Funding

Applications for the 2025 - 2026 Cultural Bridge programme are now open

Cultural Bridge supports arts and cultural organisations across the UK and Germany to develop partnerships that explore social arts practice.

By enabling new and existing connections, the programme supports a growing network of organisations committed to sharing expertise and skills, exchanging ideas and collaborating on artistic practices and projects that explore themes and issues faced by communities across both countries.

The 2025-2026 Cultural Bridge programme application portal is now open, the deadline for applications is Tuesday 26th November 2024.

Please ensure you have read the full guidance and checked your organisation’s eligibility to apply before considering an application. See below for further details. 

Application portal

Access the application portal here.

To apply, please create a login on the application portal and complete it by Tuesday 26th November 2024. 

You will be asked to complete a brief registration process before being given access to the application forms for Tier 1 and 2. All partnerships will be asked to nominate a lead for their organisation as part of the application. The lead will act as the main point of contact for communications.

Partners should work together to complete the application.

To monitor the type of applications we receive and the grants we award, we will ask for some additional information from both applicant partners in relation to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). You can read more about this below. 
 

Key information

Watch the short information film about Cultural Bridge funding: 

Watch the film in the Gaelic language
Watch the film in the German language
Watch the film in the Welsh language


Full guidance 

Download the PDF (English)

Download the text-only Microsoft Word version (English)

Download the guidance in German language

Download the guidance in Welsh language

Download the guidance in the Gaelic language


Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring
To monitor the type of applications we receive and the grants we award, we will ask for some additional information from both applicant partners in relation to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). 
 
Please note, the answers you provide in the EDI monitoring section will not inform the selection process. They will be treated confidentially and used as anonymised, aggregated, data only. The questions are non-mandatory.
 
These questions will follow once you have completed your main partnership application. To help you prepare, you can view the questions we will ask here: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring questions. 


How much is available?

There is a total of £360,000 available in the 2025 - 2026 funding round. Funding is awarded across two tiers: 

Tier 1: New Partnerships, up to £10,000 per partnership
Supporting the development of brand new partnerships between arts and cultural organisations in the UK and Germany. 

Tier 2: Established Partnerships, up to £30,000 per partnership
Supporting further development of partnerships, where organisations already have 

Organisations can apply for a contribution to personal access costs in addition to the funding outlined above, see the full guidance for further information. 


Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must: 

  • Be an organisation based in the UK or Germany (see guidance for further definition of ‘organisation’)
  • Be able to demonstrate expertise in social arts practice working with communities 

Cultural Bridge is open to all artforms and will prioritise support for: 

  • Smaller arts & cultural organisations who don’t already receive significant or sustained funding 
  • Organisations who empower local communities through their creative work
  • Organisations whose work aligns with our programme aims and place themes
  • Organisations who foster equity, diversity and inclusion through their leadership and practice

The Cultural Bridge programme is committed to promoting an equitable, diverse and inclusive network. The activity we support, and the workforce of arts and culture organisations we fund, should reflect the diversity of the UK and Germany.


Key dates:
  • Fund opens: Tuesday 15th October 2024
  • Application deadline: Tuesday 26th November 2024
  • Decisions: by 31st January 2025
  • Activity starts: from 1st April 2025
  • Activity ends: by 31st March 2026

Help to apply

We want to make the process of applying to the Cultural Bridge programme accessible to all organisations who would like to apply. If you need support to make an application, there are a number of ways we can help.

The guidance is available in accessible formats, including formatted PDF and Plain Text. If you require an alternative format please get in touch.

If you require additional support to apply, our programme leads in the UK and Germany are on hand - please see their contact details below.


Contact us

Please read the guidance in full and check the Frequently Asked Questions on our website before reaching out to a member of the programme team.

UK organisations contact:
Lorna Palmer
Programme Manager, Cultural Bridge
contact_at_cultural-bridge.info  

German organisations contact:
Silvia Bonadiman Programme development
Fonds Soziokultur e.V.
bonadiman_at_fonds-soziokultur.de