of designers' work.
• Letter of support by participating designer.
• Completed diversity monitoring form (for UK applicants only).

Selection will be led by the British Council’s Architecture, Design and Fashion team in consultation with British Council offices and external panel. Applicants will be notified of the outcomes by 17 August 2024. 

For any queries or expression of interest, please contact: az.chinaliev@britishcouncil.org

International School Award Application
Thank you for starting your application form to receive the International School Award, it is great to see you applying for recognition of your school’s commitment to international learning.
The Award is designed to celebrate your school's efforts to include international work as part of your curriculum and helping embed it within your school's culture.
The programme supports and recognises schools in fostering an international ethos throughout the school and embedding it within the curriculum.
Guidance for applicants:
Please take a moment to check the requirements for the level of the award that you intend to apply for. You can find links to all award levels offered on our website.
We strongly advise you to include as much detail as possible in your International School Award application and be as explicit as possible with your activity details so no presumptions can be made by the assessors or ourselves.
Using the application form:
This application form can be saved at any time before completing or submitting it. In order to save the form and complete it later, click on the ‘Save draft’ button at the bottom of the page. The form does automatically save on regular intervals.
Your application ID can be found on your profile after saving the form. Please use this ID together with the level in all correspondence with British Council.

International School Award Application
Thank you for starting your application form to receive the International School Award, it is great to see you applying for recognition of your school’s commitment to international learning.
The Award is designed to celebrate your school's efforts to include international work as part of your curriculum and helping embed it within your school's culture.
The programme supports and recognises schools in fostering an international ethos throughout the school and embedding it within the curriculum.
Guidance for applicants:
Please take a moment to check the requirements for the level of the award that you intend to apply for. You can find links to all award levels offered on our website.
We strongly advise you to include as much detail as possible in your International School Award application and be as explicit as possible with your activity details so no presumptions can be made by the assessors or ourselves.
Using the application form:
This application form can be saved at any time before completing or submitting it. In order to save the form and complete it later, click on the ‘Save draft’ button at the bottom of the page. The form does automatically save on regular intervals.
Your application ID can be found on your profile after saving the form. Please use this ID together with the level in all correspondence with British Council.

Please note the deadline for applications: 30th April 2024 23:59hrs GMT. This means  that if you live in Vietnam, deadline would technically be on 1st May 2024, 6:59hrs BST +7 (daylight savings time). Please take note of the timezone and date.
 

Please read our FAQs for full details about this Grants programme and to find out about the eligibility requirements for applicants.

List of Participating Countries and Territories:
UK in partnership with: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe

How to apply:
    You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials in order to submit your application form. This form has collaboration enabled so you will be able to invite your project partner to collaborate on the form - the link is visible on the top right-hand corner named 'Invite Collaborators'.

You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish the form at a later date. You are able to keep your draft and edit it up until the submission date. After submitting your application, it is not possible to re-access it to edit it. This Submittable platform works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.

We will follow-up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly. Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable's Customer Support team with any technical questions.

The Grant Agreement: The British Council’s standard terms and conditions are set out here: Terms and Conditions of the Grant Agreement (“Grant Agreement”). 

If your application is awarded a grant, please note that there will be additional terms and conditions specific to the ICG programme, what your project is delivering and where you intend to deliver the project. An example ICG grant contract in full will be available to download on our website from 15 February 2024, and the specific terms will be shared with you at the award stage of the programme.

In the event that you have any concerns or queries in relation to the Grant Agreement, you should submit a clarification request to CollabGrants@BritishCouncil.org in accordance with the provisions of this call for applications by the application deadline. The British Council reserves the right not to make any changes to the Grant Agreement.

The British Council is under no obligation to consider any clarifications / amendments to the Grant Agreement requested following the application deadline.
 

For non-technical questions please email CollabGrants@britishcouncil.org. Please note we are expecting a high volume of enquiries to this mailbox and staff will endeavour to respond within three working days.