Itineraries
Itineraries
Your Festival, your way. Six itineraries through more than 130 activations, each drawing on the Festival's six ways of dissenting. First Nations Voices follows stories, culture and creativity led by knowledge holders, and the community connection that holds them. Canberra City of Design traces the city's origins and the people shaping what comes next, with design thinking at its centre. Adapt our World is design for sustainable and resilient futures, and buying local as an environmental act. Make + Connect puts wellbeing activities in your hands, for making by hand. Kids + Families is a playful program for all ages, about connection and making together. And Walk + Explore turns the streets, parks and waterways into the venue, where craftivism and art practice go public. The strands cross over, as the makers do. All you have to do is choose an itinerary, book, and turn up.
First Nations Voices
Experience powerful First Nations stories, culture and creativity through exhibitions, public art and conversations led by artists and knowledge holders, where First Nations design and community connection are themselves acts of dissent.
Canberra As a City of Design
Embrace our city's growth and change, and meet the architects, makers, dancers and thinkers shaping Canberra's design future, where design thinking scopes the alternatives.
Adapt our World
Explore how design is driving more sustainable, resilient and imaginative futures through exhibitions, talks and creative experiences, where design thinking scopes the alternatives to systems that are failing us.
Make + Connect
Get hands-on with workshops, artist-led activities and creative experiences that invite you to make, learn, connect and breathe. Making by hand, for human wellbeing.
Kids + Families
Discover a playful program of hands-on activities, performances and experiences designed to inspire creative minds of all ages. Because the habit of making together starts early. Community connection, for strength.
Walk + Explore
See the city in Dissent. Canberra's streets, parks and waterways become the Festival, with guided tours, night walks and public art along the way. Craftivism and art practice as a political act in our city.
5 – 15 November 2026 | Civic Square
Stories in the Dark is an animated public light installation in Civic Square by Eggpicnic. Shifting between daylight and nighttime hours we see and hear species and ecosystems that have been ignored or erased, challenging us to confront ecological neglects. Transforming our attention into responsibility and making dissent a deliberate act of ecological care.