The Valentine’s Day celebration proved that, for art and culture, the relationship between the UK and Germany is true love

“A fantastic, vibrant, eclectic celebration of cultural exchange and ideas. Full of warmth, laughter and potential pathways to continue exciting dialogues.” Award-winning UK writer Irenosen Okojie

To kick of the #UKGermany2018 season with a bang, we entertained 200 of the city’s young creatives with a combination of a German performance and British visual art and music.

"The smashing UK/Germany 2018 launch party of has set the bar sky-high for all upcoming events of the year. From portraits by the great talent Joey to the hilarious Christian Schulte-Loh. It was more than just a touchstone in this amazing new venture of #freundship" Soja Subhaghar

Joey Yu and friends sit amongst the flowers and UK/Germany 2018 branded wall
Renowned artist Joey Yu and her friends made the most of our UK/Germany backdrop and had an impromptu photoshoot amongst the flowers.  ©

British Council

Christian Schulte-Loh on stage at the UK/Germany 2018 launch party
International stand-up comedian Christian Schulte-Loh wowed the crowd with his live and exclusive set. ©

British Council

Rachael Nanyonjo and Marita Pohle taking a selfie in front of the UK/Germany photo-board and flowers
Two of our guests, UK choreographer Rachael Nanyonjo (L) and and German dancer Marita Pohle (R), met at our Launch party and are now planning to work together. We're so happy to have helped them in 'Making Connections', one of the season themes: We will gather diverse communities, cultures and all backgrounds to learn from each other and engage in artistic dialogue and active citizenship face-to-face or in virtual environments. ©

British Council

Photo of Joey Yu doing live portraiture illustration at the UK/Germany 2018 launch party
The wonderfully talented artist Joey Yu had queues of people waiting to be drawn. We'll be sharing some of the best illustrations from the night. ©

British Council

Matt Doggs from Ghettospheric pictured at the DJ booth
Matt Doggs from UK-based Ghettospheric (seen here) and DJ/Producer Kemback played an eclectic mix of soul, disco, R&B, afrobeat and house throughout the evening. ©

British Council

Thanks to the near 300 of you that signed up for the event. For those that couldn't make it, we hope to see you at our next event!