Developed by British Council China and Unlimited, the programme supports shared learning, professional development, and new artistic opportunities within the international disability arts sector.
Project Background
The British Council and the Unlimited has a long history of supporting the UK and international Disability Arts sector by increasing access to platforms, expanding professional networks and creating opportunities for collaboration between UK and international disabled artists, and disability arts organisations.
Despite growing recognition of disability arts, disabled artists worldwide still face barriers to visibility, resources, and international collaboration. Disabled artists and disabled-led work are often marginalised by the cultural sector globally, and cultural exchange between disabled creatives remains limited—often due to accessibility challenges, funding gaps, and a lack of dedicated platforms.
This residency programme addresses these disparities by creating a vibrant space for disabled artists from the UK and China to connect, experiment, and collaborate. By fostering cross-cultural dialogue and inclusive creative practices, we empower artists to explore new perspectives, challenge artistic boundaries, and develop transformative work.
The Residency
This pilot programme is an initiative designed to foster international collaboration and creative exchange between disabled artists from the UK and China. Through a mix of in-person residencies and digital exchange, up to four disabled artists (two disabled artists based in Scotland and two disabled artists based in Mainland China), will be supported to explore new ideas, deepen their practice, and connect meaningfully with artists, organisations, and audiences in a different cultural context.
The residency program will bring the selected UK and Chinese artists for residencies in Scotland and Hangzhou, with two weeks spent together in each location. We hope that during the in-person residency, artists from both countries can bring their own cultural perspectives to their host communities, engaging with local artists and community through public events, open studios, and other activities. Over the eight-month period, the project will also build in online exchanges as a "virtual residency", allowing continuous sharing and dialogue that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries. This process will further challenge and expand the artists’ understanding of creative collaboration.
This pilot residency programme will be hosted by organisations with a strong commitment to inclusive practice and artistic exploration: Unlimited Allies The Workroom Work Room and Magnetic North in Scotland, and BY ART MATTERS in Hangzhou, China. Each setting offers a distinct and inspiring environment for experimentation, reflection, and creative development.
The residency is also an opportunity for learning and sharing between participating cultural institutions with the benefit of the international experience and perspective, and deeper engagement with the disability art community globally.
About the Organisations
This residency is a collaboration between organisations in the UK and China that are committed to supporting disabled artists and fostering meaningful international exchange.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2022–23 we reached 600 million people.
Unlimited is an arts commissioning body that supports, funds and promotes new work by disabled artists for UK and international audiences. Our mission is to commission extraordinary work from disabled artists that will change and challenge the world.
Unlimited is funded by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, British Council, Creative Scotland and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Since 2013, Unlimited has supported over 521 artists with over £6.5 million, reaching audiences of over 5.5 million, making it the largest supporter of disabled artists world-wide.
BY ART MATTERS
BY ART MATTERS is a contemporary art museum located in OōEli (天目里) , designed and built by Renzo Piano Building Workshop to a world-class museum standard. The museum provides exhibition and publication opportunities for artists, provides a third space for the public outside of their everyday living and working, and aims to become a leading atelier of creativity.
BY ART MATTERS seeks to become one of Hangzhou’s most important hubs of the international and domestic art scene and to deliver momentum and a catalyst for sensitivity, research, and artistic practice. It aspires to cultivate the public’s independent aesthetics for contemporary art through diverse exhibitions and public education activities and to bring sensual, intellectual, and spiritual inspiration.
The Work Room is artist-led organisation committed to supporting a sustainable environment for independent dance artists in Scotland.
Our vision is for dance as a bold part of Scotland’s cultural landscape.
Our mission is to empower artists to lead in their practice, enabling them to make high quality, thoughtful and pioneering dance for diverse contexts at home and internationally.
We aim to cultivate a community of artists, forming a powerful network of connections, experience and skills.
Founded in 1999, Magnetic North is an award-winning theatre company based in Edinburgh, Scotland.Led by Artistic Director Nicholas Bone and Producer Anna Hodgart, we combine developing and producing live theatre with innovative multi-artform artist development.
We collaborate with playwrights, composers, choreographers, visual artists, performers and other artists to create a wide range of work including plays, music-theatre, installations, online events and films. Magnetic North runs a comprehensive Artist and Project Development programme which provides paid opportunities for experienced and early-career artists from all disciplines both to develop their practice and to explore ideas for new work.
