By arts editor Helen Musa

Media and members of the public welcomed the return of the Craft + Design Canberra Festival on Thursday morning as Civic Square came to life with public art installations.

Featuring 11 days of installations, performances, workshops and public experiences, alongside a month of exhibitions, the festival takes Dissent as its theme, activating public spaces and creative precincts across the ACT and bringing together artists, designers, makers and the community.

Supported by the ACT Government through the City of Design Fund, the festival showcases the strength of Canberra’s creative sector, with an estimated 25,000 Canberrans working in local creative industries, ACT Arts Minister Michael Pettersson said.

The festival features more than 130 events, but on Thursday attention centred on two installations in Civic Square, Salvaged Light, by artists Matt Curtis and Harriet Schwarzrock, and NEST: Designed for a Displaced Future.

An exceptional feature of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival is the range of family-friendly events, including the Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race, a free spectacle of human-powered art machines travelling across land, sand and water at the National Carillon on November 7.

Children can experiment with clay in Wing It! A Children’s Atelier for Hatchlings of Change at The Learning Nest Co. on November 12, creating unfired thought-bubble vessels designed to decay naturally over time.

At Ainslie Arts Centre, the free Undercurrent Design Market, running from November 13 to 15, will bring together more than 50 makers from across Australia. The centre will also host Pattern Play on November 14, a free, drop-in printmaking workshop using recycled materials and reclaimed textiles.

The official festival launch and exhibition openings will take place in Civic Square from 6pm on Thursday, November 5.

Full program details here.

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