Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre is a not-for-profit membership based organisation which supports artists, craft practitioners, designers and makers at every stage of their careers. We promote and celebrate excellence and innovation in contemporary craft in everything we do – in our retail space, exhibitions, events and membership program.
Craft ACT’s major outreach program is DESIGN Canberra. This annual festival promotes design and craft, develops new and expanded audiences, forges marketplace connections and unexpected collaborations. In last year’s DESIGN Canberra, over 94,000 people attended the festival, an increase from 69,000 in 2016 and 26,000 in 2015.
The ACT Government recognises that a strong local arts industry is a vital component of Canberra’s cultural life, international reputation and economy. As a key pillar of this commitment, the ACT Government allocated to Craft ACT $100,000 every year to support the DESIGN Canberra festival in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Following the ACT Government’s funding commitment, DESIGN Canberra is in an unprecedented position to build awareness among new markets, encourage buy-in from business and tourism sectors, and introduce inspiring and ambitious legacy projects with longer term benefits for Canberra and the design sector. This certainty of funding has provided an extraordinary opportunity to take what started as a small self-funded festival of a few days to nearly a month-long program of innovative craft and design-inspired events, exhibitions and activations across Canberra and with interstate and international connections.
The ACT Government supports DESIGN Canberra because the contemporary design and craft sector can extend way beyond the arts to link up with industry and whole of government priorities like:
DESIGN Canberra — the ACT’s fastest growing festival — is proud that the ACT Government is the Government partner to the festival, showing how, while underpinned by the arts and artists, cultural activity can extend far more broadly and produce significant social and economic impacts.
DESIGN Canberra is delighted to welcome Canberra Centre on board as Major festival partner in 2018.
From their beginnings as “Monaro Mall” in the 60s, Canberra Centre has set the benchmark for innovation and style. Declared open by Sir Robert Menzies in 1963, the Centre introduced a new concept to Australian retail as the first fully enclosed shopping mall.
This year, Canberra Centre is home to DESIGN Canberra’s headquarters in the heart of our CBD.
See signature exhibitions, attend designer activations, a design bar, artist installations and the festival party in and around the award-winning heritage architecture of iconic Monaro Mall in the Canberra Centre.
Rolfe Classic BMW has been a key partner of DESIGN Canberra since its inception and we’re thrilled that they will be valued platinum partners of the festival in 2018.
Over the years we have together developed innovative events with the highest design values to showcase the cutting edge of contemporary industrial design – the passion for which drives both Rolfe Classic BMW and CraftACT: Craft + Design Centre.
This year Rolfe Classic BMW will help to celebrate acclaimed architectural design at Living Rooms, where architecture + craft + design = an open home with a difference.
A boutique agency with a focus on personal connection and beautiful presentation, home.byholly is a real estate agency with a difference.
Holly and her team appreciate the value of design excellence in our homes and in our city. Holly is a platinum partner for DESIGN Canberra 2018, helping to present the popular ‘Living Rooms’; open homes of acclaimed architecture, teamed with pop-up exhibitions of work by emerging designers.
Together we’re passionate about promoting good design and emphasising the role it can play in daily life. We’re thrilled to have home.byholly as platinum partner of DESIGN Canberra 2018 and look forward to working together into the future to bring great design to the public.
A young university with a bold vision, University of Canberra is ranked among the top 100 young universities in the world and consistently delivers great outcomes for students. The University of Canberra has been teaching and guiding the nation’s designers of tomorrow – from architecture to industrial design and graphic design – for over 40 years.
That dynamic mix of vibrancy and legacy, and leadership role in Canberra’s vibrant design community, makes University of Canberra an ideal partner for DESIGN Canberra and we’re really excited to have them on board as a platinum partner.
The National Capital Authority or NCA, is responsible for developing an understanding and appreciation of the role of Canberra as the National Capital. A valued Platinum Partner for DESIGN Canberra, the NCA takes a strategic approach to fostering an awareness of the Capital through research, by encouraging participation, appreciation and celebration in the National Capital, by providing information and education about the Capital, and by promoting the attributes of Canberra that are of national significance.
The Australian Government, through the NCA, has a direct interest in developing and maintaining the National Capital as an asset in which all Australians have a major investment. These assets include places like Lake Burley Griffin, the National Carillon, ANZAC Parade, Commonwealth Park and the Parliamentary Triangle, and represent some of the Capital’s most nationally and culturally significant landscapes and attractions.
Bowen Place Crossing. Photo ©Brett Boardman Photography
A creative agency with a difference, CRE8IVE is our creative brains trust and is responsible for the wonderful new DESIGN Canberra brand and website. We’re thrilled to have partnered with them this year to realise our vision of a fresh and engaging brand and website and look forward to working together in the future.
CRE8IVE help organisations communicate in a way that is smart, creative and direct. They specialise in branding, campaign development and technology, with a mission to create meaningful change.
The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences is the largest single College at ANU.
They set national and international standards in research, education and community engagement across the humanities, creative arts and social sciences.
ANU researchers shape debates and public policy through consultations, media outreach and through the research they produce. Their disciplines rank highly against other universities globally, and most achieve rankings of above or well above world standard in the Excellence in Research Australia rankings by the Australian Research Council.
ANU staff consistently push the boundaries of possibilities in their chosen fields.
The multi-award winning VIBE Hotel Canberra is DESIGN Canberra’s exclusive accommodation partner.
Inspired by the geometry of Walter Burley Griffin’s plan for Canberra, architect Philip Vivian of Bates Smart combines circular and axial geometries into a stunning and unique form. The interior finishes are rich and tailored, inspired by the golden age of air travel of the 1960s and 70s.
Vibe hotel, part of the TFE group, will host DESIGN Canberra’s many international and interstate guests, and key festival events.
