Manifest headliners soar to main stage
March 31, 2014
Electronic beats and indie-pop will echo throughout the South Loop at this year’s Manifest, Columbia’s annual urban arts festival, when Chicago-based mashup duo The Hood Internet and Los Angeles-based sextet Youngblood Hawke take the main stage as headliners.
The Student Programming Board announced the headliners in college-wide emails March 18 and 20. Allison Shuman, marketing manager for the Student Programming Board and senior arts, entertainment and media management major, said the board chose The Hood Internet based on its new-age, mainstream DJ style.
“We thought they would bring a different vibe to Manifest,” Shuman said. “They are also local Chicago artists, so we thought it would bring in more of the community to Manifest.”
Aaron Brink, half of The Hood Internet, said Chicago is his favorite place to play because it is his hometown. Brink said the Manifest show will mostly be a series of mashups instead of their original productions because the songs are more well-known and easier to dance to.
“We try to mix a range of music but also what’s specific to our taste,” Brink said. “We’re not just mixing what’s popular.”
Sam Martin, singer, drummer and pianist of Youngblood Hawke, said he looks forward to performing on the main stage and hopes to see a big turnout.
Shuman said the SPB wanted to make Manifest memorable this year and focused on bringing quality artists to the festival.
“We don’t get to bring big acts to campus very often,” Shuman said. “We try to think about what’s going to make the main stage fun and bring out people.”
The headliners are not the only exciting aspect of this year’s Manifest. This spring’s festival will be the first to have a unified theme: Flight.
“We imagine that our graduates can fly,” said Mark Kelly, vice president of Student Affairs. “We’ll see them both metaphorically and in some cases literally fly on that day.”
Kelly said the college received student feedback that showed a desire for an overall theme to assist contributing students with finding a clear angle for their Manifest projects.
Shannon Bourne, coordinator of Student Engagement, said she has been organizing three new additions to Manifest that will enhance the theme, the first being a new graduate student showcase.
“All of the graduate student showcases will be highlighted that night because sometimes they get lost in the mix of crazy Manifest,” Bourne said. “We wanted to separate them and give them a special showcase.”
Taste of Convergence is the second addition Bourne is organizing, which she said will be a street festival on Wabash Avenue featuring a dance performance, fashion show and variety of food trucks.
Frequency TV, the student-run Columbia television channel, will broadcast Manifest live on Colum.edu so people who are unable to attend the festival can still be engaged, Bourne said.
“It’s a really great way for family to check out what’s going on the day of Manifest,” Bourne said.
Matt Dunne, a senior graphic design major, has been chosen as this year’s creative director for his branding design of a paper plane and geometric shapes that will appear on T-shirts, posters and promotional merchandise.
“[The paper plane] was one of the first things I thought of when I thought of flight,” Dunne said. “I thought it would be a simple but effective way to portray the theme and after I thought about it more, it seemed to apply more to Manifest.”
Dunne said he hopes every Columbia student attends Manifest to see the work of graduating students and to showcase their own art.
“It’s really cool to see what everyone’s doing,” Dunne said. “It also shows this is what [freshmen] can do in a few years. Whatever the body of work would be, they can be part of it.”
Taste of Convergence is the second addition Bourne is organizing, which she said will be a street festival on South Wabash Avenue featuring a dance performance, fashion show and several food trucks.
Frequency TV, the student-run Columbia television channel, will broadcast Manifest’s festivities live on Colum.edu, so people who cannot attend the festival can still be engaged, Bourne said.
“It’s a great way for family to check out what’s going on the day of Manifest,” Bourne said.
Matt Dunne, a senior graphic design major, was chosen as this year’s creative director for his branding design. The motif features a paper plane surrounded by geometric shapes on a cyan background and will appear on T-shirts, posters and promotional merchandise.
“[The paper plane] was one of the first things I thought of when I thought of flight,” Dunne said. “I thought it would be a simple but effective way to portray the theme, and after I thought about it more, it seemed to apply more to Manifest.”
Dunne said he hopes every Columbia student attends Manifest to see the graduating students’ work.
“It’s really cool to see what everyone’s doing,” Dunne said. “It also shows what [freshmen] can do in a few years. Whatever the body of work would be, they can be part of it.”
