We are living through overlapping emergencies, ecological collapse, housing insecurity, geopolitical conflict and systemic inequality. For many, emergency is not a singular event but an ongoing condition.
EMERGENCY: Signal, Repair, Adapt is a major exhibition presented as part of the 2026 Craft and Design Canberra Festival. Bringing together artists and designers working across ceramics, glass, textiles and media, the exhibition examines what it means to make objects in a time of disruption.
Craft and design operate at a different tempo to the speed of political rhetoric and digital information cycles. Materials hold memory, clay records touch, glass responds to force, fibres stretch, fray and mend. Through these processes, making becomes a form of critical inquiry, revealing the pressures and systems shaping both matter and society. In an age of mass production and disposability, work made locally, by hand and at a human scale, becomes its own form of resistance, a refusal of the standardised and the instant in favour of the considered, the repaired and the lasting.
Drawing on the 2026 festival theme of Dissent, EMERGENCY | Signal, Repair, Adapt asks how making can function as a form of critical action. At its heart, the exhibition affirms the power of creative thinking to meet problems that resist easy answers, to imagine alternatives where established systems have failed.
The National Robert Foster Metal Prize exhibition showcases outstanding contemporary metalwork, highlighting how imagination, skilled making, thoughtful design and material exploration can shape the ways we see and engage with the world around us.
In the spirit of Dissent, the Prize celebrates artists and makers who bring individual perspectives to the medium. Featuring the work of 15 finalists from across Australia, the exhibition reflects the ways artists continue to question, reinterpret and evolve the possibilities of metal as a contemporary practice.
The National Robert Foster Metal Prize exhibition is presented in partnership by Craft + Design Canberra and F!nk + Co Director Gretel Harrison, with thanks to the Tall Foundation.
Join them to formally launch the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival and celebrate the opening of four exciting exhibitions in the Craft + Design Canberra Gallery and Civic Square.
Opening | 6pm
Official Speeches | 6:30pm
Exhibition openings include
Exhibition | NEST | Design for a Displaced Future | Multiple Artists
Exhibition | EMERGENCY | Signal, Adapt, Repair | Multiple Artists
Exhibition | ROBERT FOSTER METAL PRIZE | Multiple Artists
Exhibition | SMALL RITUALS | Hand Carved, Handheld | Senden Blackwood
Exhibition | SOFT MATTER | Isabelle Mackay-Sim
The 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival runs from 5 - 15 November. Presenting an innovative program of exhibitions and events responding to the theme of Dissent, the Festival celebrates Canberra as a creative capital and a global city of design.
Connecting Canberra's community with over 500 artists, craftspeople and designers, the 2026 Festival advocates for creativity as a powerful tool for questioning, challenging and reshaping societal norms.
2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Decimal Currency, designed by Australian industrial designer Stuart Devlin and minted here in Canberra at the Royal Australian Mint. To mark the year, the Mint presents an in-conversation event with coin designers Neve Foxcroft and Lydia Ashe.
They will unpack the craft and process behind designing a coin, sometimes beginning as a pencil sketch, often still using the tools Devlin employed in his own designs, and incorporating modern technologies. Coins produced at the Royal Australian Mint connect design and storytelling with community, and they talk about how they use design and brand to share Australian stories. They talk about the collaborative nature of their production facility and the design of their production processes for safety and sustainability.
People don't wake up wanting a higher floor space ratio. They want convenience, belonging, safety, opportunity, beauty, and the freedom to move easily through everyday life.
As part of the Craft + Design Canberra Festival theme of Dissent, this conversation asks whether the things that matter most are being measured. As Canberra grows and changes, is the focus on the metrics that are easier to count, or on the things that make the city a better place to live?
This discussion will explore how the measures used influence the places created, and whether it is time to broaden the way success is defined.
Curated and chaired by Catherine Carter of Salon Canberra, in partnership with the Suburban Land Agency. Presented by the Suburban Land Agency as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival.
Fuego Pre-Fiesta is bringing a night of Latin music and dancing to Highball, setting the tone for a huge weekend of celebration as part of Canberra's La Fiesta Fringe Program.
Featuring local Canberra DJ Nat, the night will deliver a soundtrack of reggaeton and Latin hits, bringing the energy of Latin nightlife to the city.
Highball will host a late-night celebration of Latin culture, music, dancing and community, kicking off the festival weekend in style.
On the first Saturday of each month, the Mint opens early for a peaceful morning. Quiet Mornings are designed for those with heightened sensory needs.
Enjoy a relaxed stroll through the museum and exhibition with reduced noise and smaller crowds.
Bookings are required.
The Little Burley Market is a beautifully curated lakeside market held on the first Saturday of every month. Set along the water's edge, it's the perfect place to relax, soak up the views and enjoy a leisurely day out.
Wander through locally handmade stalls, grab pastries to take home after a lap of the lake, or settle in with delicious gourmet food and live local music while the kids enjoy free arts and crafts.
Slow Fashion takes centre stage at the Little Burley Market!
The Little Burley Market is thrilled to announce that The Little Burley Fashion Fest is returning once again, bringing a celebration of slow fashion, full of Canberran talent, lakeside!
This exciting event invites enthusiasts of: fashion, sustainability, locally designed art, jewellery and even puppy couture! This will be an exploration into what is possible in local communities to not only affect change in this industry but to support really exciting new talent!
There will be a broad range of stalls with fashion, accessories and more for purchase, including children's fashion, puppy couture, incredible accessories, and designer wear. Of course delicious locally produced gourmet foods and beverages will be available on the day!
Join For Purpose Markets on the first Saturday of each month in Dickson for a market that does more. They showcase Canberra's incredible for-purpose and social enterprise businesses - meaning every purchase helps create positive impact across the community.
From supporting refugees and migrants to protecting the environment, strengthening mental health, uplifting LGBTQI+ communities and fostering wellbeing, your dollars go further here.
The Spring Exhibition is the annual exhibition of the Artists Society of Canberra (ASOC). ASOC is a registered not-for-profit organisation encouraging the practice and appreciation of the visual arts in Canberra and the surrounding region. Come and join this year's exhibition and sale at the Fitters Workshop Gallery in Kingston, right next to the Old Bus Depot Markets.
Step inside the studios of Canberra's makers and discover the creative practices of local craftspeople, designers, artists and arts organisations. Proudly supported by home.by.holly.
Open Studios invites you to explore the spaces where creativity happens. Artists, designers and organisations from across the Canberra region will open their studios to the public, offering a chance to find favourite pieces and enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at their creative processes.
