Special Advertising Supplement
Manifest Overview By Tyler Eagle Associate Editor
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s the semester comes to an end and thousands of students get ready to don their caps and gowns for graduation, the college is preparing for the 14th Annual Manifest Urban Arts Festival—Columbia’s celebration of its students and the work they create. Centered in the heart of Columbia’s urban campus, Wabash Avenue will be closed from 9th Street to 11th Street as students, faculty and other members of the college community prepare to launch the May 16 festival. This year will include a zip line reaching from the 916 S. Wabash Ave. Building to a parking lot across the street, more than 100 exhibitions, performances and screenings and a 17-foot doll that will be walking up and down the street, according to Kari Sommers, assistant dean of Student Life.
4 I MANIFEST 2014
Sommers said the college is expecting between 20,000–30,000 people to attend the event and that approximately 3,000 students will participate in the festival. Sommers said the biggest difference between this year’s Manifest and the festivals of previous years is the amount of student involvement. “It is a truly student-created festival,” Sommers said. “We are the only [college] in the country that has a completely student-designed, curated and produced festival. Everything you go to or touch, our students are deeply involved in the design, the layout and every piece.” Mark Kelly, vice president of Student Affairs, said he is looking forward to the sense of community Manifest creates. Other colleges orchestrate end-of-the-year concerts and events, but they pale in comparison to Co-
lumbia’s festival, Kelly said. “Manifest is something sacred,” Kelly said. “It’s the heart and soul of why we are here, which is our students and their academic, intellectual and creative development.” Kelly said he appreciates the level of effort that students and the college community devote to Manifest. He said it is a chance for the college to show the country its ability to foster artistic talent. “Our students are making and creating, but so much is not visible,” Kelly said. “Everyone lives in their part of the college but the college itself doesn’t come to life on a regular basis. Manifest is that one time where all of that making and creation becomes very palpable and you can feel it on the street and all of our galleries and performance spaces.”