Artwork by Scott Chaseling
2026 CRAFT + DESIGN CANBERRA FESTIVAL 5 TO 15 NOVEMBER | Are you ready to Dissent?
Are you ready to Dissent at the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival? Running from 5 to 15 November 2026, the Festival celebrates Canberra as a creative city of design, showcasing the work of more than 500 artists, makers, designers and performers. The program presents more than 130 activations over ten days, with exhibitions continuing for a full month, bringing together events, exhibitions, markets, open studios, performances, public artworks, symposiums, talks, tours and workshops.
The Festival celebrates Canberra's extraordinary proportion of creative workers, more than any state or territory with 11 per cent of the workforce, some 25,000 people working in the sector, and design the largest domain of the creative economy. Forming part of the evidence supporting the ACT Government’s commitment to apply for Canberra to be designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design.
Craft + Design Canberra CEO and Artistic Director Jodie Cunningham said ‘The 2026 Festival is a truly collaborative endeavor. I thank every artist, designer, performer, collective, organisation, business and sponsor involved in this year’s program for their commitment, generosity and creativity, an energy that shapes Canberra as a wonderful place to live and visit. I also thank the ACT Government for its commitment to funding this year’s Festival, including through the City of Design grant program that it administers.’
Responding to the theme of Dissent, the 2026 Festival explores how design and creative practice can question and reshape the world around us. The program presents work that engages with environmental and social impact, sustainability, wellbeing, accessibility and the future of the city. Celebrating the handmade and locally made, the program highlights the skills, stories and material knowledge that connect our creative communities.
Ms Cunningham said, ‘This year’s program, responding to the theme of Dissent, asks audiences to consider the capacity of design and making by hand to improve our world.’
‘At its best, dissent is an act of care. You dissent because you believe something better is possible,’ Ms Cunningham said. ‘Every work in this year’s program carries a proposition inside it: the world could be otherwise, and here is a small proof. A repaired garment is an act of dissent. A house designed to need less energy is an act of dissent. A quilt stitched by a hundred hands is an act of dissent.’
DISSENT BY DESIGN | CREATIVITY AS A TOOL FOR CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
One of the program's centrepiece events is a Symposim titled, Dissent by Design | Creativity as a Tool for Change. This symposium brings together a line up of leading artists, designers and thinkers for an afternoon symposium at the National Film and Sound Archive on Friday 6 November 2026.
Facilitated by Jenny Edwards, the symposium features Professor Alison Page (Dharawal and Yuin), craftivist Tal Fitzpatrick, artist Anna Madeleine Raupach, Transition movement founder Rob Hopkins, Mammalian Diving Reflex's Isabel Ahat and Fjoralba Qerimaj, and Canberra creative producer Tamzin Nugent. The afternoon explores how the work of designing, building, making and imagining becomes a response to climate pressure, social injustice and unsustainable systems, and closes with the world premiere of a new dance film by Nugent.
Learn more | https://www.craftanddesigncanberrafestival.org/2026program/symposium-dissentby-design
JOIN US FOR THE OPENING EVENT OPENING EVENT | 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival Opening | Emergency: Signal, Repair, Adapt + 2026 Robert Foster Metal Prize + Small Rituals + Soft Matter. Join Craft + Design Canberra for the official opening and unveiling of the 2026 Rober Foster Metal Prize winners. Civic Square | 5 November | 6pm – 9pm | Free |
Booking required RSVP here | https://www.craftanddesigncanberrafestival.org/2026program/event-2026-craftdesign-canberra-festival-opening-event
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Jodie Cunnigham
CEO + Artistic Director
Craft + Design Canberra E
ceo@craftanddesigncanberra.org
P (02) 6262 9333
Kelsie White
Marketing Coordinator
E kelsie.white@craftanddesigncanberra.org
P (02) 6262 9333
ABOUT CRAFT + DESIGN CANBERRA
Craft + Design Canberra is the ACT's peak body for craft and design, supporting practitioners, fostering excellence, and connecting audiences with exceptional making. Learn more about Craft + Design Canberra via our website.