The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has partnered with the Victorian Government to deliver the Victorian Design Program, a new program dedicated to celebrating, promoting and strengthening Victorian design.

Offering a curated year-round calendar of events for the design industry, students, businesses and the broader public, the Victorian Design Program will culminate in a new Melbourne Design Week every March.

According to NGV Director Tony Ellwood, the Gallery aims to make design and architecture accessible for a broad range of audiences including businesses, creative professionals and families. By more closely aligning Victoria’s design community with these broad audiences, NGV can motivate, connect and inspire even more, by reimagining the lasting and positive effects of design for the entire community.

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley explains that the four-year initiative is a major investment in the future of Victoria’s design industry and one of the signature actions to come out of Victoria’s first creative industries strategy, Creative State.

Speaking at the 2016 Premier’s Design Awards, Foley added that the program would be developed and presented in collaboration with the design industry.

The 2017 Melbourne Design Week will run from 16 March to 26 March and will feature exhibitions at various venues; international guests and keynote speakers; business-to-business programs; product launches; children’s projects and more.

A new open-access program developed in partnership with Open House Melbourne will connect Victorians to design-led businesses, manufacturers, facilities and institutions.

Victorian design professionals and organisations are now invited to submit proposals for Melbourne Design Week events responding to the theme ‘Design Values’. Details are available at designweek.melbourne.

The full program for Melbourne Design Week 2017 will be announced in early February 2017.