14 November 2026 | Australian War Memorial

Step inside the Australian War Memorial's New Entrance, where a striking Oculus, inspired by the Hall of Memory's dome, draws natural light into a space of quiet solemnity and contemporary beauty. Featuring locally sourced sandstone, bronze detailing and intuitive wayfinding, this is a seamless and deeply considered integration of history and modernity. 

12 November 2026 | Canberra Airport

Join acclaimed contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter and craft writer and curator Kevin Murray for an in conversation event at Canberra Airport, surrounded by Phoebe's new exhibition Raw and Refined. 

14 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Join us in the courtyard of the National Film and Sound Archive to close the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival with an evening of dance, design and celebration under the Canberra sky. 

6 + 7 November 2026 | Canberra Institute of Technology, Woden 

Fashion meets activism. Performance meets purpose. Dissent becomes a work of art.  

Across one vibrant weekend, Clothing the Loop unfolds as a spectacular evening event and a full day of activities. Live dance, a runway parade, panel talks, clothes swaps, installations, tours and practical workshops celebrate the intersection of sustainable design, live performance and creative activism.  

15 + 22 + 29 November 2026  | Such and Such

Such and Such presents Clubb Chess, a three day interactive exhibition celebrating contemporary artists and designers through the lens of a centuries old board game, encompassing the festival theme of ‘Dissent’. This exhibition brings together multiple industries across Canberra including architecture, furniture design, art, music and hospitality on the 15th, 22nd and 29th November 2026. 

13 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive

Join the new Craft Australia for a screening of the classic documentaries on Australian craft by Peter Rushforth and Gillian Armstrong, followed by drinks with the new board. 

5 – 25 November 2026  | Canberra Glassworks

Delightly revives endangered scientific glassblowing skills, transforming salvaged laboratory glass into plasma-illuminated vessels. Harriet Schwarzrock creates objects whose luminous behaviour shifts with viewer proximity, taking science out of the museum. Darkened, subtly interactive installations offer multi-sensory wonder, merging curiosity with playful public engagement in glass and light. 

1 – 28 November 2026 | Designcraft

Design Deviation celebrates the intentional mistake, showcasing furniture by Designcraft employees who have deliberately broken the rules of 'best practice' to discover new aesthetics in unusual materials and unconventional assembly. 

6 November 2026 | Royal Australian Mint

2026 marks the 60^th anniversary of Decimal Currency, designed by Australian industrial designer Stuart Devlin and minted in Canberra at the Royal Australian Mint. To mark the anniversary, the Mint presents an in-conversation event with coin designer Adam Ball and brand designer Mike Jackson.  

7 – 8 + 14 – 15 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive

Digital Dissent is an interactive showcase of innovative microgames exploring dissent, presented by Canberra Game Developers Association (CanDev) and hosted by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). Play the games, then join Digital Dissent in Discussion to hear local designers reflect on how Canberra’s game design community embraces dissent.  

7 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive

Digital Dissent in Discussion brings together local game developers to reflect on the evolution of Canberra's game design scene, dissecting the innovative microgames presented in Digital Dissent and exploring how Canberra's games industry continues to blaze a trail and break the mould.

14 November 2026 | City

Canberra Modern’s tour will take you to significant sights around Canberra. Experience the Griffin’s internationally significant plan from an act of creative dissent, through to implementation as a city embodying democratic ideals. Visit locations in the central national area from elevated vantage points to hidden sights, including the historic Cork Oak plantation, General Bridges grave, the Incinerator and much more.

6 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Dissent by Design explores creativity as a form of dissent: the ways artists, designers, activists and storytellers use their practice to resist, imagine and rebuild.  

10 November 2026 | Craft + Design Canberra

Explore Art Deco design with artist Sarit Cohen. Decorate a ceramic bisque-fired cup using geometric decals and clear glaze, experimenting with colour, pattern and composition to reflect your personal perspective on place.  

10 November 2026 | Nangari Street Carpark

Presented by Architectus in partnership with SONA and EmAGN, Dissent: Opposition/Proposition brings together emerging thought leaders from architecture, urban design and adjacent fields to interrogate the role of sanctioned and unsanctioned design in the city and explore how opposition can become a proposition for change. 

14 November 2026 | ANU School of Medicine and Psychology

How do we view, hear and learn from the human corpse? Artists and anatomists from the Australian National University School of Medicine come together to explore how art and narrative can protect and preserve the humanity of the human body.  

6 – 22 November 2026 | Queanbeyan Hive

A powerful act of dissent against the marginalisation of older voices, Elder Art is an exhibition of artworks by older members of the community. Through art and artist talks, the exhibition amplifies these voices, celebrating the richness that a long life and diverse experiences of history can bring to our shared community. 

5 November – 12 December 2026  | Craft + Design Canberra

EMERGENCY: Signal, Repair, Adapt brings together artists and designers working across ceramics, glass, textiles and media to examine what it means to make objects in a time of disruption. A major exhibition that affirms the power of creative practice to imagine alternatives where established systems have failed. 

6 November 2026 | Canberra Contemporary

Join Canberra Contemporary for the opening of POWER - The Future is Here. An exhibition resulting from a collaboration between artist Dennis Golding and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Alexandria Park Community School, who have designed capes informed by their lived experiences and cultural identity. 

6 November 2026 | Canberra Contemporary

Join Canberra Contemporary for the opening of Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation, a major new solo exhibition by feminist artist and craftivist Dr Tal Fitzpatrick. This exhibition makes space for a conversation about the power and pain of feminine rage using the gentle and familiar textures of cloth.