​The Autumn edition of our online magazine ‘Focus’ is out now! 

Focus digital magazine is a showcase and creative celebration of Dumfries and Galloway’s creative and cultural sector.

This issue features a whole host of creatives from around the region, working in different areas, mediums, and practices.  It’s been a joy to spend time speaking to these wonderful creatives, to visit their places of work, and to see the fruits of their labour.
It aims to help Dumfries and Galloway’s creative practitioners and arts organisations to be more visible across the region, Scotland and beyond. It will help shine a light on our region’s creative excellence and how our creative community makes an important contribution to the economy, health and wellbeing of our region. 
Get in touch with us at comms.dgu@gmail.com if you have an idea for an article, images, review or highlights to share in the next edition.

View here

Our Fair Work Fair Pay and Fair to the Planet event took place last week in Crichton Central and was a great success.

The event was attended by a range of practitioners and freelancers from the creative and cultural sector in D&G.

It was an inspiring day with our wonderful guest speakers, workshop activities, and all taking the opportunity to network and creatively work with other creatives. Feedback from participants has been positive with the call for more events of this type in the future from DG Unlimited. Personal and professional development of creatives is important to so many in our sector. This was a free event thanks to funding from Creative Scotland and DG Council.



​The themes of the day were:

Fair Work – How can we ensure freelance creatives are treated fairly and correctly? How can we help to improve working conditions for creative freelancers?
Fair Pay – How do we address issues and ensure fair pay for creative commissions in D&G?
Fair to the Planet – Including an immersive hands-on workshop designing and creating a prototype using circular principles and start to consider how sustainable approaches might be used in your own practice or organisation.

Huge thanks to our guest speakers -
Mary Michael, Ostrero - Working to grow the circular economy in Scotland. Ostrero Co-founder and Director, former Trustee of Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland and Director of The Incorporation of Goldsmiths.
Heather Parry – Fiction Writer, editor and Scottish Senior Policy & Liaison Manager for the Society of Authors, and author of the Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide
Tamara Rogovic – Visual Artist and Vice President/voluntary Member of Executive, Scottish Artists Union.

The new updated 2023/2024 edition of The Illustrated Freelancers Guide by Heather Parry & Maria Stoian is available for download now! This publication is a lifesaver for any creative freelancer and is a highly recommended read by the DGU team!

'This essential resource has been created to fill an information gap for creative freelancers to understand their rights and best practices in avoiding and addressing difficult situations.

An easy to reference guide, written by Heather Parry and illustrated by Maria Stoian, it uses a highly visual combination of comics and text to highlight key issues, model scenarios and educate creative workers about how to protect themselves with regards to payment, copyright and creative work in general.' 

To download the complete publication, in a variety of formats, click here.

Free physical copies of The Illustrated Freelancers Guide will also be available to pick up from the following locations:

- Creative Dundee
- Out of The Blue 
- Leith School of Art
- Edinburgh College of Art 
- Scottish Poetry Library 
- Dovecot Studios 
- Tron Theatre 
- Lyth Arts Centre
- Gaada