The cultural UK/Poland Season is an initiative organised by the British Council in cooperation with the main cultural institutions of a chosen country to strengthen ties and promote each other’s artists. This year, the United Kingdom and Poland will organise a series of events, including art exhibitions, concerts, theatre premieres, and many more, across Poland and Britain to explore cultures.

The UK/Poland Season is a joint initiative prepared in cooperation with the British Council, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture as well as the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. 

The opening press conference was hosted by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute with the participation of Marta Cienkowska (the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage), Anna Radwan-Rohrenshef of (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland), Rachel Launay (Director of the British Council in Poland), Olga Brzezińska (Deputy Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute) and Magdalena Grabianowska (Deputy Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London).

According to various estimates some 700,000 Poles live in the UK, and Polish is the second most spoken language in Britain. At the same time, studies show that after Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural cooperation between the two countries has weakened. The UK/Poland Season 2025 is aimed at bringing those relations back to full life. 

“The rich programme, covering major British cities for six months, is just a foretaste of what can be discovered on the Polish cultural scene. Today, Poland is becoming a country open to diversity and a haven for artists fleeing war or persecution. UK/Poland Season 2025 not only shows which artists are shaping the current cultural landscape in Poland but also invites you to discover new partnerships and creative inspirations,” said Olga Brzezińska, the Deputy Head of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. 

The season will be officially launched with two events in March. It will open on 5 March with the exhibition called ‘St Ives and elsewhere’ at the Museum of Art in Łódź, where works from the collections of the British Council, Tate and Polish museums. The following day, on 6 March, during the opening of the Cinematheque at the British Film Institute’s main cinema – the BFI Southbank will launch the programme in the UK.

There will also be two trailer events in January 2025 announcing the Season. From 16 to 19 January at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre (London) audiences will see a a show called The Employees, directed by acclaimed Polish creator, Łukasz Twarkowski, based on the dystopian science-fiction novel by Olga Ravn. 

On 17 January at the Barbican Centre in London, the UK edition of the Unsound Festival will take place, featuring the Sinfonietta Cracovia orchestra, presenting compositions by Mika Levi, and performances by Mabe Fratti and Raphael Roginski.

During the events in the UK, the participants will be able to explore Polish: 

• Film – The season will open with the KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival in London, followed by a Kinoteka on Tour in independent cinemas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will present cult Polish film productions as well as the latest premieres.
• Music – acclaimed musicians will take part in Focus on Poland at the Edinburgh International Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious festivals of music, theatre, dance and opera in the world.
• Visual arts – from March, the National Portrait Gallery in London will exhibit works by Stanisław Wyspiański, while Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast will show ‘Radical Hope’, an exhibition of works by contemporary Polish artists from the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok.
• Photography – The Photographers’ Gallery (London) will be showing the work of Zofia Rydet, author of the monumental ‘Sociological Record’.
• Design – in June, the Polish Cultural Institute in London, in collaboration with the Fleet Street Quarter BID will organise the event ‘Designing Tomorrow: Polish Sustainable Design & Business for a Better Future’, showcasing the latest in Polish design.

“Poland is an extremely important point on the map of European culture, with a thriving and innovative artistic scene – from contemporary art and design to experimental music, theatre, film and a rapidly developing culinary scene. UK/Poland Season 2025 is a unique opportunity for the British to see how contemporary Poland combines respect for its rich heritage with openness to new developments. From March to November 2025, Polish artists will present their work in major British cultural centres, building bridges that we hope will foreshadow long-term collaborations for the future,” said Magdalena Grabianowska, the Deputy Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London. 

In Poland, the British Council will present their events in Gdansk, Sopot, Bydgoszcz, Poznan, Bolesławiec, Wrocław, Katowice, Łódź, Lublin, Kraków and Warsaw. It will feature: 

• ‘Changes‘ – a joint project between Gdansk’s Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia and The Box in Plymouth, where we will see works from the British Council collection. The project draws on the contexts of Poland and the UK, exploring instability as an element linking both countries in the face of new political challenges, climate change, migration, conflict and issues of freedom and independence.
• ‘Here and There’- an exhibition on the history of the Polish diaspora in the UK Britain after 1939, presented as part of Bradford City of Culture 2025 in partnership with Fotofestiwal in Łódź.
• ‘What Is It Like?’ – a presentation of bio art, video and audio art, as well as solutions using artificial intelligence and virtual worlds, prepared by the WRO Art Centre in collaboration with Arebyte. The project explores different ways of understanding humanity from the perspective of British and Polish artists.
• ‘Community’ – an opera prepared by artists and artists with disabilities, telling stories about themes important to them (challenges, exclusion, emotions). The performance will be filmed and projected onto the cities as part of an initiative by Dumbworld and the Polish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (PSONI).
• ‘Different Sounds’ – thanks to a collaboration between the Different Sounds Festival 2025 with Cryptic Glasgow in Lublin will present premiere outdoor sound installations, light sculptures and live audiovisual performances.

“The UK/Poland Season 2025 programme addresses the need for renewed momentum in Polish-British relations. The results of our 2021 research show an increased interest in working with British partners – both among Polish institutions and artists. Culture is a strong tool for deepening ties between our countries and for developing new creative projects. We aim to build relationships based on mutual benefit and understanding and to celebrate the diversity that unites the UK and Poland,” said Rachel Launay the Director of the British Council in Poland, reminding that the organisation marks its 87 years of work in Poland that started even before the World War 2. 

Source: IAM

Photo: British Poles

Tomasz Modrzejewski