The First Annual Boston Design Week, a 10-day citywide design festival, will take place March 20-30, 2014.  Participating organizations, businesses, sponsors and individual designers will offer 60+ design events, exhibitions, speakers, receptions, behind-the-scene tours, and other activities throughout greater Boston, most offered free of charge and all open to the public.  Calendar Highlights have now been posted at www.BostonDesignWeek.com, and a complete calendar of events will be online by the end of February.  A small sample of events is listed below.

•  Events take place throughout Boston and its neighborhoods such as Fort Point Channel/Waterfront, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, North End, Roxbury, South Boston, and South End, and Greater Boston in Avon, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Danvers, Natick, Newton, Norwell, Somerville, Sudbury, Wellesley and others.

• 25 Non-Profit Partner Organizations will offer an array of programs, exhibitions, workshops and open houses.  They include: AIGA Boston, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Artisan’s Asylum, BostonAPP/Lab, Boston Architectural College, Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston Society of Architects (BSA), cultureNow, Design Industry Group of Massachusetts (DIGMA), Design Museum Boston, The French Cultural Center, Fuller Craft Museum, Future Boston Alliance, Institute for Human Centered Design, International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), International Interior Design Association (IIDA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), North Bennet Street School, School of Fashion Design, The Society of Arts and Crafts, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

• V.I.P. Kick-Off Event – Thursday evening, March 20 - The American Society of Interior Designers annual awards gala, at the Mandarin Hotel in Boston.

• Public Kick Off Events – Thursday, March 20 – Boston Preservation Alliance will present its 2014 Forum: “The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation”, at the Modern Theatre in Downtown Crossing.  Design Museum Boston will host its “Student Competition Gallery and Awards Night”, at the new “315 on A” luxury apartments on A Street in the Fort Point neighborhood; and other events to be announced.

•“Park Square Design District” Events March 20-30 –  Open Houses, cocktail hours, speakers and special sales will take place throughout the 10-day period at select showrooms in Park Square, and on Newbury & Boylston Streets, including bulthaup Boston, Christofle, Circle Furniture, Il Decor, International Poster Gallery, Landry & Arcari, Ligne Roset, Marcoz Antiques, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Montage, Pompanoosuc Mills and Thos. Moser.

•  AD20/21: Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries, and The Boston Print Fair – March 27-30.  Seventh annual show & sale featuring 50 select exhibitors offering modern to contemporary fine art, jewelry, vintage and contemporary studio furniture, sculpture, photography, fine prints and more.  Gala Preview, March 27 to benefit Boston Architectural College, with the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation to preservationist Susan Park.

Just a sampling of other events are below.  Many more to be announced:

 Friday, March 21 – “Transit Equity” with John A. Powell at the Boston Society of Architects.  Evening receptions at bulthaup Boston and Ligne Roset on Boylston Street. Graciela Rivas fashion show at DTR Modern Galleries.

Saturday, March 22 – “Dig, Build & Climb” family day at Boston Nature Center in Mattapan.  Design brunch at the newly completed Brookline Teen Center.  

Sunday, March 23 – “Downsize your Space. Maximize your Lifestyle”, with Leslie Fine Interiors at Poggenpohl on Newbury Street.  Special program at Oliver Blumgart Designs in Danvers.

Monday, March 24 –   Groundbreaking presentation “How Massachusetts Designers Changed The World” at MassArt.  “Sedia 2.0: Innovations in Contemporary Furniture” at Sedia in the South End.  Brendan Haley presentation at Restoration Resources.

Tuesday, March 25 – “Makers + Shakers” at ARTEFACT HOME|GARDEN in Belmont. “This Old House” with the TV series’ producer Deborah Hood and interior designer Christine Tuttle at Boston Architectural College. Film screening on The Architects Collaborative at the BSA.

Wednesday, March 26 – Beth Bourque at Masterpiece Woodworks in Avon.  Exclusive Jewels event on Charles Street.  French Design Forum at the French Cultural Center. Photographing interiors with Michael J. Lee at Hudson in the South End.  Swiss poster design forum at International Poster Gallery on Newbury Street. 

Thursday, March 27 – Dover Rug + Home event in Natick.  Design specialist panel at West Elm at their Fenway location.  “Building Brands” at Neoscape, and others.

Friday, March 28 – !ND!V!DUALS design collective at Orchard Skateshop.  Kulin Modern Open Studio in South Boston.  “Floral Fictions” at the Society of Arts and Crafts on Newbury Street.  Design Industry Group of Massachusetts (DIGMA) forum at the AD20/21 show at The Cyclorama.

Saturday, March 29 – Screening and discussion of the Academy Award nominated animated short “Feral” by local filmmakers Daniel Golden and Daniel Sousa at the AD20/21 show at The Cyclorama.

Sunday, March 30 – Concluding Design Week Forum -- Design that Endures, Ensuring the Future, at the AD20/21 show at The Cyclorama. Presented by F.H. Perry Builders and moderated by Tony Fusco, Co-producer of Boston Design Week

“The goal of Boston Design Week is to increase public awareness and appreciation of all aspects of design and foster recognition of the vital role design and creative industries play in our lives,” comments Fusco. “We want to offer the public an opportunity to explore architecture, urban design, interior design, fashion, graphic design, product and industrial design, and studio design such as furniture, decorative arts, sculpture, textiles, jewelry and more.”

Tony Fusco and Robert Four are well-known arts promoters and producers in Boston.  For 35 years, their marketing and public relations agency Fusco & Four has specialized in fine art, design, antiques, online arts-related ventures, cultural organizations, performing arts, luxury products and services, lifestyle clients, and authors and publishers. 

They are also the producers of three annual art and design shows in Boston: AD20/21, which includes The Boston Print Fair, and which will be one of the anchor events in the new Boston Design Week; The Ellis Boston Antiques Show, re-launched in 2011; and The Boston International Fine Art Show, celebrating its 18th anniversary in November 2014.  For more information on all of the shows produced by Fusco & Four, please visit www.BostonArtFairs.com

For more information or to receive the Boston Design Week newsletter and calendar of events, visit www.BostonDesignWeek.com or www.Facebook.com/bostondesignweek

Boston Design Week is tweeting @BosDesignWeek, and using the hashtag #bostondesignweek.

For additional information, call 617-363-0405.