Flickr co-founder launches Minneapolis festival to spotlight local photographers

Flickr co-founder Ben MacAskill and Jeffrey Gorder are betting that Minneapolis can become more than a strong local scene. Their new MODE by Flickr festival is set for Sept. 18-20, 2026, and the pitch is bigger than a weekend of talks: it is a chance to turn the city into a place photographers travel to for access, education and real-world networking.

Flickr introduced MODE on Feb. 26 as a three-day, citywide photography festival in downtown Minneapolis built around art, authenticity and community. The company says the point is to pull photographers out of endless online scrolling and back into face-to-face connection, a notable move for a platform that has spent more than 20 years linking shooters around the world. With Flickr’s network of 100 million global users behind it, MacAskill said the festival is expected to draw 25,000 attendees in its first year.

The lineup is the part that should get working photographers to pay attention. Keynotes are set for Chris Burkard, Keith Ladzinski and Minneapolis native Jimmy Steinfeldt, with Brooke Shaden as artist-in-residence. Programming is also tied to Black Women Photographers founder Polly Irungu and the Inside Out Project, while Fujifilm, HOVERAir and other partners are backing the event. That mix matters because the value here is not just listening to polished talks. It is the chance to see how recognizable names build work, ask questions in person and make connections that can lead to portfolios, commissions or future collaborations.

The festival’s footprint also suggests Flickr wants MODE to feel woven into the city rather than dropped on top of it. Planned sites include Nicollet Mall, the Dayton’s Project, Peavey Plaza and Loring Park, with live music, workshops, speakers and photo walks around downtown. For photographers, that translates into actual shooting opportunities, not just conference badges and branded tables.

Minneapolis is not starting from zero, either. Praxis Gallery & Photo Arts Center already runs year-round exhibitions, artist talks and community programming, and the Minnesota Center for Photography has been part of the scene since 1975. The Minneapolis Institute of Art mounted In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now in 2023, underscoring how deep the region’s photographic history runs. MODE is trying to plug into that base and enlarge it, if only for one weekend, into something photographers beyond Minnesota will want to mark on the calendar.