What’s the UK/Kenya Season 2025?
In 2025 the British Council, in collaboration with partners in the UK and Kenya, will present a programme of activities that celebrate creativity, and innovation through the arts, culture and education links between England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Kenya in 2025. With a thematic focus on innovation, this season will create opportunities in arts, culture, heritage and education. UK/KE Season activities will happen in Kenya and the UK between May and November 2025, and our public events will showcase work ranging from architecture, design, fashion, literature, music, visual arts, performing arts, to film.
We are excited about gathering artists, creative practitioners, cultural organisations and interested audiences to share experiences and insights through different workshops, presentations, conferences and other events that will sow the seeds for new opportunities, fostering connections among individuals, organisations and networks.
Objectives of the Season
- Facilitate meaningful partnerships and connections that lead to sustainable artistic and creative initiatives between Kenya and the UK.
- Promote cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through the showcase of inspirational stories of individuals and communities impacted by cultural exchange.
- Increased audience and attendance at Seasons and partner events, enhancing engagement and awareness of UK/Kenya content.
The Season will reflect on the impact of the British Council in Kenya bringing to the fore work that centers youth voice, explores the transformative potential of technology, responses to the climate crisis, decolonisation and heritage, in ways that foster meaningful dialogue and inspires fresh perspectives.
Catalyst Grants
As a lead up to the UK/Kenya Season 2025, the British Council awarded grants of up to £5,000 through an Open Call launched in February 2024. Each of the 19 Catalyst Grants awarded funded collaborative work both in the UK and Kenya. The projects have enhanced connections and exchanges between artists, creative practitioners, and cultural organisations in the UK and Kenya as well as seeded ideas for future collaboration. In 2025, we will be celebrating the successes of these grant projects as we seek to enhance their reach to new audiences.
Visit here for more about the catalyst grantees.
Venice Biennale
The 2025 British Pavilion exhibition in Venice, titled "The Geology of Britannic Repair," will showcase a high-profile UK-Kenya collaboration as part of the British Council’s UK-Kenya Season. Selected through an Open Call launched in November 2023, the project is led by Nairobi-based architects Cave Bureau, a team of architects based in Nairobi, and curators based in the UK. The project results from innovative proposals for a UK-Kenya collaborative exhibition. It explores reversing colonial impacts through local architectural repair practices, celebrating connections between the two countries.
Practitioner team are:
- Kabage Karanja & Stella Mutegi, Co-founders and Directors, Cave Bureau, Nairobi
- Owen Hopkins, Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University
- Kathryn Yussuf, Professor of inhuman geography at Queen Mary University of London
Cultural Heritage Symposium
The British Council’s Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth programme in Kenya, Culture Grows, works with communities to protect, value, discover and share Cultural Heritage with all. Working with and through partners this programme builds the understanding of Cultural Heritage and supports innovative projects that increase access to skills, networks and knowledge of the communities we work with in ways that develop tangible opportunities that create economic and social growth.
Heritage in the Digital Age
Through a bi-annual symposium we bring stakeholders together to foster dialogue and exchange, celebrate the work of our partners and increase access to complex and necessary conversations at the intersection of cultural heritage and cultural protection. The theme of the 3rd edition is Heritage in the Digital Age. This hybrid event will bring together community representatives, policy makers, researchers and practitioners from Kenya, the Global South & the UK in the creative and technology sectors to share knowledge and strengthen their networks. Through presentations and panel discussion partners will explore existing and potential intersections between cultural heritage, contemporary culture, creative technology and their potential to respond to global challenges.
Partnerships
Bradford City of Culture - Hay Festiva X NBO LitFest -The Africa Centre