DesignTO has never been the work of a singular person or organization alone.
For 17 years, artists, designers, studios, galleries, businesses, venues, partners, volunteers, members, donors, and audiences have come together to create a community for design in Toronto.
As we reach the final stretch of our ‘Expand What’s Possible’ Campaign, we’re celebrating the community behind that work and asking what we can make possible together next.
Building a Design Community
The connections created through DesignTO extend well beyond a Festival cycle.
Eric Mutrie, Executive Editor of AZURE and a longtime friend of DesignTO, sees the Festival as both a source of new ideas and an important connector within Toronto’s design community.
“I can trace so many industry connections (and friendships!) back to DesignTO events, and all of them are with smart people who have helped to broaden my perspective on design.”
That community also contributes to how Toronto design is understood beyond the city.
“When I am traveling for work and people ask ‘What are things like in Toronto?’ I often tell them that people in the design community here feel uniquely supportive of one another, and I think that our network is as strong as it is because of DesignTO.”
This impact extends into Toronto’s neighbourhoods and economy too. The 2026 Festival attracted 250,000 people, including 61,000 tourists, and generated $30.6 million in visitor spending, with an estimated $21.6 million in total economic impact on Toronto’s GDP.
But behind those numbers are thousands of individual connections: a designer meeting a future collaborator, an audience discovering an artist for the first time, a local business welcoming new visitors, or an emerging creative finding a community where their ideas can grow.
That collective effort has helped DesignTO grow from a grassroots festival into Canada’s largest celebration of design.
What Can We Make Possible Next?
We bring people together to design a better future. That includes the people who make and present work, but also everyone who visits, collaborates, volunteers, partners, becomes a member, or chooses to support it.
This October, our goal is to raise $15,000 through ‘Expand What’s Possible’.
Your contribution helps us continue creating opportunities for artists and designers, investing in emerging creative voices, organizing free public programming, and making design accessible to communities across Toronto.
DesignTO is a registered Canadian charity. All donations to this fundraiser receive a charitable tax receipt.
Seventeen years of ideas, people, and projects have brought us here. Together, we can invest in what comes next.
