Gina Fairley
Emcee, full day · Senior Contributor, ArtsHub
Tour Leader with AGNSW Members, contemporary jeweller.
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Queensland Craft and Design Sector Symposium
Putting makers at the centre of the conversation.
artisan's inaugural Queensland Craft and Design Sector Symposium — a day to chart the next decade for the makers, art centres and organisations shaping contemporary craft and design across Australia.
Why MADE 2026
The sector's first state-of-the-nation gathering.
Australia's makers have shaped the nation's culture for generations, yet the sector has never had a dedicated national forum to chart its future. On Thursday 10 September, artisan changes that.
MADE 2026 is conceived as an annual meeting place for the people driving contemporary craft and design across Australia. From First Nations art centres and regional studios to metropolitan workshops, our makers face shared challenges around visibility, skills and access to markets, while the organisations that support them compete for funding and policy inclusion.
MADE 2026 puts makers at the centre of the conversation: a day to examine those challenges together, and identify the priorities, partnerships and actions that will strengthen the sector for the decade ahead.
- 80%+
- of artisan's maker network are women
- <$75k
- earned annually by most makers running cottage businesses
- 122
- regional and remote Queensland artists engaged through artisan in 2025
The day
Program
Emcee for the day: Gina Fairley
Morning
- 8:00amRegistration and arrival
Foyer, Queensland Terrace - 8:30amWelcome to Country
- 8:45amMinister's video message TBC
Hon. John-Paul Langbroek MP - 8:50amChair's address
Angela Spillane, Chair, artisan - 9:00amEmcee welcome and scene setting
Gina Fairley - 9:15amKeynote: Objects, Collections, Collaboration and Cultural Identity
Sally Brand, QAGOMA - 10:05amMorning tea and networking
Queensland Terrace - 10:35amA Nation of Makers
National plenary, moderated by Dr Elizabeth Shaw - 12:00pmLunch and sector networking
Queensland Terrace
Afternoon
- 1:05pmFuture Proofing the Sector
Queensland panel, facilitated by Carmel Haugh - 1:55pmBreakout Round 1: What Is and What Matters
5 parallel rooms, choose one - 2:50pmBreakout Round 2: What Works
5 parallel rooms, choose one - 4:10pmClosing remarks and next steps
Angela Spillane, Carmel Haugh, Scott Martin (SLQ) - 5:30pmProgram concludes, then networking drinks
Queensland Terrace
Timings are indicative and subject to change closer to the day.
On stage
Speakers & panellists
Sally Brand
Keynote · Curatorial Manager, Australian Art, QAGOMA
Objects, Collections, Collaboration and Cultural Identity, followed by audience Q&A.
Dr Elizabeth Shaw
Moderator, A Nation of Makers · Artist and academic
Brian Parkes
Panellist · CEO, JamFactory
Travis Tiddy
Panellist · Co-CEO, Design Tasmania
Founding Artistic Director of The Unconformity, with more than 15 years in cultural leadership, regional advocacy and arts management. Churchill Fellow; Co-Creative Director of Hobart Current 2025.
Aimee Frodsham
Panellist · CEO and Artistic Director, Canberra Glassworks
More than 25 years working with artists and craftspeople, including 12 years at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate in London. Artistic Director at Canberra Glassworks since 2018.
Melanie Gibson
Panellist · Art Centre Manager, Hopevale Arts and Cultural Centre · Director, IACA
Hopevale Arts and Cultural Centre is governed and managed by the Guugu Yimithirr people, supporting Hope Vale's creatives across painting, textiles, jewellery and weaving since 2009.
Carmel Haugh
CEO, artisan · Welcome, panellist and Future Proofing
Angela Spillane
Chair, artisan · Chair's address
Scott Martin
Closing · Interim CEO, State Library of Queensland
Closing the symposium on behalf of MADE 2026's venue partner.
A Nation of Makers is a national plenary presented with the Australian Craft and Design Centres network (ACDC): sector leaders discussing the opportunities and challenges shaping contemporary craft and design organisations across the country.
Afternoon breakouts
Future Proofing the sector
Five parallel Future Proofing rooms run across the afternoon. Round 1 (1:55pm) asks what is and what matters; Round 2 (2:50pm) asks what works. Delegates choose a room for each round — the same or different.
Far North and North Queensland Makers
Northsite (Cairns) and Umbrella Studios (Townsville) · Adam Boyd, Kate O'Hara
Northern Queensland perspective
Strategic Goals Workshop
artisan · facilitator TBC
Open discipline perspective
Jewellery and Metalsmiths Group of Australia, Qld Chapter
JMGQ · Susan Richardson, Ella Callopy
Jewellers and small objects perspective
Munimba-ja Art Centre
Libby Harward
First Nations art centre perspective
The Australian Ceramics Association
TACA · Diamando Koutsellis, Jane Orme, Shannon Garson
Ceramicist perspective
Goals are tagged across five domains: Cultural · Sustainable · Social · Economic · Environmental.
Tickets
Be in the room.
30% of in-person places are reserved for regional and remote Queensland makers.
$285General admission
$150Student
$85Livestream
artisan associates
Associates save on MADE 2026.
Student Maker associates save 50% on every ticket tier. Professional Maker and Peer associates save 20%. Collector associates save 10%. Membership starts at $6 a month.
Compare membershipartisan acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their continuing connection to the land on which we make, exhibit and exchange ideas.
Share the day — tag @artisanqld and use #MADE2026
info@artisan.org.au · (07) 3215 0800 · Cultural Precinct, State Library of Queensland, Stanley Place, South Brisbane QLD 4101
