5–15
NOVEMBER
DISSENT
Image | Matthew Curtis Increment (detail) 2026 | Photo by Rob Little
Discover 130+ events across the city, including Events, Exhibitions, Markets, Open Studios, Performances, Public Artworks, Symposiums, Talks, Tours and Workshops.
Explore the must-see programs of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival.
From exhibitions to talks to community gatherings, our free events are open for everyone to enjoy!
The 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival celebrates Canberra as a creative city of design, showcasing the work of more than 500 artists, makers and designers. Across 10 days the program brings together events, exhibitions, markets, open studios, performances, public artworks, symposiums, talks, tours and workshops.
Responding to the theme of Dissent, the Festival explores how design and creative practice can question and reshape the world around us. Discover 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.
The program follows six strands: design thinking, and its capacity to scope alternatives; craftivism and art practice as a political act; making by hand for human wellbeing; performance and access, and who gets to be seen; community connection as a source of collective strength; and buying local as an environmental act. Together they treat craft, design and art as practical tools for meeting the challenges of our time.
Itineraries
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
