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 at any stage of development.

The latest round of Connections Through Culture programme supports a diverse range of projects spanning artistic disciplines and themes. 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 shared challenges.

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

2025 Grant Recipients: Indonesia

Archives of Change

Indonesia: Musyawarah Arsip 
UK: Third Version Creative Limited 

This research and development project brings together artists, cultural workers, and community organisers from the UK and Indonesia to explore inclusive ways to document culture in societies shaped by migration, transition, and colonial legacies. The project challenges conventional notions of memory, identity, and heritage by platforming experimental, community-led archival practices. 

BRANSEY - Bridging Narratives Across Sister Cities Through Youth Film

Indonesia: Independen Film Surabaya (INFIS) 
UK: First Take  

BRANSEY (Brantas-Mersey) is a youth film and storytelling exchange connecting Surabaya and Liverpool, inspired by the rivers that define both cities. Led by INFIS (Independen Film Surabaya) and First Take, the project empowers young people to collaborate across borders through film workshops, production, screenings, and dialogues. BRANSEY strengthens the sister-city relationship between Surabaya and Liverpool.

Hantu Laut Reverb

Indonesia: Biennale Jatim
UK: Radio Amnion 

Hantu Laut Reverb will explore the echoes of the non-human world through collaborations between Jol Thoms, Ismal Muntaha, Eiko Soga, George Clark and Waft-lab.  The project will amplify ecological issues and how people interact with the ocean from Gresik in East Java to the Berwick coastline in the UK. It prioritises community storytelling, both from humans and the marine ecosystem.

Gamelan Voices: Scottish-Indonesian improvisations

Indonesia: Perempuan Komponis: Forum & Lab 

UK: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra 

Indonesian collective Perempuan Komponis and the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (GIO) are joined by the Naga Mas gamelan ensemble, in a distinctive cross-cultural collaboration. Blending experimental vocal traditions, gamelan and GIO’s improvisational music, it explores new musical languages in experimental and traditional forms. Four Perempuan Komponis members will join GIO at GIOfest XVII in Glasgow.

Ilmu Titen: Ancestral Phenology, Landscape as a Calendar

Indonesia: Studio Klampisan  
UK: Maetherea 

Ilmu Titen explores how ancestral ecological knowledge can inform artistic responses to climate change. Rooted in Javanese practices of reading natural signs, it connects to Pranata Mangsa, a traditional calendar based on seasonal cycles. Working with farmers, elders, and artists in Banyuwangi, the project follows agricultural rhythms of seeding and harvest. 

 

Natural Colour Atlas

Indonesia: Nidiya Kusmaya 
UK: Bintan Titisari and Kirstie Williams, Leeds Print Workshop 

This project is an open platform where people can share their knowledge, recipes, and personal stories about natural colours. It is inspired by dyes made from local plants and materials, and looks at how climate, landscape, and tradition shape the colours people use. By connecting colour-making practices in Indonesia and the UK, the project encourages creative exchange, sustainable approaches.

Our Commons - Food & Community Resilience

Indonesia: Labtanya 
UK: New Practice 

Since 2017, Labtanya’s Our Commons has promoted food and urban community resilience, strengthened by a 2021 British Council grant with Deveron Projects (UK). With the 2025 grant, the project will expand through an immersive and educational board game exploring food resilience. In partnership with architectural studio New Practice (UK), a residency will help develop UK-Indonesia creative exchange and deepen the understanding of how local and urban communities.

Sonic Moves

Indonesia: Tiara Brahmarani 
UK: Liina Turtonen  

Sonic Moves is a project that brings together electronic music and inclusive dance to create performances led by disabled women. It involves one disabled dance artist from the UK and five disabled artists from Bali, working together to develop a performance that mixes movement with music technology. The project will start with online workshops and continue with a five-day residency in Bali.

Storyteller for the Earth

Indonesia: Rona Mentari 
UK: ROY GAL-OR 

This cross-cultural collaboration between storytellers from Indonesia and the UK, reimagines folktales to address today’s ecological crisis. Online sessions, research, and an in-person residency in Indonesia will help the artists craft and perform a storytelling work, weaving together ancestral wisdom with environmental themes. 

The Hunger Tales: UK-Indonesia Exchange

Indonesia: Bakudapan Food Study Group 
UK: Matthew Austin 
 
The Hunger Tales is a collaboration between Bakudapan Food Study Group and Bristol curator/producer Matthew Austin. It explores the politics of food in changing cities through play and storytelling. At the centre is a board game, redesigned as an open-source tool for communities to share and reshape food stories.