creative Commissions
DG Unlimited believes great creative ideas deserve the right conditions to grow. We want our Talent Pool Members to have every opportunity to flourish and build their creative portfolios.
Our Creative Commissions are one of the ways we help our Talent Pool members, and businesses, groups, and community projects to turn the early sparks of inspiration into fully realised creative experiences and paid commissions. We put creativity into the heart of project delivery, and it helps us create quality, paid commissions for our Talent Pool members.
We see creative commissioning not as a rigid process, but as a flexible offer of help, guidance, and potential resources – tailored to what your project needs, when your project needs it. What does that mean?
It could mean DG Unlimited agrees to commission new creative work, it could support early-stage creative development of a longer-term project, or it could help your organisation collaborate with other creatives in the region.
Recipients of a Creative Commission must be a DG Unlimited Member and a member of our Talent Pool. Any business, constituted community group, or organisation is welcome to have a conversation with us about a potential commission with one of our creative Talent Pool Members.
Our commissions start with a simple conversation. You might be exploring a new project idea or hoping to work with your community in a fresh and creative way. DG Unlimited want to encourage partnership, collaboration, and genuine paid work between our creative members and groups or businesses from any sector.
We listen to where you’re at, what you’re aiming for, and what challenges you might be facing and then explore together how DG Unlimited might be able to help.
We are excited to hear your ideas!
If you have a project which might benefit from this type of support, the first step is simple. Get in touch with us! Email us to arrange a chat – comms.dgu@gmail.com
One of the team will get back to you.
support
DG Unlimited’s support can take many forms:
Funding for commissioning new creative work.
Seed funding with small-scale support to test ideas before seeking bigger investment.
Practical help to connect you with potential partners, collaborators, spaces, or audiences.
Development advice with guidance and templates available on project planning, budgets, fair pay, evaluation, risk assessment, monitoring and evaluation and more.
Examples of Creative Commissions we’ve funded previously include:
a writer to produce original content
an illustrator for an event
a videographer to capture an event
a photographer to document activities
an artist to create a unique design
a music producer to make music
TRAX | DMC | 2024 | Supported by DG Unlimited | Image by Aaron Mcnamara
In 2024 we were proud to work with the Open University (Scotland), The European Space Agency, JAXA and NASA to creatively capture the 2024 European Lunar Symposium. This resulted in creative work made by local artists’ work being shared all over the globe. The creative result was The Pull of the Moon. Click the image to check it out.
Why We Do This
First, ask yourself some simple questions…
Why might you need a talented creative practitioner to help you? What do you need a creative for? How can you make the work you do more creative?
This is one of the mechanisms DG Unlimited has developed to support creatives and provide work opportunities for our members. It is a way to help generate real economic impact for our sector with paid creative commissions in any creative medium. It also turns one financial contribution into a benefit for several people or groups: One creative commission will support a Talent Pool member with a micro-commission, it will support DG Unlimited as the commissioning organisation to showcase, support and advocate for the creative sector in our region, and it will support the business, group or organisation receiving the creative service by helping them to access quality creative practitioners and help their resources go further. Ultimately, it is a way we can help strengthen the region’s creative sector. And the by-project is the beautiful art and creative outputs made as a result!