Go Digital: Pakistan-Wales

Following the successful launch of our Go Digital: Sub Saharan Africa-Wales programme, we’re now announcing a new programme to support digital collaborations between artists and art organisations in Wales and Pakistan.

Go Digital: Pakistan-Wales will sit alongside the British Council Pakistan-UK 2022 season: New Perspectives, which will run from March 2022 to August 2022. Pakistan-UK 2022 will combine British Council and wider UK-Pakistan collaborations, with programming from arts, English, education, youth/skills work and sport. It will be a blended format of face-to-face (travel permitting) and digital activity including performances, exhibitions, professional development programmes, art installations, co-productions, residencies and research.

Digital Collaboration Grants

We have always supported international artistic collaboration through our work. In response to increasing restrictions on global travel due to Covid-19, and rising concerns about the sustainability of face-to-face collaborations, we are exploring new ways to foster international connections.

Go Digital will provide professional engagement opportunities for the cultural sectors and for young people in Pakistan and Wales, encouraging collaboration and developing lasting partnerships in the creative sectors. Project teams will devise new virtual ways of working internationally, in turn creating a climate-friendly approach to international collaboration and artistic exchange.

Applications will be via an expression of interest.

We are keen to work with emerging, as well as more established, artists and connections, and projects with links to the Pakistan diaspora and alumni in Wales.

Up to four grants of £8000 will be awarded to project teams in Wales and Pakistan to collaborate on digital creative projects.

Find out more about who can apply and the types of projects we are looking to support below:

General eligibility information

• The fund is open to arts and culture individuals and organisations who have registered an expression of interest (EOI).

• Applications must be a partnership between at least one organisation or individual based in Wales and at least one organisation or individual based in Pakistan.

• In general, funding should be split equally between the partners. A 60/40 split is acceptable providing the larger share goes to the Pakistan partner.

Diversity

Projects working primarily with Women, LBGTQ+ and/or disabled artists will be favourably scored under the diversity section of the application.

Artforms/disciplines

Literature, Visual Arts, Music, Film (including Gaming, Virtual and Augmented Reality), Theatre and Dance, Architecture, Fashion, Design.

Submitting an expression of interest and important dates

Organisations and individuals who are interested in applying should submit an EOI to teamwales@britishcouncil.org by 19 September. This should state why you are interested in working with the partner country, whether you have a partner in place already or if you are looking for potential partners, as well as areas that you would like your project to focus on.

Organisations and individuals who have sent an EOI will be contacted by late September to discuss potential partners and projects

The application details will be sent out only to those organisations and partners at the start of October, with a deadline around mid-November.

Successful projects will be notified by 31st December 2021.

Unsuccessful projects will be notified by 31st January 2022.

Funding available and project types

There are four grants of £8000 available to research and develop new virtual collaboration projects, starting after March 2022 to be shared by 31st December 2022.

Example project types:

We are expecting to fund the following kinds of projects (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Research & development of new projects or festival ideas

• Research & development of virtual art residencies

• Research & development of virtual exhibitions or showcases

• Virtual conferences

Making your application

• Applications will be made through the Submittable platform . You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials in order to submit to these forms. This form has collaboration enabled, you will be able to invite your 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 filling out the form at a later date.

• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.

Official Development Assistance

The Go Digital: Pakistan-Wales open call is classed as Official Development Assistance (ODA). Official Development Assistance is a term coined by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure aid.

All selected Cultural Exchange Open Call projects are required to demonstrate that they are making a positive contribution to the social and economic development to the ODA country involved in the application. They should aim to further sustainable development (development that is likely to generate lasting benefits for the population of the country to which it is provided) or improve the welfare of the population.

For more details about ODA, see OECD's website .

British Council Wales