Funding opportunities
DG Unlimited is a membership organisation, and one of the most vital elements of sustaining a creative practice is trying to ensure stable funding to support professional self development, new projects or collabroations.
You can find current funding opportunities from DG Unlimited and our funding partners here. Please check this page regularly, we will update it as and when relevant funds become available. Please also let us know if you are aware of a great funding opportunity your fellow members would be interested in.
VACMA funding 2024-25
Support is available for artists and craft makers in Dumfries & Galloway and The Scottish Borders through VACMA Scotland funding.
Practising Visual Artists and Craft Makers across the South of Scotland, (Dumfries and Galloway and The Scottish Borders), are invited to apply for grants of up to £1000 to support their creative and professional development, thanks to funding from The National Lottery through Creative Scotland and in partnership with Live Borders Arts & Creativity, Dumfries & Galloway Council, DG Unlimited and Upland.
The Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards (VACMA) funds activities such as mentoring and skills development, testing new ideas, experimenting with sustainable and renewable materials, purchasing necessary equipment, and residencies tailored to the artist’s creative and professional development.
The programme offers a newly enhanced £1000 bursary for artists and makers who have been practising for over 5 years, as well as a £500 early-career bursary for artists and makers that have been practising for less than 5 years. Artists must live and work in Dumfries and Galloway or The Scottish Borders to be eligible.
Bursaries of £500 and £1000 now available
Winter deadline: 5pm, 4 February 2025
Scottish Events FUnding
The National Events Programme is one of EventScotland’s core funds. The fund is designed to help deliver the National Events Strategy, Scotland The Perfect Stage. The fund also supports the strategic development of events. It has been created to support live public facing sporting and cultural events. These must take place outwith the local authority areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow. They must also drive domestic tourism within Scotland.
The National Events Programme is designed to support innovative new projects and activity at events. These elements will need to meet the programme criteria. Awards of between £5,000 and £25,000 are available to events. Events will need to align with the key impact areas outlined in our National Events Strategy, (you can download the National Events Strategy Summary below or download the full strategy via the link below). They must also have delivery budgets of more than £20,000 and attract over 1,000 in-person attendees. Finally, they must showcase Scotland’s key event and tourism assets.
Events are assessed on their merits. The EventScotland team will look at ways the event will create a positive impact for the host region and Scotland as a whole. Events are assessed on their viability and event management experience as well as the five impact areas:
- economic, tourism and business
- brand, identity and reputation
- media and profile
- social and cultural
- sustainability
An event’s ability to deliver against these impacts will determine any EventScotland offer.
CREATIVE SCOTLAND
OPEN FUNDING
Open Funding is one of Creative Scotland’s key funding routes, supporting the wide range of activity initiated by organisations, artists, writers, producers and other creative practitioners in Scotland.
We have separate strands for organisations and individuals, so they are not in competition with each other for funds. These strands have separate budgets and applications are considered at separate panels.