With this week’s announcement that seven arts organisations from Wales have been awarded Travel Grants to visit Film, Theatre, and Ceramics counterparts in China, we reflect on different ways to measure success and how to make the most of a professional scoping visit. We talk to previous grantee, Michelle Rocha, Head of Touring at Factory International in Manchester, and consider how Travel Grants act as entry points into China’s cultural ecosystems rather than standalone visits.
Meet our Wales/China Travel Grantees 2026
What makes Travel Grants unique?
In 2024, British Council China instigated a Travel Grants scheme, a new fund responding to needs from the UK and Chinese cultural sector to reconnect with each other and recover from the impacts that travel restrictions had on international exchange. The funding enables representatives of UK arts organisations to visit festivals and institutions across mainland China, increase understanding of the cultural landscape, foster new dialogues, and stage opportunities for future collaboration.
Each Travel Grant is self-directed, with grantees arranging their own itineraries based on the needs of their organisation. Michelle Rocha organised her grant around attendance at Aranya Theater Festival, followed by independent meetings across Beijing.
The festival brings together theatre, dance, and exhibitions, drawing together a critical mass of artists, producers, and programmers from China and overseas. Under the artistic directorship of Meng Jinghui, Zhang Ziyi, and Chen Minghao, the festival platforms international work alongside ambitious work by emerging Chinese companies that are less frequently encountered on UK stages. It’s location in Beidaihe, a private seaside resort in Northeastern Hebei Province, also enables a wide range of site-specific and experimental work.
As an increasingly significant event in the Chinese theatre calendar, Aranya attracts professionals from across the country. The Travel Grant was a valuable context for meeting contacts in-person for the first time, developing new relationships, and gaining insight into the specific conditions of Aranyarelative to other markets in China. As Michelle points out:
“China is far from a homogenous market, with locations, festivals, and organisations all having different appetites for risk and orientations to commercial markets. Travel Grants allow an insight into new contexts and audiences that you and your organisation might not yet know about.”
Michelle Rocha, Travel Grantee 2024, Head of Touring, Factory International.
Getting the details on the ground
While the main programme was published on Aranya’s website, many fringe activities such as the 300 Migratory Birds programme (a living exhibition and campsite on the beach), and Seaside Dialogue talks series, were ad-hoc and therefore not accessible in advance. Information was shared on the festival’s Instagram, WeChat, or through printed programmes distributed during the festival. In addition, tickets to the main programme were sold through Chinese platforms such as Damai, which required familiarity with mandarin and sold out quickly due to the popularity of the festival.
Previous grantees to theatre festivals in China reflected that having direct contact with festival producers in advance was crucial in ensuring they had the information they needed to access performances. Although uncertainty can undoubtedly linger prior to travel, on arrival it is easier to navigate with on-the-ground support and guidance from informal and formal festival infrastructures.
Sparking new connections
An opportunity arose for Michelle to participate in a panel discussion as part of the Seaside Dialogues, centring on theatre’s capacity to reflect, critique and challenge society. Each panel invited specialists to speak about performance-making from different contexts, bringing international discourse into dialogue with Chinese practitioners and audiences.
In addition to offering the opportunity to meet with co-panelists and audiences in-person, the event was streamed online to over 7000 viewers. This enabled Michelle to share Factory International’s core values directly with an intellectually-engaged theatre audience in person and online, contributing to the organisation’s international profile and visibility.
“It’s not only about a personal development trajectory and the connections you make as an individual, it’s also building organisational knowledge, taking notes, and feeding into a variety of tangible outcomes.”, said Michelle Rocha.
Following the festival, Travel Grant activity continued through independent meetings in Beijing. For Michelle, this included connecting with educational partners to establish entry points within China’s university and training landscape; residency centres to collaborate on exchange residencies; and large-scale festivals and venues to secure opportunities for touring Factory International-produced work.
One meeting with Beijing Music Festival resulted in an agreement to host the touring production City of Floating Sounds as part of their 2025 programme. As a logistically complex participatory city walk and live concert of Huang Ruo’s work by BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the project required detailed planning beyond what can be covered in the limited time in Beijing. However, the in-person meeting provided a foundation of trust and mutual understanding of each other’s working patterns, supporting remote follow-up, and continued collaboration.
Preparation is key
Another well-positioned meeting connected Factory International with the Central Academy of Drama. In November 2025, this led to Michelle and the organisation’s Creative Director, Kee Hong Low, returning to Beijing to deliver masterclasses.
“How successful your travel grant is, depends on the objectives you set for yourself, and the follow up afterwards.”
Michelle Rocha
Preparation is key. To ensure a suitable and effective itinerary, Michelle drew on the British Council China team’s knowledge of the local sector, unlocking a variety of potential contacts across performing and visual arts. As Travel Grants are time-limited, it is neither possible, or desirable, to meet everyone. It is therefore essential to consider the purpose of each meeting, and to plan accordingly.
It is also worth noting that not every collaboration emerges immediately, with some connections remaining latent until the right opportunity arises. The impact of the Travel Grant does not end when the visit concludes, it follows through by building on moments of mutual interest and identifying future opportunities for collaboration.
Previous grantees have reflected on the value of meetings focused on understanding artist-led organisational models, histories, values and future plans. Face-to-face meetings can offer insight into working practices and institutional cultures that cannot be fully understood through desk research alone. Travel Grants are most effective when they are understood as tools for navigating cultural ecosystems, rather than delivering immediate outputs. Grantees can play a critical role in building awareness of the realities of practicing in China, sharing learning with UK-based communities, and working collectively towards long-term outcomes.
Sign up for more opportunities
The British Council has a wide variety of opportunities to connect internationally. Targeted opportunities such as the Travel Grants scheme are published on British Council opportunities portal.
