 The Wickerman festival has secured a funding boost |
Four major festivals in Dumfries and Galloway have drawn in �80,000 of financial support. The Wickerman Festival, Scottish Book Town Festival, Creetown Country Music Festival and GaelForce Arts Season have all been successful in bids for cash.
They have picked up money from national events agency Event Scotland and the regional festivals challenge fund.
The awards were welcomed by the local council as helping to attract more visitors to the region.
Both the Wickerman festival, held near Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown's Book Town Festival scooped over �27,000.
The regionwide GaelForce picked up �17,000 while the Creetown event netted �10,000.
'Beacon festivals'
Three of the events - Wickerman, Book Town and GaelForce - have been established as "beacon festivals" by the region's events partnership.
They are seen as having the potential to attract thousands of visitors and to expand in years to come.
The funding was welcomed by the region's events strategy officer Ian Barr.
"These festivals have demonstrated strong economic growth in the last few years and have the capacity to successfully market Dumfries and Galloway to new visitors," he said.
"They offer strong and innovative programmes and have continuing growth potential in economic and cultural terms, which is why they were designated beacon festivals."
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