British Council announces open calls for ‘WOW – Women of the World’ grants 2025-2026

The British Council invites responses to two open calls for artists and cultural practitioners based either in Bangladesh or in the UK, and arts organisations based in Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi and Sylhet that are working at the intersection of art, culture, gender, and contemporary society to provide proposals to participate in WOW – Women of the World.

Deadline for the applying is 16 November 2025 at 11.59 p.m. Bangladesh Standard Time.

Full information regarding both the open calls are available on the British Council Bangladesh website.

An information webinar for interested applicants will be held online for registered attendees on Thursday, 6 November 2025, at 5.30 p.m. Bangladesh Standard Time.

WOW – Women of the World is a global movement that believes a gender equal world is desirable, possible, and urgently required.

WOW Festivals were initiated in Bangladesh through divisional chapters from 2017, leading to a national festival in Dhaka in 2019.

This year, artists, cultural practitioners, and arts organisations are invited to participate in WOW Bangladesh 2025-2026 by providing proposals that engage with gender through artistic or cultural work that connects with one or more of the following themes: a) Film, Moving Image and Media Aesthetics; b) Hyperobject meets hyperobject: Gender and the climate emergency, and c) STE(A)M: Science, Technology, (Arts), Engineering & Maths.For the first open call, ‘WOW Bangladesh Commissions 2025’, grants of up to £12,000 in equivalent Bangladeshi Taka is available to support artists and cultural practitioners to develop, produce, and present works of art, exhibitions, performances, or screening programmes in Bangladesh in 2026. 

Meanwhile, the second open call, ‘WOW Bangladesh Chapters 2026’, will support arts organisations based in Chattogram, Dhaka, Rajshahi, and Sylhet to host, curate, produce, and present a day-long WOW Bangladesh Chapter event between 1 January and 30 August 2026. In this category, grants of up to £23,000 in equivalent Bangladeshi Taka are available.

Multiple grants are available in both categories and open to all cultural and artistic disciplines. Applicants are encouraged to think boldly and collaboratively in proposing public exhibitions, discussions, screenings, and events that address the subject matter and chosen themes for WOW Bangladesh 2025-2026.

To register for the webinar, read the full eligibility criteria and application guidelines, and to apply, visit: https://www.britishcouncil.org.bd/en/programmes/arts

Explore WOW Bangladesh in previous years:  https://www.britishcouncil.org.bd/en/programmes/arts/wow-women-world