TALKS

Join the 2024 Craft + Design Festival talks and symposiums for inspiring discussions with leading artists and designers. Gain insights into industry trends and future innovations.

Our engaging Artists Talks offer a unique opportunity to explore the creative process and techniques behind artwork fostering a deeper appreciation of contemporary craft and design, while our symposiums explore historic and regenerative possibilities for urban design and the built environment.

Featured

Designing Currency

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.

Plant Sensibilia

7 November 2026 | Canberra Spinners and Weavers

Join Rebecca Mayo and Canberra Spinners and Weavers for a special collaborative event as part of Living City: People, Plants and Place, supports by artsACT and the Australian National University School of Art and Design. Experience the Plant Sensibilia Machine, a large-scale, hand-operated textile dyeing device that brings the creative process from the studio to the public realm.

Craft Australia Film Screenings

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.

Exhibition Opening | POWER: The Future is here  

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.

Exhibition Opening: Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation

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.

Artist Talk | Celebrating Raw and Refined

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.

2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival Launch + Exhibition Openings

5 November 2026 | Craft + Design Canberra

Join us to formally launch the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival and celebrate the opening of 4 exciting exhibitions in the Craft + Design Canberra Gallery and Civic Square.

Dissent: Opposition/Proposition

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.

Moonlight Meanders Night Walks

7 + 14 November 2026 | Canberra City West

In a spirited act of dissent against the boundaries of public space, Localjinni presents two projected night walks through Canberra’s Civic Centre. Led by local artists these saunters reclaim the right to roam and creatively reimagine the city after dark.

Dissenting Bodies | Art, Anatomy and Medicine

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.