What’s in store at the 2026 Craft + Design Festival Canberra

Posted on 21 August, 2026

More than 500 artists, makers, designers and performers presenting more than 130 activations over 10 days – the Craft + Design Canberra Festival is back for another year.

Taking over the city this November, the 2026 program is packed with everything from events and exhibitions to markets, open studios, performances, public artworks and more.

Here’s everything from need to know about the 2026 Craft + Design Festival Canberra – from this year’s theme to just some of the events worth planning for.

What is it?

A biennial 10-day celebration of contemporary craft, design, and creativity in the capital. Since its inception in 2014, the Craft + Design Festival Canberra has played an important role in highlighting Canberra’s extraordinary proportion of creative workers.

With some 25,000 people working in the sector (more than any other state or territory), design is the largest domain of the creative economy in Canberra, and the festival aims to help cement the city’s status as a global creative capital. It also supports the ACT Government’s commitment to apply for Canberra to be designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design.

Showcasing the work of over 500 creatives, in short, it’s a massive – and well-deserved – celebration of Canberra’s creative heart.

When is it?

2026 Craft + Design Festival Canberra runs from Thursday 5 to Sunday 15 November, and this year’s program will also include a month-long series of exhibitions.

Bringing together events, exhibitions, markets, open studios, performances, public artworks, symposiums, talks, tours and workshops, there will be plenty to see and do.

What’s the theme?

The theme of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival is ‘Dissent’, exploring how design and creative practice can question and reshape the world around us.

To coincide with the theme, this year’s program will present 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 also highlights the skills, stories and material knowledge that connect our creative communities.

The program is built around six ways of dissenting, with every activation sitting within a sub-theme:

• 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
• Buying local as an environmental act.

Photography: 5Foot Photography

Ok, but what does that actually mean?

We got you! Let’s break it down:

Design thinking to scope alternatives

This sub-theme is all about naming a problem, then imagining, making and testing a way through it.

You’ll enjoy symposiums, exhibitions and architecture tours, including an afternoon of speakers at the National Film and Sound Archive, tours of houses and buildings opened to the public with the Australian Institute of Architects, a heritage walk through the Northbourne precinct, and playable microgames made by Canberra developers.

‘Craftivism’ and art practice as a political act

This sub-theme is about presenting a handmade artwork to encourage alternate thoughts or actions. Exhibitions, public artworks, panel discussions and guided walks carry this strand across the city, from textile work that reads as petition, to street signage turned toward dissent, and a light installation that reveals the endangered species sharing our city after dark.

Making by hand for human wellbeing

Led by Canberra artists and designers, the sub-theme will see a range of workshops for people to participate in. Think: weeknight sessions at Craft + Design Canberra in textiles, ceramics and sound, and free workshops at the Ainslie Arts Centre across the closing weekend. There’s even more happening throughout the program, so make sure to check it out to see what’s on.

Performance and access, and who gets to be seen

Dance, symposium, youth-led performance and a closing party make up this sub-theme. With Auslan interpreting and audio description, inclusive companies on stage, and Canberra teenagers planning and leading their own night walks through the city, it explores access treated as a design question, rather than an afterthought.

Community connection for strength

In this sub-theme, Craft + Design Canberra Festival looks at how the communities that hold together are the ones that recover, with strength built around shared tables, shared tools and shared making. Featuring community-made public artworks, a Walk on Country with a Ngunnawal custodian Tyrone Bell, children’s ateliers and a day of human-powered sculptures for all ages, many of the events in this sub-theme are free and made by many hands over many months.

Buying local as an environmental act

This final sub-theme will see open studios across the region celebrate the importance of buying and supporting local.

Other highlights in this sub-theme include Clothing the Loop: Sustainable Fashion and Circular Design, which will feature performances, workshops and talks re-imagining fashion, and the Undercurrent Design Market, which will see over 50 of Australia’s best makers gather under one roof.

Is there anything else I need to know?

This is just scratching the surface. You can find the full program details, dates and booking information at craftanddesigncanberrafestival.org.

With more than 130 activations happening across the city, it’s time to start planning and get ready to celebrate our creative city!