drkrm mpls is an analog and experimental arts community where emerging artists practice
creative kinship, analog as resistance, media as education, and care, as a way of life. 

We believe in:

Creativity as kinship: an analog and experimental community outside a traditional education system where members learn about themselves and their practice through sharing space and dialogue with one another.

Analog as a resistance practice: use the methods of analog media to resist capitalism’s demands of urgency. Craft is resistance. Process as meditation.

Media as education: access, education, and opportunities outside of institutional barriers such as Universities, secondary schools, and other public facilities with high prices of access. Access to equipment and space for artists to build their craft, tell their story through images, and critically engage with mentors. Explore the educational potential of the moving image together through curated screenings

Equity, vitality, and care as a way of life: moving collaboratively in a way that puts artistic and cultural production at the center. We are informed by an understanding of mutual aid as direct, reciprocal support where community members provide resources, assistance, and solidarity based on shared needs and mutual respect.

DRKRM_1.0

2020

Beginning in 2020, DRKRM MPLS (pronounced darkroom Minneapolis) operated as a community space in SE Minneapolis run by a collective of friends identifying as POC, Queer, or a combination of the two. Our original facility offered tools and equipment to hand develop and scan film. Open studios were provided and staffed to assist individuals, answer questions, and offer individualized education.

In addition to a public darkroom, DRKRM 1.0 was a community gathering space. Working from models of mutual aid and reparation, past activities include free open studios, a clothing swap, fundraisers, and musical activations. Born during the 2020 Minneapolis Uprising, DRKRM members engaged in conversations around collectivity, reparations, un/learning, racial justice and trauma, healing, abolition, and accountability. DRKRM works to be a space where systematic harms are acknowledged, understood, heard, and acted upon.

After almost three years in operation, DRKRM went mobile due to an untenable rent increase.

DRKRM_2.0

2024-26

DRKRM_now

2026 - onward

DRKRM will continue to provide space, creative opportunities, education, and film screenings to increase access to the analog and experimental arts in Minneapolis.

We have paused our search for a space to build a physical darkroom and are focusing more on partnerships with existing darkrooms and community arts organizations in Minneapolis.

In 2024, DRKRM began a concerted effort to increase programming and return to a physical space. Since then we have hosted pop-up events including experimental film festivals and photography workshops.

With the support of the MRAC Flexible Support Grant and fiscal sponsorship through Springboard for the Arts, DRKRM expanded its mobile programming to include more events and community participation while it worked toward finding a physical home to host activations.

Crew

DRKRM MPLS exists as a flexible organization looking to adapt to the needs of its analog community. The crew represents those currently committed to establishing this goal and remains open to bringing more artists and dreamers into the fold.

  • Lead Film Programmer

  • Founder

    Reilly Miller (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist-educator who holds a bachelor’s degree in Gender, Women, and Sexuality studies from the University of Minnesota. In January of 2020, Reilly co-founded the community project, DRKRM MPLS, where they are an event producer, film programmer, and educator who teaches fellow, emerging artists how to process and understand their own analog practice. Besides Minneapolis, Reilly has spent significant time in West Germany, in the cities of Cologne and Münster, learning from mentors and friends how to shape clay, survive within global systems, and how to love in expanse. Reilly organizes intimate public activations above— and under— ground in Minneapolis.

join us

Do you have a vision for the future of DRKRM? You can join us in many ways:

  • Join us for one of our upcoming pop-up events.

  • Do you have an analog process you can teach without a wet darkroom? Email us.

  • Do you want to host a mutual aid event or community conversation. Email us.

  • Do you know of a funding source that would be a good fit for DRKRM? Email us.

  • Volunteer

  • Donate