Music is blaring through the speakers while students dance and sing onstage. Down the block, collegians don fashion creations and pose in the middle of the sidewalk displaying their designs. Actors perform skits with high energy as artists paint on windows. Such scenes transform Columbia’s campus during the annual Manifest Urban

Arts Festival.

Hosted by Columbia at the end of every school year, Manifest exhibits graduating students’ work. Many attend the event, including students, faculty, industry professionals, neighborhood residents and the Chicago art community, according to Columbia’s website.

Every year, a student creative director is chosen to be in charge of the look and feel of the Web and print campaigns for Manifest. This year is a little different because the five contestants were selected from the Branding Identity class taught by Isabelle McGuire. The five finalists are Eunice Gomez, Michael Heck, Pei-Chin Lee, Gregory Wegener and Rocio Lopez.

“It’s important to solicit the students who are studying [design] in the process, so it was appropriate to tie [creative art director] back to a design class because it’s design work,” said Kari Sommers, assistant dean of Student Life.

McGuire played a huge role in selecting the candidates for the creative art director post because she worked directly with the students and their designs, Sommers said. This is the first time a faculty member has worked with the candidates, she added.

According to Sommers, the Branding Identity class was the class chosen for this project because the creative director deals with a branding assignment in which he or she has to create a new image for the festival and develop it.

There were 18 students in the class, and each of them produced a minimum of three concepts that they presented to a small team composed of staff from Student Life, Student Communications and Student Services, Sommers said. From there, the finalists were chosen.

“To hear the depth of the thinking, what the students brought to the project and their clear understanding of the Columbia student community [was an amazing experience],” Sommers said. “The work was unbelievable.”

The finalists’ concepts have been posted online for public vote, said Matt Green, director of Online Student Communications. Students can vote on the Columbia website by clicking “like” next to the design.

The winner will work closely with Creative Services and Student Communications, which are the two partner offices that shape the way Manifest looks. Designers from those offices will work with those students and evolve their ideas, Green said.

Lopez is one of the finalists who wanted to keep her design flexible and open. The concept of her piece is the glitter and texture of the school, with each module of her work representing what each discipline is about, she said.

“I think that [winning] would mean growth,” Lopez said. “There is a point when you are working toward something, and you break through that threshold and implement everything you know. It’s a great opportunity.”

Another finalist, Heck, came up with a design that represented all the majors of the college. To create his design, he gathered some personal objects to make the star shape that is generally associated with Manifest, Heck said.

“As a professional experience, I think [being creative director] would be excel-lent, and I think it would prepare me for real-life work,” he said. “It would be the

perfect thing for me to leave school with, saying that I was an art director for a major Chicago festival.”

According to Lee, winning will benefit her chance of getting an internship after graduation.

The winner will be announced on Dec. 5 during a commencement week kick-off event, Green said.

“[The student creative director] is an exciting next step for Manifest,” Sommers said. “The work involved in Manifest continues to be integrated with the departments [which] we are very pleased [about], and we look forward to developing these integrations further.”