Various venues 15th May till 1st June
Entering its 46th year, the Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival will return to delight audiences this summer with a celebration of theatre, music, dance, and the spoken word, spanning the entire region. From 15th May–1st June, Scotland’s largest rural performing arts festival will spotlight a wealth of local and national talent by bringing audiences and artists together through a wide range of exciting performances and events.
A meticulously curated programme for 2025 aims to appeal to art lovers of all ages and consists of a host of new names, alongside some familiar festival favourites. From opera to circus acts, poetry to plays, traditional music to unicorn parties, this packed festival has something for everyone.
Kicking the festival off on Thursday 15th May at Easterbrook Hall is Conference 25, a collaborative project between Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival and DG Unlimited. Brimming with engaging, entertaining, and interactive events, Conference 25 aims to provide a unique opportunity for creatives of all practices to meet, network and celebrate Dumfries and Galloway’s vibrant cultural community.
Theatre reigns supreme across the two-week long festival line-up, which includes five delicious lunchtime performances of original show Goodbye Dreamland Bowlarama, courtesy of Glasgow’s famous Òran Mór’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint. Exciting emerging playwright Tom Foreman will bring his Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show Boiler Room Six to a range of venues region-wide, and Dumfries and Galloway-based company Deliverance Theatre will debut the locally set Goodbye Postie on 26th of May at CatStrand, New Galloway.
On Saturday 17th May, Tom McGuire and the Brassholes will blow the roof off The Venue, Dumfries, with their funk-soul anthems in a collaboration between youth organisation Up Yer Airts and Closeburn Rocks, with all proceeds from this event going directly to Closeburn Primary School. Scottish Opera are also set to return after their sell out shows in 2024, with Pop-Up Operas in Sanquhar and Moniaive celebrating the iconic works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Young art lovers are also well catered for through a variety of performance events. The outdoor extravaganza Cirqulation, Scotland’s top circus cabaret, presents Roots, an exciting show of acrobatics and aerial displays taking place in Castle Douglas and Sanquhar. Performance Collective Stranraer’s Bippity will bring an abundance of physical theatre, clowning, and eccentric magical fun suitable for all ages, and Unicorn Dance Party at Thornhill Primary is a performance that celebrates joy, sparkles, and finding your inner unicorn.
Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival runs 15th May till 1st June 2025. For more information and to book tickets to any of the events, visit their website, dgartsfestival.org.uk
