Applications for the 2025 - 2026 Cultural Bridge programme will open in October 2024
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 will be open from Tuesday 15th October to Tuesday 26th November 2024.
Funding guidance is available now and we encourage organisations to develop their collaboration and project proposals before the application window.
Please ensure you have read the full guidance and checked your organisation’s eligibility to apply before considering an application or registering your interest in a matchmaking session. See below for further details.
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
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.
Support with matchmaking:
If you need help brokering a new connection between a UK/German based organisation, register your interest in our online matchmaking sessions in mid-September 2024.
Please read the full guidance and check your eligibility to apply for funding before registering your interest.
Deadline for registrations: Monday 2nd September 2024
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