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.’
The program is built around six ways of dissenting: design thinking, 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, for strength; and buying local, as an environmental act.
For more details and to see the full program, visit the Craft + Design Canberra Festival online.
