Intercultural Connections Awards 2025 Announces Winners at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The 2025 IC Award winners shine at the Edinburgh Fringe, celebrating excellence and diversity in cross-cultural productions worldwide.

EDINBURGH, CITY OF, UNITED KINGDOM, August 14, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At the world’s largest and most inclusive arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the International Culture Awards (IC Awards) unveiled its 2025 winners in a celebration of creativity, diversity, and global cultural exchange. Founded and run by the Cross-Cultural Exchange Association, this official Fringe award recognises excellence in theatre and performance while fostering dialogue across languages, borders, and traditions.

This year’s IC Awards attracted submissions from more than 20 countries and regions across five continents — from São Paulo to Hong Kong, Jakarta to London — with works spanning genres and themes as varied as the artists themselves. From 30 shortlisted productions, the judging panel selected ten winners across five categories: the Future Generation Award, Personal Achievement Award, Pioneer Fringe Award, Best Production Award, and the newly introduced Audience Award, honouring works that address pressing social issues and shared human concerns through art.

The IC Awards are more than a mark of artistic excellence; they are an open meeting point for cultures, a stage where artists from around the world can encounter one another, exchange ideas, and inspire new perspectives. The awards place equal emphasis on the craft and innovation of the work, and the cultural spirit and vision behind it — encouraging diversity of expression, supporting marginalised and minority voices, and championing art as a bridge for genuine understanding and respect between cultures.

For the IC Awards, the stage is more than a place for performance; it is a public forum, a bridge for emotional connection, and a catalyst for social change. Each shortlisted and winning work represents a cultural snapshot — a community, a language, a history, and the collective memory of a group of people. In keeping with the Fringe’s founding spirit of being “open to all,” the IC Awards will continue to discover, support, and promote art that is bold, thoughtful, and full of heart.

2025 Winners

Future Generation Award – Celebrating the creative potential and fresh energy of the new generation of artists:

1. Youth and Poetry – The Book of Songs (China) — QFunTheatre’s children’s experimental theatre draws inspiration from the Book of Songs, fusing classical beauty with modern playfulness.
2. Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story (UK) — Dylan and Will Theatre’s university team reimagines the Wild West with youthful storytelling and inventive spirit.
3. An Evening of Bull (UK) — Nicholsons Upstage blends absurdity and reality in a thought-provoking exploration of truth and illusion.

Personal Achievement Award – Recognising outstanding artistic presence and depth:

1. Strangers and Revelations — Chiedza Rwodzi (Zimbabwe/UK) of Unshaded Arts delivers a powerful solo exploring identity and belonging.
2. Copla: A Spanish Cabaret — Alejandro Postigo (Spain) of HisPanic brings the passion and subtlety of Spanish culture to life through music, dance, and storytelling.

Pioneer Fringe Award – Honouring works that break boundaries and explore new forms and ideas:

1. Zhuangzi’s Dream (China) — Central Academy of Drama blends philosophy and physical theatre to blur the lines between dream and reality.
2. Stampin’ in the Graveyard (Indonesia) — Elisabeth Gunawan and KISS WITNESS combine music, solo theatre, and experimental performance in a work of high tension and originality.

Best Production Award – The highest recognition for overall excellence in artistry, staging, and audience impact:

1. Tom at the Farm (Brazil) — A co-production between Pleasance and Cena Brasil Internacional, praised for its gripping performances and tight narrative.
2. Imago (Canada) — Corporeal Imago’s poetic two-hander explores the interplay of identity and emotion through movement.
3. Cantonese Opera x Children’s Interactive Theatre: Dic Dic Chang Chang Playground (Hong Kong) — One Table Two Chairs Charitable Foundation revitalises Cantonese opera for young audiences through immersive interaction.

Looking ahead, the IC Awards will continue to drive cross-border artistic collaboration, enabling creators’ voices to travel beyond geographic boundaries and fostering deep connections between audiences and stories from other cultures. Because, at its heart, the IC Awards believes art’s true power lies not only in entertainment but in building empathy, sparking understanding, and contributing to a more inclusive world.

Xin Wen
Intercultural Connections Initiative CIC
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
Other

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.