The Australian Design Centre says it is still possible to secure the funding needed to save it from permanent closure.

The Australian Design Centre (ADC) in New South Wales says it can continue operations after 30 June 2026 if it secures annual funding of $500,000 for the next two years.

Responding to cuts in October last year – which saw the state’s not-for-profit craft and design organisation practice lose $300,000 in annual government funding – ADC’s board first announced it would close unless alternative funding was found before the end of June.

According to ADC, the board has discussed many different options. It has met with government representatives, funding bodies and supporters, and applied for alternative funding and philanthropy, but ultimately has yet been unable to replace this annual core government funding.

Over six decades of presenting Australian craft and design

Since its beginnings in 1964, ADC has forged connections with and between designers, makers, artists and craftspeople nationwide. It has launched new initiatives such as the annual Sydney Craft Week 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 the past decade, ADC has presented more than 175 exhibitions in Sydney and more than 90 touring exhibitions across Australia. According to the Centre, it has supported more than 13,200 artists with its exhibitions and programs, and 150-plus artists and craftspeople each year through its Object Shop in Darlinghurst, generating more than $2.5 million in income for artists.

ADC plays a similar role in NSW as artisan does in Queensland, JamFactory and Guild House do in South Australia, alongside Craft Victoria, Design Tasmania and Craft and Design Canberra. ADC’s closure would leave NSW without a peak organisation representing craft and design.

“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,” ADC CEO and artistic director Lisa Cahill says.

‘No adequate explanation’ for funding cut

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. It has been operating on $500,000 a year for the past decade, with no increases to reflect the escalating cost of operating.

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” according to the board, despite being recommended for funding by peer assessors.

“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,” Cahill says.

Artists get behind ADC

ADC has gathered responses from artists to the news of its potential closure.

Eggpicnic, the Sydney-based organisation of designers and illustrators dedicated to wildlife conservation, says it wouldn’t be where it is without ADC’s support.

“ADC has played a pivotal role in our development, offering us early opportunities, professional mentorship and a platform to share our work with wider audiences,” the studio says. “Through their belief in our practice, we have been able to grow from a small independent studio to an award-winning business the work of which spans exhibitions, public art, educational programs and national institutions.”

Illawarra-based contemporary jeweller and winner of the 2025 MAKE Award, Cinnamon Lee says ADC is the only institution in NSW with a primary focus on contemporary craft and design.

“In an age dominated by the digital and the disposable, where blockbuster ‘art’ is often reduced to entertainment ‘events’, ADC reminds us of the enduring value of deep material knowledge, real-world skill and creative practices that engage both the hand and the mind,” Lee says. “These are objects to be used, worn, held and felt – not just viewed.”

Timeline

ADC’s final exhibition at its Sydney home on William Street, Darlinghurst closed on 28 February and its Object Shop is set to close on 28 March. Three exhibitions still on tour around Australia will complete their schedule. When they finish, regional and interstate audiences will no longer have access to ADC’s creative program.

Lead image of Australian Design Centre on William Street, Darlinghurst, 2025. Photo: Jacquie Manning.

More on the uncertain future of Australia’s craft organisations.