Connections Through Culture Grants 2025, image

The Connections Through Culture programme nurtures fresh cultural partnerships between the UK and select countries in Asia Pacific and Europe, including Uzbekistan. The programme supports new ideas and collaborations from artists and cultural organisations at any stage of development.

The projects supported in this round of the Connections Through Culture programme focus on two areas: diversity and inclusion as well as addressing climate change. The collaborations across borders and artistic disciplines will lead to new ideas to address these global challenges.

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

2025 Grant recipients: Uzbekistan

Connections Through Culture – Mapping Samarkand public and communal spaces

Mapping Samarkand public and communal spaces

UK: Elisa Wynne-Hughes

Uzbekistan: Anastasia Galimova and Art Station Gallery

This is an archival research and collaborative workshop that examines everyday use of public and communal spaces across mahallas, Soviet micro-districts and new residential developments. The project highlights how privatisation and securitisation reshape common spaces and explores grounded, inclusive approaches to city life through observation, discussion and shared mapping.

Connections Through Culture – Qizlar Tour

Qizlar Tour

UK: Izba Arts

Uzbekistan: Qizlar Collective

Centring womxn’s voices, the project explores sustainable activist organising, decolonial feminist practices and creative career pathways across borders. Uzbek artists will work with migrant and POC women’s groups in London, while UK artists will join feminist networks in Tashkent. Through shared research, creative workshops and a co-created performance, the project builds supportive spaces for reflection, knowledge-sharing and solidarity.

Connections Through Culture – The Socialist Anthropocence in the Visual Arts (SAVA) in Uzbekistan

The Socialist Anthropocence in the Visual Arts (SAVA) in Uzbekistan

UK: Translocal Institute for Contemporary Art

Uzbekistan: DAVRA Research Collective

While the region has been shaped by extractivist policies under socialism, it’s often left out of global conversations around it. This is a step toward changing that. Together with the Translocal Institute for Contemporary Art, the DAVRA collective have designed a week-long programme specifically for local artists, curators and cultural practitioners, bringing the SAVA programme to the region for the first time.

Connections Through Culture – Unravelling the Silk Road: An Anglo-Uzbek Bio-Art Exchange

Unravelling the Silk Road: An Anglo-Uzbek Bio-Art Exchange

UK: Anna Dimitriu

Uzbekistan: Contemporary Art Museum of Uzbekistan

This is a pioneering collaboration between BioArtist Anna Dumitriu and curator Shirin Tashova. They will explore the local rich medical history, from Avicenna to contemporary health challenges. During a residency, Dumitriu will create new works using local materials like silk and natural dyes. Fostering dialogue through workshops and mentoring, the project culminates in an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum of Uzbekistan.

Connections Through Culture – Women Watch Uzbekistan Screenings

Women Watch Uzbekistan Screenings

UK: Klassiki

Uzbekistan: Tashkent Film School

This series of screenings, masterclasses, workshops and public discussions will be celebrating women’s rights and female narratives. Showcasing a diverse range of films, it will foster discussions about women’s rights, gender equality and the challenges faced by female artists across cultures. The concept arises from WOMEN WATCH UZBEKISTAN Project Accelerator, a mentoring programme for female filmmakers which discovers emerging female voices in film.

Explore previous projects