Two of Scotland’s best-loved cultural events are joining forces to promote Dumfries and Galloway as a centre of high-quality contemporary arts.

In May and June this year Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival and Spring Fling open studios will be offering around 200 opportunities to enjoy a huge variety visual art and craft plus high quality live performances.

They have teamed up in a campaign to capitalise on their position in Scotland’s cultural calendar by producing joint visitor information with a fold-out map displaying locations for this year’s activity. The map, which will also be available online, shows where people can find 94 studios as well as afternoon and evening performances of award-winning live performances taking place at venues throughout the region. Spring Fling studio visitors will be able to meet professional artists and makers who create high quality ceramics, furniture, glassware, jewellery, painting, printmaking and textiles.

The festival’s live performances, which take place at theatres, village and town halls, arts centres and pubs, offer the best of comedy, dance, theatre, music and spoken word.

The 40th annual D&G Arts Festival has 50 performances over 10 days from 24 May to 2 June while the main Spring Fling open studios weekend takes place between 25 and 27 May. There will also be more than 15 workshops and master-classes, evening events and public art.

The arts festival presents events in venues across the region and Spring Fling artists can be found in studios throughout Dumfries and Galloway. Among the highlights will be Lucy Porter with her award-winning show Pass it On and folk legends Martin and Eliza Carthy.

 For further details on Spring Fling please visit www.spring-fling.co.uk

For the Arts Festival programme visit www.dgartsfestival.org.uk.

Thornhill-based Cample Line join 40 artists, dancers, choreographers, musicians, writers, theatre makers, festivals and organisations to receive a share over £850,000 National Lottery funds in the latest round of Creative Scotland’s Open Project funding awards.

The independent arts organisation is dedicated to presenting thought-provoking international contemporary art and film for both local residents and visitors. It plans to use the funding award to present a thought-provoking programme of international contemporary art and film, and artist-run space.

Find out more from Creative Scotland.

BIG LIT, the Stewartry Book Festival, takes place this year from 1st to 5th May, with five bumper days of poetry, launches, prose, talks, film, puppets, history, workshop, buskers, song, installation, exhibition, politics, music and cabaret. There's also a children’s programme of magical time travel and folk tales.

Among this year's guests are:

• Ted Powell, on Edward VIII’s love affair with America,
• Henry Bell, on John Mclean, Hero of Red Clydeside
• Rosemary Goring, on Scotland's history by the women who lived it
• Alan Taylor on his friendship with Muriel Spark
• BBC Health Editor Hugh Pym on the Scots in Great War London
• Internationally acclaimed harper Wendy Stewart, on the history of the Scottish clarsach

and many, many more.

Events will be held in Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright.

Full programme details available online.

Contact Big Lit for tickets or call Galloway Lodge on 01557 814001, open daily  from 10am to 5pm.

Wigtown Festival Company was crowned the winner of the Innovation in Tourism award at the Scottish Thistle Awards National Final on 14th March.

Wigtown Festival Company, responsible for transforming Wigtown into Scotland’s National Book Town, was named best in the business at Scotland’s biggest awards night in tourism.

Read more  from DGWGO.

£345m of funding commitments have been announced for the Borderlands Growth Deal.

This proposed deal covers the council areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Carlisle City.

In his Spring Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled a UK government commitment of £260m, adding to a previous Scottish government commitment of £85m over a 10-year period.

Read more from the BBC.

Luminate has announced the recipients of the Luminate and Saltire Society Older Artist Bursaries. 

14 artists have been awarded funds ranging from £500 to £1,000, to support a varied number of career development opportunities. There is also an award of £2,000 from the Saltire Society's Inspiring Scotland Bursary, which will enable one artist to develop a new creative idea.

Carolyn Yates, a DGU Trustee and playwright, is one of the 14 recipients of the Luminate and Saltire Society Older Artist Bursaries. Carolyn will attend The Authentic Voice workshop with Susan  Worsfold. Susan Worsfold is an award winning theatre director specialising in the Nadine George Voice Work for which she is one of only 14 accredited teachers worldwide. Carolyn says: “I will use this opportunity to develop my writing “voice” giving it  a deeper physicality, a visceral quality that will enhance the performativity aspects as well as giving me performance skills to enhance  collaborative theatre-making.

Find out more from Luminate.