10 events not to miss this week at the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival
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The 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival is well underway, and there’s an abundance of things to see and do.
From architectural tours and talks to a design market, endless exhibitions, and more, this week is overflowing with ways to celebrate Canberra as a city of creative design. And to help you decide what to do, we’ve pulled together a curated guide to the unmissable events happening this week at the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival.
Make sure to check out the full program for even more suggestions!
Northbourne Precinct Heritage Tour
Join The FixIt Chicks, scientist Jenny Edwards and journalist Lish Fejer, alongside architects Marcus Graham from Stewart Architecture and Gabe Szivek from Art Group for an evening walking tour.
Exploring the iconic Northbourne Avenue flats – which were built in the 1950s and 1960s as elegant, low-rise public housing – the tour will explore how these mid-century flats have been retrofitted for the next generation.
As well as including access inside one of the retrofitted maisonettes, it’s a rare look at how careful design has brought new life to a heritage building without losing its mid-century character.
Tuesday 10 and Thursday 12 November | 358 Northbourne Avenue, Dickson | Book here.
Canberra Open Homes Tour | Gugan Gulwan
Located in Wanniassa, Gugan Gulwan is a space for First Nations people to gather, connect and share, in a building that feels safe, culturally considered, and strongly identifiable. Designed by COX architecture in collaboration with ck architecture, Gugan Gulwan supports at risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Go along to the open home to learn about how the space responds to Country and community as a culturally considered space, through all aspects of the building
Wednesday 11 November | 36 Grattan Court, Wanniassa | Book here.
Craft + Design Canberra Undercurrent Design Market
This is one of Canberra’s favourite markets – and for good reason. The Undercurrent Design Market brings together more than 50 accomplished makers from across Australia, showcasing contemporary work in jewellery, glass, ceramics, textiles, wood, metal, fashion, homewares and diverse creative mediums.
As well as discovering one-of-a-kind handcrafted works, you’ll get the chance to meet the artists behind them and gain insight into the stories, skills and processes that shape each piece. With Christmas on the way, it’s also the perfect opportunity to pick up a unique gift!
Friday 13 until Sunday 15 November | Ainslie Arts Centre, 30 Elouera Street, Braddon | Register here.
BOLD Dissent Symposium
This special event brings together Canberra’s arts leaders and internationally acclaimed artists, inviting creatives living with and without disability to speak about their experience of dissenting from convention through dance and design.
Running across two days, BOLD Dissent ’26 will deliver talks, performances and thoughtful provocation from acclaimed dance artists and academics championing groundbreaking creativity.
Including talks from Dan Daw, Marc Brew, Tammi Gissell, Yolanda Lowatta, Anca Frankenhauser, Jody Sperling, Dr Alex L Bruni, Natsuko Yonezawa, Sydney Dance Company and Bangarra Dance Theatre, as well as performances by Canberra Dance Theatre’s GOLD Company, ZEST Dance for Wellbeing, the Chamaeleon Collective and The Stellar Company, it will be an unmissable experience.
Thursday 12 and Friday 13 November | Canberra Museum and Gallery, 176 London Circuit, City | Book here.
Robert Foster 10 Year Memorial Exhibition – Still Making at Grainger Gallery
Featuring significant original artworks by Robert Foster – alongside a curated series of new collaborative pieces by 10 artists – this is a powerful exhibition.
A celebration of the legacy of the late artist and his influence on contemporary practice, each invited artist (all of whom worked with him or were shaped by his ideas) was asked to select one item from the FINK product range and reinterpret it as their own artwork. Artists were free to transform the piece in any way that reflected their practice, with no limitations on scale or quantity.
Showing the works of Ben Blakebrough, Sean Booth, Lara Nott, Cinnamon Lee, Dan Lorrimer, Sabine Pagan, Erica Seccombe, Oliver Smith, Blanche Tilden and the FINK Team, Still Making is both a tribute and a conversation across time, materials, and generations of practice.
Until Sunday 15 November | Grainger Gallery, 1/34 Geelong Street, Fyshwick | Find out more here.
Raw and Refined
Credit: Pew Pew Studio.
This exhibition asks what makes jewellery truly precious. Presenting new work created by established contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter, Raw and Refined explores the dualities of raw and worked, natural and cultural, and material and meaning.
Both jewellery lovers and curious creatives will enjoy this exhibition as Phoebe contrasts unaltered natural specimens – including native gold and uncut gemstones – with precision-made components refined by mining, alloying, cutting and finishing.
Be sure to attend the talk on Thursday 12 November to find out more about the ideas, materials and making processes behind the exhibition!
Until Sunday 29 November | Departures Lounge, Canberra Airport, 21 Terminal Avenue, Canberra Airport | Find out more here.
Enough? Enough! Enough Exhibition at Potters
When does patience run out? When does silence become complicity? When is enough finally enough? These are the questions Enough? Enough! ENOUGH asks.
Bringing together three nationally recognised artists – whose intersecting practices in contemporary ceramics, art and design explore labour, activism and social commentary – the free exhibition invites attendees to consider where we stand, what we are willing to tolerate, and how the arts can give form to both individual and collective desires for change.
Until Sunday 29 November | Watson Arts Centre, 1 Aspinall Street, Watson | Find out more here.
SIGNS OF DISSENT | Graphic Interventions
Are you ready to see artworks appearing in unexpected places across Civic during the Festival? Find artwork on the doors of the Canberra Theatre by Yamile Tafur Ros, or spot a platypus emerging across the Civic Library by Jazz Matthews of Wilay Designs.
This free event brings site-responsive artworks into Canberra’s urban landscape, exploring the festival theme of Dissent through colour, imagery and visual storytelling. The result is large vinyl posters installed on windows across town, that can be enjoyed anytime of day or night.
Featuring works by Brock Willis, Danish Quapoor, Jazz Matthews of Wilay Designs, Paul Summerfield and Yamile Tafur Rios, Signs of Dissent | Graphic Interventions invites audiences to look at familiar surroundings differently and consider how public spaces shape our sense of place and belonging.
Drawing on cultural identity, personal histories and the environments around us, it will invite attendees to pause, look again and discover new perspectives within Canberra’s shared urban landscape. Make sure not to miss out on the guided walking tour of Signs of Dissent on Friday 13 November!
Until Sunday 6 December | Various locations | Find out more here.
The Craft + Design Canberra Gallery
With so many exhibitions open across the Festival month, where do you start? The answer is the Craft + Design Canberra Gallery, with four exciting exhibitions to choose from.
Here’s what you need to know: Soft Matter presents ceramic artworks that challenge social and material hierarchies, crossing boundaries between craft, sculpture and still life, while EMERGENCY: Signal, Repair, Adapt examines what it means to make objects in a time of disruption.
Small Rituals | Hand Carved, Handheld is all about the power of slow making and the 2026 National Robert Foster Metal Prize
]] showcases the outstanding contemporary metalwork of 14 finalists from across Australia.
Until Saturday 12 December | Craft + Design Canberra, Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit, City | Find out more here.
Weaving Waters: Mandji the Murray Cod
Tuggeranong Arts Centre has officially unveiled Weaving Waters: Mandji the Murray Cod and is ready to view and visit.
Built by MAG Welding Services and designed by Steven Holland and Ann McMahon, the community has spent the last six weeks weaving artworks to be added to the structure while learning about the Murray Cod and its importance as a cultural icon.
Each week, weavers were joined by a special guest, including OzFish Senior Project Officer Harry Davey, who manages Fish Dreaming. The project aims to preserve First Nations traditional fishing knowledge and practices.
The temporary structure will be situated by Lake Tuggeranong before finding a permanent home in the Arts Centre.
Until Sunday 13 December | Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 137 Reed Street North, Greenway | Find out more here.
Images supplied.
