CultureCon 2026 Brings Creativity, Conversation and Style to Brooklyn

Built around the theme “Museum of Us,” the 2026 edition brought together artists, filmmakers, musicians, entrepreneurs, designers, photographers and other creatives for a weekend that extended well beyond the conversations happening onstage.

I arrived at CultureCon primarily to document it. What I didn’t expect was how much of the experience would happen away from the stages — watching creatives find one another, trade ideas, exchange contacts, make photographs, and start relationships that could continue long after the weekend ended.

CultureCon founder and CEO Imani Ellis has built the event around creating a space where Black and Brown creatives can connect, learn and see themselves represented across industries. Throughout the weekend, that idea was visible not only in the scheduled programming but in the constant movement throughout the venue — conversations forming in hallways, spontaneous portraits, introductions between strangers and collaborations beginning in real time.

On the CultureCon Stage

Saturday’s programming brought a steady rotation of major names and conversations to the CultureCon stages. Niecy Nash-Betts appeared during the day, while Ellis joined Zohran Mamdani for a conversation in front of the CultureCon audience. Michael B. Jordan was among the afternoon’s featured guests.

Michael B. Jordan

Imani Ellis and Zohran Mamdani

Niecy Nash-Betts and Scott Evans

Later in the day, Colin Kaepernick appeared for “Beyond the Playbook: Colin Kaepernick on The Perilous Fight,” followed by Academy Award–winning actor Daniel Kaluuya joining Ellis for “Creative Genius.” Tobe Nwigwe took the stage for an evening conversation, while Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods joined the program for a discussion centered on creativity, ambition and building beyond a single career.

Colin Kaepernick

Daniel Kaluuya and Imani Ellis

Tobe Nwigwe

Jordyn Woods and Karl-Anthony Towns

Sunday at CultureCon

Sunday continued with another full day of programming and appearances, including John Legend, along with conversations spanning entertainment, business, creativity and the realities of building sustainable careers in creative industries.

Beyond the Main Stage

Across both days, CultureCon also created room for smaller conversations and practical exchanges — mentorship, entrepreneurship, brand building and the less visible work that supports a creative career. Activations, exhibits and gathering spaces filled the venue between the main programming.

For a photographer, much of the story was in those spaces between scheduled events. The stages provided recognizable faces, but the larger picture came from the people moving through the venue: photographers photographing one another, designers showing their work, strangers stopping for portraits, groups gathering around conversations, and attendees finding people who shared their interests.

Style at CultureCon

Fashion became one of the most visible parts of the weekend. Attendees turned the venue into an evolving street-style show, with carefully built looks, bold color, tailoring, texture and personal style appearing throughout the crowd.

Portraits & Style: 27 photographs are shown below. Click any portrait to browse the complete 87-image CultureCon Fashion & Portraits gallery.

CultureCon Runway

That same attention to personal style carried into Saturday evening’s CultureCon fashion show, where designers and models brought a wide range of silhouettes and ideas onto the runway. The fashion programming felt connected to what had already been happening throughout the venue all day: people using clothing as another form of creative expression.

Click any runway photograph to browse all 16 selected CultureCon runway images.

A Museum of Us

That may be the strongest expression of CultureCon’s “Museum of Us” theme. The weekend was not defined by a single panel or celebrity appearance. It was built from thousands of individual interactions — people showing their work, their style and their ideas while creating a community around them.

CultureCon 2026 turned the Duggal Greenhouse into a meeting point for that community for two days, creating a place to see the people onstage, but also to pay attention to everything happening around them.