Design can change how we understand an object, a place, a community, and even the city around us. But for that to happen, people need opportunities to experience it.
Increasing the public’s knowledge and appreciation of design is central to DesignTO’s charitable purpose. Through the ‘Expand What’s Possible’ campaign, your support helps us continue creating accessible opportunities for people to encounter new ideas, perspectives, and creative practices.
Experience Design Across the City
Every January, the DesignTO Festival brings design into neighbourhoods across Toronto activating galleries, studios, storefronts, public spaces.
At the 2026 Festival, more than 100 exhibitions and events were free to attend, with programming reaching over 20 neighbourhoods and welcoming more than 250,000 visitors.
For some attendees, these experiences offer a new way of seeing places they already know.
“The DesignTO Festival inspired me to rediscover the neighbourhood I work in. I can honestly say I never knew how dynamic that community is. The DesignTO Festival opened up my eyes to all it has to offer and makes me feel so proud to be a part of it.”— Munira Ravji
For others, it’s an opportunity to encounter someone else’s perspective.
“Experiencing an artist explain their own work in the gallery was an intimate moment, like diving into their mind and seeing the world through their eyes.” — Muna Muse
DesignTO also creates space for ideas that are experimental, interdisciplinary, and still evolving. Through exhibitions, installations, talks, and tours, artists, designers, curators, and thinkers can make ideas tangible and invite audiences into the conversation.
In 2026, 62% of Festival attendees identified as members of equity-deserving groups. By keeping 95% of our Festival programming free and creating welcoming points of entry across the city, we are working toward a design culture where more people can participate.
Our vision is a future where people and the planet are thriving again. Getting there requires opportunities to learn from one another, encounter different perspectives, and imagine new possibilities.
Your contribution to ‘Expand What’s Possible’ helps keep those opportunities accessible. Public funding alone doesn’t sustain the work of our charitable organization.
