EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY | Festival Program Manager

Image | Launch Event for 2024 Craft + Design Canberra Festival | Photography by 5 Foot Photography 

  

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY | Festival Program Manager 

The Craft + Design Canberra Festival is proudly presented by Craft + Design Canberra, a not-for-profit organisation and one of Australia’s longest running visual arts membership bodies, now celebrating 54 years. We are deeply committed to our creative community. Our artists, exhibitions, and programs are central to our lives and to celebrating Canberra’s rich design legacy and future.

Craft + Design Canberra operates a vibrant gallery showcasing contemporary craft and design exhibitions year-round, a retail shop featuring locally made handcrafted objects, workshops and public programs, and the biennial Craft + Design Canberra Festival.

The festival celebrates Canberra as a creative capital and global city of design, bringing together makers, designers, and innovators. Canberra is a living design laboratory. The festival highlights the city’s rich design heritage, from the cultural practices of First Nations peoples and the Griffins’ visionary city plan to iconic modernist architecture and a thriving contemporary craft and design scene.

Craft + Design Canberra has managed the festival for over 10 years, providing artists, designers, architects, craftspeople, and innovators with opportunities to create experimental work, connect with the community, and generate income. The festival offers audiences immersive and inclusive experiences showcasing the best in contemporary craft and design.

The 2026 Festival, themed ‘Dissent’, offers a dynamic program of exhibitions, talks, tours, symposiums, workshops, open studios, design markets, and events; and positions creativity as a powerful force for questioning, challenging, and reshaping societal norms. Through bold perspectives and boundary pushing design, the festival fosters critical dialogue and collaboration. It honours Canberra’s cultural assets while placing the city at the forefront of global design discourse, sparking a collective movement toward a more equitable and inspired future.

ABOUT THE ROLE | Festival Program Manager

The Festival Program Manager is responsible for leading all aspects of project management for the development and delivery of the Craft + Design Canberra Festival programs. The Festival Program Manager will collaborate with the CEO, staff, artist members, partner arts organisations, government bodies, businesses, and educational institutions to deliver a high-quality festival of international repute and promote Canberra as a global city of design.

Selection Criteria — Essential 

The successful applicant will have: 

  1. Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with the ability to work as a productive contributor in a small team, manage personnel, and establish positive working relationships with staff, board, volunteers, Craft + Design Canberra members, artists, sponsors, internal and external stakeholders. 

  1. Demonstrated high-level experience producing a wide range of events, overseeing the Festival management process from program development to delivery. You are experienced in all aspects of Festival management, including program management plans, risk management, stakeholder management, budgets, contractor agreements and reporting. 

  1. Experience working independently to manage unexpected situations, while 
    maintaining a calm and efficient working environment for your team and 
    stakeholders. 

  1. Excellent oral communication, interpersonal and presentation skills with the ability to motivate staff, work as a productive contributor in a small team and with external stakeholders. 

  1. High-level written communication skills with demonstrated experience preparing quality reports, publications, presentations, correspondence, reports, grant applications, marketing copy, budgets and acquittals. 

  1. High-level digital literacy skills with the ability to use Microsoft Office, the Adobe 
    Creative Suite, Canva and social media to produce high-quality administrative 
    documents and digital assets. 

  1. Demonstrated capability to be adaptable to changing and challenging circumstances with experience working in a flexible, fast-paced environment, and the ability and willingness to work evenings and weekends. 

  1. Demonstrated openness to accept performance feedback and willingness to commit to continuous improvement. 

MORE INFORMATION AND THE FULL JOB DESCRIPTION CAN BE FOUND HERE.

 

How to apply 

To apply for the position fill in the form linked below with: 

  1. A 2-page (maximum length) letter outlining your experience, achievements and suitability for the essential selection criteria. 

  1. A copy of your Curriculum Vita 

  1. The names and contact details of 2 referees including your current supervisor. 

 

Please submit your application via this online form by 5pm Monday 25 August 2025. 


 

Further information 

For more information, contact Jodie Cunningham, CEO + Artistic Director, Craft + Design Canberra, on 02 62629333 or at jodie.cunningham@craftanddesigncanberra.org. 

Craft + Design Canberra’s Strategic Plan 2025-28, annual reports and audited financial 
statements are available on our website 

 

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