Home | 2022 DC Design Week

DC Design Week is an annual celebration of DC’s vibrant, diverse creative community. This year we’re once again asking you, our community members, to help us build DC Design Week. We will contact everyone who submits a proposal to share our decisions and any next steps by July 20, 2022.

What is DC Design Week?

If you don’t already know us, DC Design Week (DCDW) is an annual celebration of DC’s creative community: An ever-growing body of professionals, makers, and voices working across design disciplines.

This year’s theme is: Community Recovery & Wellbeing. You’ll see community-based healing andwellness woven into this year’s events and branding. While the DC Design Week committee plans some of your favorite annual events (including keynotes, parties, and more), we’re excited to use our community-curated event model again. For the second year in a row, most DCDW events will be proposed and hosted by you, our community!

What is DC Design Week’s stance on including in-person events?
COVID-19 is a rapidly changing, ongoing pandemic. The wide distribution of vaccines in DC and across the nation makes us hopeful that we can bring back more in-person event experiences to DCDW 2022.
We plan to host a few small, in-person, indoor events (less than 20 attendees with masks) and a few, larger, in-person, outdoor events for DC Design Week 2022, from October 14–21.
That said, DC Design Week will always follow the latest CDC guidance on hosting in-person gatherings. As a result, we might pivot events to virtual experiences if the situation changes. Prospective event partners must understand this when proposing in-person events. We will work with selected event partners to ensure that each in-person event follows the latest CDC guidelines and has appropriate contingency plans.
How does event ticketing and pricing work?
DCDW charges for most of its events via Eventbrite to pay for overhead costs not covered by sponsorships. Once the majority of events are locked in, we will set prices with equity, accessibility, and inclusion in mind. We are a 100% volunteer-run committee and aim to break even with all of our events. Any profit is automatically routed to AIGA DC’s Design Continuum Fund (DCF). This fund provides scholarships to under-represented students in the DC, MD, and VA area who aspire to have future careers in design.
If you’re interested in sponsoring DCDW, which will help offset ticket fees, make events more accessible, and offer other benefits to all attendees, email designweek@dc.aiga.org. All sponsors receive benefits and shoutouts in exchange for your support!
In an effort to seek equity, speakers for an event can request to keep a portion of the event’s profits. Our volunteer team calculates respective event profits after DCDW takes place. Keep in mind that this is a nominal amount and not a true reflection of the speaker’s value or worth. We can give estimates upon request.

How does the community-curated event proposal process work?

In our community-curated events model, we invite you, the community, to pitch and put on your own events. Event proposals were due by June 19, 2022.

The DCDW committee will review proposals and add events to the DCDW calendar based on their quality, attention to detail, and adherence to DC Design Week’s Code of Conduct. All events should provide value for the DC creative community by being relevant, engaging, accessible, and inclusive.

We will contact everyone who submits a proposal to share our decisions and any next steps by July 20, 2022.

What happens after submitting an event proposal?
If your event is selected, it will become an event on the DC Design Week 2022 calendar. Congrats! 🎉
We may work with you to refine some big picture event details, such as the event’s overall goals, your intended audiences, etc. We may also work with you to understand more about what you need from us. This will help everyone meet our mutual goals in planning and hosting a fabulous event.
- What you get from us:
  - Inclusion of your event as part of the official DC Design Week 2022 schedule and you (or your organization) listed as a partner.
  - Promotion of your event as part of DCDW across our communication channels, which may include:
    - Shoutouts on our social media channels
    - Promotion on our website
    - Listing on our events calendar
    - Additional promotions scheduled throughout DCDW 2022
  - A toolkit with event planning, accessibility, and marketing resources to help you put on an impactful event.
  - A DCDW Event Lead (volunteer) to support you with event planning, logistics, and marketing.
    - While our volunteers will offer support, you will own your event’s planning and execution. We expect you to meet us halfway in marketing your event through your own communications channels. Your DCDW event lead can work with you on the most effective ways to do this.
  - Event registration administration via Eventbrite.
  - Event accessibility support in compliance with ADA guidelines. (e.g., closed captioning, verbit.)
  - Event technical support (e.g., access to Zoom, volunteers to help staff the virtual events, etc.)
  - Access to additional volunteer support (week-of or day-of the event) as needed.
- What we get from you:
  - Commitment to hosting your event during DC Design Week 2022. We understand that life happens, but if you’re submitting an event proposal, it means that you’re committed to making this event happen against most odds.
  - Agreement to follow the Terms & Conditions of proposing and holding an event for DC Design Week 2022.
  - Commitment to our Code of Conduct.
  - Commitment to your event idea. We know that ideas and plans change, but DCDW selects events with our full week of programming in mind. We hope you understand that in order to ensure we’re offering a diverse range of events to our community, we will expect the event’s overall approach and scope to stay consistent.

How else can I get involved with DC Design Week 2022?

DC Design Week is 100% volunteer-run, and it wouldn’t be the same without the support of our community. We are always looking for sponsors who can help ensure this week is as accessible and inclusive as possible, as well as volunteers who can provide support during DC Design Week.

Volunteer
We'll need help with tasks like Zoom support or set-up and clean-up during the week of October 14-21 at both in-person and virtual events.
Sign up to join our volunteer list
Sponsorship
Whether you’re able to offer in-kind services or financial support, we welcome sponsorship partners who can help make DCDW even better.
Contact DCDW about sponsorship