Australian Design Centre to Close After 62 Years
After 62 years dedicated to presenting this country’s best craft and design, Australian Design Centre is set to close permanently by 30 June 2026.
In the early 1970s, Jane Burns received funding of $10,000 from H.C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs to support the craft organisation that would become the Australian Design Centre (ADC). An economist and public servant, Coombs was the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and first Chair of the Australian Council for the Arts. As an early driver of the NSW Crafts Council of Australia founded in 1964 (ADC’s precursor), Burns was a lifelong passionate advocate for craft.
One can only imagine how the late Coombs and Burns would react to Australian Design Centre’s impending closure due to defunding by the NSW and Federal Labor governments. ADC’s final exhibition at its Sydney home on William Street, Darlinghurst closed on 28 February; the much-loved Object Shop will close on 28 March. Three exhibitions still on tour around Australia will complete their schedule but when they finish regional and interstate audiences will no longer have access to ADC’s diverse creative program celebrating the best of Australia’s craft and design practice. ADC will cease operating on 30 June 2026.
ADC has received core operational funding for decades through Create NSW and Creative Australia (formerly the Australia Council), principally through the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy (VACS) program, set up more than two decades ago following an important review into the needs of small to medium visual arts, craft and design organisations.
In 2025, ADC was cut from the four-year government funding program and lost $300,000 in annual funding with no warning or adequate explanation, despite being recommended for funding by peer assessors. This small, independent organisation working with more than 1000 artists annually across diverse platforms has been operating on $500,000 a year for the past decade, with no increases to reflect the escalating cost of operating.
With a tiny staff of seven, ADC produces and presents 18 exhibitions annually in Sydney and hundreds of events including hands-on workshops and the Sydney Craft Week Festival; tours exhibitions across the country and overseas; produces publications including major artist monographs; and operates Object Shop in Sydney and online selling the diverse work of 100 practicing artists, makers and craftspeople.
Responding to the funding cuts, ADC and its board discussed many different options, met with government representatives, funding bodies and supporters, and applied for alternative funding and philanthropy, but ultimately has been unable to replace this annual core government funding. The news of ADC closing has been met with shock and disbelief by artists and supporters around Australia and overseas. There is still time to reverse this decision if annual funding of $500,000 for the next two years is secured.
ADC’s closure leaves NSW as the only Australian state without a peak organisation representing craft and design. This not only affects Sydney but also regional galleries and artists around Australia who have lost important opportunities to reach audiences through ADC’s extensive touring program, which also promotes Australian artists overseas.
ADC CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill says, “Craft and design need sustained core support to continue to deliver for the Australian community. Without funding to operate institutions like the Australian Design Centre, artists and audiences suffer. Our culture, the economy, and individual and community health suffer.
“This closure is devastating for all those who have been involved with this much-loved organisation over its more than 60 years. Once the doors close, an organisation like ADC with its deep industry knowledge, community connections and long history simply cannot be replaced.
“Due to the lack of transparency around grant decisions, we have no understanding of why ADC was cut from the four-year funding program, aside from bureaucrats deciding other government priorities are more important than continuing the investment made by successive governments over decades into highly successful and effective small arts organisations like ADC.
“The 1000 artists we work with each year across our programs, and the audiences around Australia who love to engage with their work, will no longer have an organisation dedicated to curating, presenting and celebrating this diversity of practice in NSW.”
Over the past 10 years, ADC has reached an audience of nearly 3 million people and supported 13,200 artists with its exhibitions and programs. It has launched initiatives such as the annual Sydney Craft Week, which includes regional NSW, and the MAKE Award: Biennial Prize for Innovation in Australian Craft and Design, the richest non-acquisitive prize for craft and design in Australia.
In a feedback survey conducted in late 2025, 95% agreed ADC plays an essential role in Australia’s creative ecosystem, 89% rated their experience with ADC as excellent and a further 5% as good, and 89% of respondents identified as female, indicating the importance of craft and design to women.
Support for ADC has come from around Australia and overseas. Local politicians including Allegra Spender and Alex Greenwich have written to NSW and Federal arts ministers and spoken about ADC in Parliament. In November 2025, Lisa Cahill appeared before a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into arts funding. Media personality Andrew Denton wrote personally to NSW Arts Minister John Graham urging support for the state’s design community.
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