Columbia’s annual Manifest arts festival will mark its 25th anniversary this weekend with a larger public-facing push, expanded alumni programming and a new Saturday schedule that college leaders hope will reconnect the event to the broader city audience it once drew.

While Manifest has long been held on the Friday before graduation weekend, this year marks the first time since 2005 that the festival itself will take place on Saturday.

At least 3,000 attendees have registered for the festival, according to Connie Stanley, assistant dean of student affairs operations and communications. Registration for everyone, including students, is required through Eventbrite.

The festival, themed “Kaleidoscope,” will also double as a homecoming celebration, with alumni programming beginning Friday and continuing through the weekend. Events will be held in nine campus buildings and at three outdoor spaces, including the parking lot next to the Student Center.

Once known for drawing large crowds from across Chicago to student performances, exhibitions and fashion shows around the South Loop campus, Manifest in recent years became a smaller, more internally focused event tied largely to the college community.

Senior fashion design major Ciara Brophy, who will show her work in the BFA fashion show at Manifest, said she is looking forward to spending one last day with her peers before graduation.

“It’s gonna be sad, but I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.

Although Brophy has attended only one Manifest during her time at Columbia, she said she is glad to be closing out her experience at the college with her work on display. Brophy will present seven looks in the show, the result of nearly a year of preparation spent working long hours in the Fashion Lab from morning to night.

Senior fine arts major Jocelyn Diaz said that they haven’t been able to fully enjoy Manifest in the past because it conflicted with class on Fridays, so they’re looking forward to participating this year while wrapping up their time at the college. 

“I can’t believe my time here is almost over. I was here all four years and a part of me will definitely miss it,” they said. “But I’m still really excited for the future and to see what I and my peers end up creating too.”

Student Government Association President Jenna Davis said she will speak during Manifest’s kickoff on the main stage before joining other students in exploring events throughout the festival.

Davis, a senior fine arts major, said opening the festival more broadly to families, alumni and the public will give students a larger audience for the work they have spent the year creating. 

Student organizations including SGA, Renegades Dance Team, Mi Gente, K-Pop Club and DJ Club will also have a planned presence during the festival, in addition to academic showcases.

Alternative and independent rock band Mistrophia, which won first place at Biggest Mouth, the college’s annual battle of the bands competition, will open for Canadian singer-songwriter Mikayla Geier, the festival headliner.

The performances are just one part of a festival that also serves as a showcase for months of student work happening across the college.

As 11 designers finalize their senior collections, students in the “Event Management Practicum” course taught by Robert Blandford associate professor in the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, have spent the semester overseeing the runway show’s production, managing logistics, spatial design, timelines and team coordination. 

Senior fashion studies major Mikayla Lerczak said the art direction teams have worked closely alongside the designers to shape the presentation.

“We have been doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes prep like helping with makeup ideas, styling ideas, and pulling together pieces of their collections to build mood boards that attendees get to see before the show,” Lerczak said. “I think everyone should be super excited to see all the BFA designers’ hard work come together,  it’s definitely not something to miss.”

Although President and CEO Shantay Bolton has said Manifest will have a “new street festival format,” the signature event historically has spilled into the streets, with several blocks of Wabash closed in the past to accommodate it.

In its heyday, when Columbia’s enrollment peaked at roughly 12,500 students around 2008, Manifest drew tens of thousands of people to the festival.

For Mark Kelly, former vice president for student success who helped launch the festival, the return to a more public event this year reflects the event’s original purpose: giving students a wider platform to present the work they created during their time at Columbia.

Manifest began in 2002 as “May Fest” before being renamed and gradually growing into what Kelly described as the college’s defining tradition and a a hallmark of campus life, eventually spilling onto the streets of the South Loop with concerts, exhibitions and a parade featuring giant puppets built by students throughout the year.

“The fundamental thing for a student is to create a body of work,” Kelly said. “And then a body of work assumes an audience.”

Kelly said the festival was designed to avoid becoming a “stuffy, formal” showcase. Instead, he envisioned a celebration that balanced serious student exhibitions with the energy of a city festival. He said the event became more than a campus tradition, drawing attention from the South Loop and wider city as major acts such as Common, Chance the Rapper and OK Go performed during earlier years of the festival.

This year’s festival will also double as a homecoming celebration for alumni, featuring special events that begin Friday and continue through the weekend.

Aubrie Willaert, vice president of development and alumni engagement, did not respond to emails requesting information about alumni registrations.

The Chronicle also contacted Dirk Matthews, former interim vice president development and  alumni relations, but received an automatic email response that he no longer works at the college.

Adriel Hilton, Columbia’s vice president of institutional strategy and chief of staff, did not respond to an email requesting comment about Matthews or his position.

Kelly, who has attended the past two Manifest festivals, said he was encouraged that, despite being smaller than in its peak years, the event retained its atmosphere. He said he hopes this year’s expanded format signals a renewed sense of identity for the college.

“I would argue Columbia sort of lost its mojo,” Kelly said. “And I hope that the efforts to bring Manifest back are … a manifestation of Columbia bringing back an attitude.”

Additional reporting from Sydney Richardson 

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Mikayla Geier’s name.

Copy edited by Samantha Mosquera