Application Deadline
Friday, October 10, 2025 at 11:59pm ET
Apply by August 31, 2025, to receive $25 off your registration fee.
The DesignTO Festival brings people together to celebrate contemporary design across the city January 23 – February 1, 2026.
DesignTO Festival is Canada’s largest annual design festival celebrating design as a multidisciplinary form of thinking and making, with over 100 exhibitions and events forming Toronto’s design week each January. Since 2011, the DesignTO Festival has welcomed over 1 million visitors, showcased the work of over 6,500 artists and designers, and reached over 2 billion people through print and digital media.
Independent Projects are exhibitions, events (e.g. tours, talks, workshops), and window installations that are wholly created and executed by an individual or organization during the DesignTO Festival at a venue of their choice (in-person or online).
See FAQ below regarding our Venue-Designer Matchmaking Program.
Independently produced projects are integral to the Festival’s structure. We welcome all who want to present, discuss, demonstrate, or exhibit design in any field and/or related disciplines.
Exhibitors include artists, designers, design firms, local businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and students. Exhibitors are responsible for arranging their own venue in Toronto, including spaces such as galleries, studios, workshops, cafés, schools, lobbies, and businesses. We also welcome online events and exhibitions.
There are 3 major deadlines to participating in the DesignTO Festival as an Independent Project:
1.
Submit your application form and registration fee payment
Deadline: Friday, October 10, 2025 by 11:59pm ET
Apply by August 31, 2025 to receive $25 off your registration fee.
2.
Submit your event listing
Deadline: Friday, October 24, 2025 by 11:59pm ET.
3.
Pick-up your Festival materials (in-person events only)
Pick-up days: Sunday, January 11 or Monday, January 12, 2026 – TBC
It’s Festival time: January 23 – February 1, 2026! Be a part of Toronto’s vibrant design community by opening your exhibition, window installation or event.
Project Types
A window installation runs the whole duration of Festival Week and is visible to the public 24 hours a day from the outside of your venue. Depending on the space, the installation may also be viewable from inside your venue during regular business/gallery hours.
An event typically runs on one day during Festival Week, for a set period of time, taking place online or in-person. For example, a talk, tour, product launch, webinar, film screening, party, or workshop.
An exhibition runs more than one day during Festival Week, and can take place in-person or online. It is open to the public during regular business/gallery hours, and may include a window component. It can start before Festival Week, and end after Festival Week. It may also include an opening or closing reception, artist/designer’s talk, or tour.
Independent Projects get:
- A listing on the online Festival Schedule (one page with up to 6 images, 300-word description, and associated reception or other events)
- A listing on the Festival mobile app (one page with up to 6 images, 40-word description, and associated reception or other events)
- Inclusion in one ‘What to do’ daily e-newsletter
- DesignTO venue signage (e.g. Festival window cling, not project-specific)
Fees
-
Solo designer or ad hoc collective $300 + HST
-
Small businesses (including shops, artist-run centres, and private galleries) $375 + HST
-
Large businesses and institutions $500 + HST
Apply by August 31, 2025 to receive $25 off your registration fee.
***NEW THIS YEAR***
A complete application now includes full payment of the registration fee. DesignTO will review applications on a rolling basis. If the project does not meet our Artistic Guideline and the application is declined, DesignTO will notify the applicant and refund the registration fee in full.
Registration fee payments will be accepted online as part of the application submission process. Payments can be made by credit card or pre-authorized debit. DesignTO uses Zeffy to process payments. This is a Canadian platform that is 100% free to non-profit and charitable organizations. During checkout, Zeffy will ask you to support their platform. You are under no obligation to do so. From the dropdown menu, you may select “Other” and enter a contribution of $0.
FAQ
The 16th annual DesignTO Festival runs for 10 days from January 23 – February 1, 2026.
You can be a part of the Festival by producing an event, exhibition, or window installation. We welcome all who want to present, discuss, demonstrate, or exhibit design in any field and/or related disciplines. Exhibitors include artists, designers, design firms, local businesses, academic and cultural institutions, and students. Exhibitors are responsible for arranging their own venue in the city of Toronto, including spaces such as galleries, studios, workshops, cafés, schools, lobbies, and businesses. You can read more about ways to participate and key deadlines here.
The 16th annual DesignTO Festival runs January 23 – February 1, 2026 for 10 days. Window installations must run for the entire week, events must take place during the week, and exhibitions must run during some part of the week. Window installations and exhibitions can start before and/or end after Festival Week.
Click here to see last year’s roster of events, exhibitions, and window installations.
– Be a part of Toronto’s vibrant art and design community
– Show your work to an enthusiastic audience of designers and design-lovers
– Get exposure through the Festival’s website, mobile app, social media, press releases, and e-newsletters
– Meet and build relationships with new artists, designers, educators, curators, and manufacturers
– Explore new ideas
– Grow your brand by self-producing your own project
– Engage your target audience for below market advertising rates
DesignTO embraces an expansive definition of design. We welcome unconventional and transdisciplinary practices. In order to ensure the consistency of our audience’s experience, we reserve the right to decline applications that are not relevant to the context of a design festival. We encourage you to review our Artistic Guideline prior to submitting your application. If your Independent Project application is declined, we will notify you by email and your registration fee will be refunded within 7 days.
No. If you apply to the Festival as an Independent Project, then it is your responsibility to find a designer or program your space.
However, we have a Venue-Designer Matchmaking Program you can apply to, where we match venues with designers. The final deadline for Host Venues to submit their application is Friday, July 11, 2025. Matches are not guaranteed.
For inquiries about the Matchmaking Program, please email Markhan Hussain, Programs Assistant, at [email protected].
No. If you apply to the Festival as an Independent Project, then it is your responsibility to secure a venue.
However, we have a Venue-Designer Matchmaking Program you can apply to, where we match designers with venues. Submissions for the Call for Guest Designers will be reviewed and matched on a rolling basis, starting July 21, 2025. The final deadline to submit is Monday, September 15, 2025. Matches are not guaranteed.
For inquiries about the Matchmaking Program, please email Markhan Hussain, Programs Assistant, at [email protected].
As part of the application submission process, you will be required to pay the registration fee by credit card or pre-authorized debit.
If you withdraw your registration before November 1, 2025 we will refund your fee minus a $50 administration charge. After November 1, 2025 we cannot refund your fee.
The Event Listing Deadline is Friday, October 24, 2025.
This is the deadline for submitting information about your project, as well as representative images, for your online event listing. For example, this information includes the title of your project, venue name and address, list of participating artists/designers, a short and long description of your project, and relevant dates and times, including venue/gallery hours for exhibitions and events. This information will be used to create your listings on the online Festival Schedule, Festival mobile app, ‘What to do’ daily e-newsletter and website posts.
Once your application has been accepted, we will send you a detailed email of how to submit your event listing. Event listings can be submitted starting in early September until the deadline.
If you would like to be notified when registration opens for the DesignTO Festival, click here to join our newsletter, ensuring you select ‘DesignTO Calls for Submissions: Exhibitions, Talks, Installations, Venues’.
Email questions to Robyn Wilcox, Head of Programming, at [email protected] with this subject line: Independent Project + your name.
