Boston, MA - The 12-day citywide design festival, Boston Design Week, returns for its fourth year in 2017. Boston Design Week will run March 29 – April 9, 2017 and will again feature a wide array of programs and events across the design spectrum. All programs, events and exhibitions are open to the public and most are free of charge. The full calendar of events will be available February 21st at www.BostonDesignWeek.com.

Last year’s Boston Design Week was a huge success, with more than 70 participants offering 84 events, close to 20% of which were Sold Out. More than 11,000 people attended events in 9 Boston neighborhoods and 10 cities and towns in the Boston area.

Boston Design Week launches on Wednesday March 29 with Kick-Off events in the Back Bay, Seaport, Metro West, and others to be announced. Room & Board will host a panel in their Back Bay show room on social media influence, and EM NARI will host their CoTY (Contractor of the Year) awards at the Clarke showroom in Milford. For the Fort Point Channel Kick-Off Event, Artists for Humanity will welcome the public for an Open Studio event showcasing inspired works of art and design by teenagers.  The Cambridge Kick-Off event will be held at BoConcept on Massachusetts Avenue.

On Thursday, March 30, Sean Cutting of Cutting Edge Homes, a Gold Sponsor for Design Week, teams up with the showrooms at Seven Tide in the Seaport District for a major home design event. Also in the Seaport, Boston Design Center returns as a sponsor and will be host a number of events on Tuesday April 4 centered on kitchen design, as well as several other events throughout the festival.

Two featured gala evenings are: Friday March 31, ASID New England will host its annual award ceremony at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and Thursday April 6 the AD20/21 art and design show at The Cyclorama hosts a Gala Preview to support Boston Design week, which will benefit Design Museum Boston.   The AD20/21 Lifetime Achievement Award for 2017 will also be presented at the Gala Preview VIP reception.

Design Week culminates with AD20/21: Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries and The Boston Print Fair at The Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts. The 10th Anniversary show and sale also hosts the closing programs of Boston Design Week. The show features close to 50 exhibitors with a selection of modern to contemporary fine art and design. www.AD2021.com

Events occur throughout the city and Greater Boston. North Shore events include a Meet & Greet Reception with furniture designer Cisco Pinedo at Boston Interiors in Burlington on April 4, and an ongoing exhibit of staggeringly wonderful wearable art called “WOW” at the Peabody Essex Museum. On the South Shore, Roomscapes in Rockland is a Silver Sponsor for Design Week and will host events in their showroom.

A wide variety of organizations, colleges and museums serve as Non-Profit Partners for Design Week. Elliot Street School welcomes curator Judith Hoos Fox and “Coded Couture” discussing fashion in the digital age. The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Boston Society of Architects, the Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Society of Arts and Crafts, and numerous others will also be hosting events.

The festival will again have three Special Focus Tracks. Events that fall into these tracks will receive a special designation online to help audiences find and follow the tracks that interest them. The three tracks for 2017 are Designing Boston, Design and Social Impact, and Professional Focus. Designing Boston will include programs on the future design of our city, urban planning, historic preservation, public art, and Boston’s architecture. Design and Social Impact includes sustainable and renewable design, design with a social purpose, and related areas. Professional Focus incorporates industry-networking events, new product applications, design education, and student contests.

All programs are open to the public, and most are free of charge, but many do require an RSVP to attend. For more information or to receive the Boston Design Week newsletter and calendar of events, visit www.BostonDesignWeek.com. Follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bostondesignweek or Twitter @BosDesignWeek.