MinnAnimate 2026

About. 

Hello, my name is Adam Loomis, and I'm the owner and director of MinnAnimate. MinnAnimate is an animation festival that's been running in the Twin Cities since 2012. But until last year, we used the word 'festival' generously, as MinnAnimate had always operated as a zero-budget, single-screening event. That scale might have been suitable for the animation scene in the Twin Cities a decade ago, but in the years since its founding, access to animation education and tools has boomed, and with it, so has the demand for community gatherings and opportunities to exhibit new animated short films and media.

In 2025, we had our first big growth spurt, expanding our program in several ways—

• We relocated our submissions to Film Freeway and received nearly 1,200 submissions!
• We curated three full shorts programs of new independent and student work.
• Hosted our first ever featured filmmaker retrospective, showcasing the short films of Kiera Faber who attended in-person for a live Q&A.
• We collaborated with our friends at Heck Studio & Hellavision Television Network to present a special edition of Draw League and a keynote speech by Peter Steineck called "On Sharing".
• Commissioned our first ever MinnAnimate Signal Film, made by local collective Studio Walleye
• Welcomed participation and attendance for the first time from regional animators from as far as Chicago, IL. 

What we're asking.

In 2026 we're trying to grow even more! We're seeking your help to—

• Widen our audience through marketing and promotion
• Improve the overall quality of our social gatherings with venue rentals and catering
• Better compensate the artists we partner with in our special programming

With our fiscal sponsor, Springboard for the Arts, your donation is tax-deductible!

Alternatively, if you're interested in advertising with MinnAnimate, please contact us at minnanimate (at) gmail (dot) com.