Image by Ali Reza Dossal for ‘Jhuley Lal: Crafting the Contemporary’ residency project at the workshop of artisan Mr Bablani in Shikarpur ©

British Council

We are delighted to announce the second cycle of our Arts Residency Grants Programme.

The launch of the programme last year was widely welcomed by the arts sector. Through the first cycle, we supported five projects which received a combined total of 240 applications through open calls and engaged 32 artists in residencies that spanned across Karachi, Lahore, Shikarpur, Gilgit-Baltistan, London and Birmingham.

Our second cycle will offer a further five grants, each worth up to £30,000, to co-developed proposals between Pakistan and UK partners to design and deliver innovative arts residencies that provide early / mid-career artists from Pakistan with opportunities to:

  • Research, produce and showcase new work
  • Widen the international context for their practice through learning and artistic exchange
  • Build new relationships with creative practitioners, communities and institutions
  • Access new networks and audiences
  • Explore future creative commissions and partnership projects

This is an opportunity to support emerging and transdisciplinary creative practices and to explore new ways of artistic alliance across Pakistan and the UK. Proposals for arts residencies will be Pakistan-led.

Grants will be offered to residencies exploring all art forms: theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, film, music, design, fashion, architecture, craft, tech-art and new media art. Partnerships across disciplines and organisations are encouraged, including new models of exchange between art, research, science and other fields.

Information session

To help respond to some of your questions, we will be hosting a webinar on Monday, 05 February 2024 at 3.00pm PKT / 10am GMT

Join the session here.

For more information regarding clarification questions, please review the guidance notes from the downloads below. 

Deadline: You may submit your application no later than Sunday, 03 March 2024 at 11:59pm Pakistan Time.