In this free online session the Scottish Artist Union, with invited artists Paria Goodarzi and Esraa Husain, and Refugee Festival Scotland Manager Mónica Laiseca, will provide an introduction to how to work professionally as an artist in Scotland. The session will look at finding opportunities and peer support, when you need to be self-employed, how to use rates of pay and contracts for your work, and signpost key resources.

The session will look at finding opportunities and peer support, when you need to be self-employed, how to use rates of pay and contracts for your work, and signpost key resources.

The session is open to artists from any creative discipline who have experience of forced displacement or of seeking refuge in Scotland.

The session will be facilitated by:

Megan Chapman, Rep Coordinator & Caseworker (Scottish Artist Union)

Paria Goodarzi, Visual Artist, Postgraduate Researcher (University of Glasgow) and Tutor (Fife College)

Esraa Husain, 2025 Programming Fellow (Refugee Festival Scotland)

Monica Laiseca, Manager (Refugee Festival Scotland)

About the hosts:

Megan Chapman is Rep Coordinator & Caseworker at the Scottish Artists Union, the representative voice of visual and applied artists, designers and art workers living or working in Scotland. Our Learning Programme creates opportunities for all artists to undertake training to improve their sector skills, address the barriers to freelance work, and participate fully as workers within the sector.

Paria Goodarzi is an Iranian-born artist and social art practitioner, a member of the UNESCO RILA Affiliated Artist network, and The Young Academy of Scotland. She studied BA (Hons) in Textile Design at the University of Science & Culture in Tehran, Sculpture & Environmental Art at Glasgow School of Art, Master’s in Adult Education, Community Development & Youth Work at the University of Glasgow and PhD Researcher at the University of Glasgow, School of Education, Social Science

Paria’s artistic focus is on cultural and political transfers and translocations, as well as the contemporary human condition, cultural identity, and displacement. Through a multidisciplinary practice, she explores the formation and representation of identity, frequently incorporating collaborative, participatory, and socially engaged artworks.

Esraa Husain is a freelance creative writer, community curator, facilitator and researcher. Esraa is the Programming Fellow for the Scottish Refugee Festival 2025 at the Scottish Refugee Council, developing a unique strand of events that engages with communities in Glasgow and the Highlands. Esraa also works at LEAP Sports Scotland in the Just Active project, supporting LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers living in Glasgow.

Esraa’s PhD is in migrancy, political agency and decoloniality in Black Scottish literary studies at the University of Glasgow. They run @UBelongGlasgow established in 2020, a multilingual community platform that features Queer, BPOC and disabled creatives. Their writings are published online and in print in Gutter, The Skinny, Scottish BPOC Writers Network, Somewhere for Us, SINK, The Bottle Imp and more.

Mónica Laiseca is Manager at Refugee Festival Scotland, an annual celebration of the art, languages, customs and ideas that people bring with them when they settle in Scotland. Established in 2000, the festival takes place every June in locations across Scotland and is co-ordinated and produced by Scottish Refugee Council, Scotland’s national refugee charity.

Online workshop: Working professionally as an artist in Scotland