Students and families crowded around the School of Visual Arts derby race, cheering as handmade cars raced across the course during one of Manifest’s more unconventional competitions.

The annual derby featured vehicles designed in introductory design courses, giving first-year students a chance to showcase their work during a festival often centered on graduating seniors.

The crowd reacted loudly to each race as attendees rooted for favorite cars throughout the competition. A staff-designed vehicle created by Duncan MacKenzie, Interim Director for the School of Visual Arts, ultimately won the event.

Sophomore illustration major Jay Roberts said the atmosphere around the derby stood out from other Manifest events.

“I feel like everybody was getting loud and it was crazy,” they said. “Everybody was putting bets on cars. I think it was really fun.”

Nathan Carder, associate director at the Makerspace, said the derby gives first-years a space in what is a traditionally senior focused event. 

“Manifest is traditionally for seniors, and so this gives first-years an opportunity to see their work too,” Carder said. 

Mackenzie said the derby is a unique way to unite the community in celebration. 

“I think that it is an important part of bringing the community together in a fun, silly, delightful, whimsical way,” he said. 

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Hundreds of attendees got a peek into the creative process of the 11 thesis collections made by senior fashion design students as they awaited the “MADE@COLUMBIA” senior BFA fashion show.

The walls of the fifth floor of the Student Center exhibition held detailed recreations of the pinned wall spaces found inside senior BFA studios. Each student arranged sketches, fabric swatches and any source of inspiration toward their collection, including a collaboration with assistant professor Biddy Tran‘s “Figure Drawing” courses, featuring various works from other Columbia students. 

Director of the School of Fashion Colbey Reid opened the show by highlighting the hard work of the students and the challenging industry they will enter upon graduation. 

“We start with a number, and that number is 2.5 trillion, the global net worth of the fashion industry,” Reid said. “
We anchor ourselves in that number because we know and we want to be certain when fashion is trivialized.”

Reid said it takes daring to express creativity.

“This world that we create has one purpose, and that purpose is, obviously, to slay,” Reid said.

There was only one rule for this fashion show: support loudly and proudly.

“I want to hear your claps so that everybody who’s standing backstage, who designed it, who did the makeup and fixed the hair, who’s wearing those outfits when they walk today, knows about your encouragement and approval. Deal?” Reid said. 

The audience erupted in applause at every look created by the fashion design students.

First-year music business major Chelsea Gonzalez overheard talk of the fashion show while exploring the exhibitions in the Student Center. Her and her friends could not pass up the opportunity to see the show.

“Even though it’s not my major, I love looking at new things in fashion,” Gonzalez said.

Accompanied by friend Janel Limardo, Gonzalez found herself enamored by the wall displays in anticipation of the fashion show.

“I think that a lot of them have really unique ideas and like designs, and they seem very personal to the artists,” said Limardo.

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Film and television students showcased more than 20 films from their thesis projects, ranging from tales about siblinghood through the lens of Vietnamese folktales in “A Leaf From the Moon” and stories about addiction in “Hit.” 

Senior film and television student Patrick Demitras made the film “Roundabout,” which follows a man who must protect a family heirloom from a league of evil jewelers. 

The concept came from Demitras’ love of his late grandmother, and the tough decision of what to do with her jewelry after she had passed. 

“My film is arguing that items are worth more sentimentally. They have more sentimental value than monetary value,” Demitras said. “One day I was thinking, if somebody offers me a million dollars for this necklace my grandma gave me, I believe that I would tell them no.” 

Senior film and television student Cameron Dean Blackwood also made a film about jewelry-theft, “It’s No Fun Waltzing Alone,” which follows an ex-thief trying to get back with his ex-lover. 

Blackwood, after watching his film on the big screen, was happy to see his skills make an effect on the giggling crowd. 

“It’s really cool to see your work on a giant screen projected, and it’s really fun to hear people laugh at stuff you thought was funny during the writing process,” he said. 

Blackwood hopes to “polish” the film further for the Chicago International Film Festival but is happy with its current form.

Blackwood was inspired to make the film because of his childhood love of screwball comedies, which his parents had him watch. 

Being inspired by childhood stories continued into senior film and television student Vy Pham’s film, “A Leaf From the Moon,” which was inspired by Vietnamese folktales and Studio Ghibli films. 

While Pham is proud of the film, she hopes to film more in Vietnam eventually, only having two weeks to return home and shoot for this version of the short film.

“It was a challenge for sure, because I only had two weeks in Vietnam to rehearse, meet with everyone, and then shoot,” Pham said.

Pham co-wrote the film with her friend Robin Manganaro, who she met on a set while Manganaro attended Columbia.

Pham said she’s excited to graduate, but her work with Columbia students isn’t done, as she plans to produce a pilot for a series with Manganaro over the summer. 

“It’s lovely to find someone who you share creative vibes and storytelling with. I feel like we’re gonna be pen pals for a while,” Manganaro said.

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In her first Manifest as president and CEO, Shantay Bolton danced onto the mainstage this afternoon, officially opening the 25th anniversary of Columbia’s signature end-of-the-year art festival. 

“It is truly an honor to stand here on this stage and to see our campus transformed into a living, breathing gallery of our students’ brilliance,” Bolton said. “This day has offered a bridge between the classroom and the industry, providing a platform for our students to leave and to showcase their evolution.”

As she congratulated the class of 2026, Bolton announced that former Columbia chair of the Board of Trustees Bill Wolf would lead the trustees after John Holmes stepped down earlier this month. Holmes told the Chronicle he would remain on the board. Wolf was board chair from 2016 to 2023. 

Bolton, who wore her official cream-colored Manifest T-shirt with the bottom cut into fringe, said Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events was a signature partner in this year’s festival, which included vendors and vintage cars on the closed-off block between Balbo and Harrison. The festival’s mainstage was at the end of the street near Harrison. Canadian singer-songwriter and alternative pop artist Mikayla Geier will headline from the stage later tonight.

Bolton brought two members of a delegation from the Bahamas Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training to the stage. The college announced a partnership with the ministry in March. The five-year agreement will support up to 20 students, with government funding ranging from approximately $7,500 to $16,000 per student. 

Bolton also introduced Eric Rutherford, now a part-time instructor and ensemble director in the School of Audio and Music, and alum Toni Leslie, who were married after they met in 2013 when both were students.

“I want our students to know that you don’t only come here to find your passion, your dreams and your purpose, but you can also find love,” said Bolton. For her, their marriage “serves as a reminder that here at Columbia, we do not just study culture, we create it.”

In an interview with the Chronicle, Rutherford said Manifest’s visibility had been reduced in previous years, and this year, the festival is moving in “the right direction”

“It is the best way to showcase what the college has to offer,” said Rutherford. “I’m really proud to be a part of the Columbia community, and I’m happy to be a part of shaping the next generation.”

Bolton presented Mark Kelly, former vice president for Student Success who helped launch the festival, with an award for his contributions to the college. Kelly was commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events from 2016 to 2021. 

“His work has always been about creating a culture where students felt like professional artists from day one,” Bolton said, adding that Kelly “created a legacy, transitioning the classrooms, the industries, and Manifest was that bridge that closed the gap.”

Kelly shared a signature “Hell Yeah” in celebration of the graduates. The entire crowd in front of him gave a “Hell Yeah” in response.  

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Music filled the Glass Curtain Gallery for a performance of a student-led Cuban band during LatiFest, an annual showcase at Manifest that highlights Latino art, culture and identity.

The event, now in its second year, is a collaboration of the student Latino Alliance, faculty Latino Alliance, TRIO and Columbia’s student chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in efforts to platform works produced by the Latino community of Columbia. 

Gabriella Diaz de Sabates, professor in the School of Communication and Culture and interim associate dean for Faculty Affairs, said Latifest shows the “rich” diversity of Columbia and highlights the vibrant and growing Latino presence at the college to the public.

“You don’t have to be Latino to enjoy the artistic creations or creativity of the Latino community,” Sabates said.

The college became a Hispanic-serving institution in 2024 when a quarter of the student body identified as Hispanic, the Chronicle previously reported. Currently, 28.2% of the student body is Hispanic, according to the Institutional Effectiveness.

With the assistance of Jesus Monroy, a Columbia admissions officer, Latifest was able to connect with newly admitted students who will be attending the college in the fall. This is LatiFest’s first year allowing those students to submit work.

“We got double the amount of art, and we are super proud of it. We’re growing. We hope this keeps going in the upcoming years,” Sabates said.

Anthony Ruiz, a senior double major in graphic design and photography, wanted to use his exhibition to emphasize the importance of spaces in the Latino community. Ruiz felt inclined to bring the topic of gentrification to the forefront of attendees’ minds. 

“Me documenting these spaces is kind of like a souvenir for myself and for the people around. These spaces are fleeting, “ Ruiz said.

Ruiz displayed a collection of photographs in the “La Garra” flea market, Carcinerias Jimenez and the Humboldt Park neighborhood. He shot using high contrast and a low angle so that viewers could experience these locations similarly to how he did in his childhood.

“I want to show the ins and outs of that.The beautifulness of it and the emptiness that is to come, “ he said.

Abigail Martinez, senior cultural studies major, chose to explore how other cultures view gender and identity in her tri-fold piece. 

“We could learn a lot from Muxes and their culture. We put labels on everything, but they have this fluidity to their identity,” said Martinez.

For Martinez, it was important to broadcast her message in hopes that it might reach somebody. 

“It will teach somebody. And they could take it and make their own project,” she said.

Carmelo Esterrich, professor in the School of Communication and Culture, said one of the wonderful things about LatiFest is that it brings together students, faculty and staff from different departments to document the Latino community in Chicago.

“It is fun. It’s always fun. But it’s fun with an asterisk, and that asterisk is a really important element. It’s about politics and culture. It’s about communities and about what citizenship means,” Esterrich said.

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