MANIFEST Urban Arts Festival

Manifest Urban Arts Festival is Columbia College Chicago’s annual, student driven event that showcases the culmination of graduating student work.

Throughout history, music has always reflected cultural change and societal shifts. In response to “shelter in place,” the Columbia College Music department, using cutting edge technology, has created captivating online performances featuring incredibly talented students. For the past two months, faculty has been working day and night creating over 20 videos featuring all of their ensembles, which range in style from R&B, pop rock, gospel, Latin, jazz, and hip hop. Many of these creative and compelling videos, which also feature original student compositions, will be online May 11-May 15 as part of Manifest, Columbia College’s year-end celebration showcasing students’ creative work. There will also be a live panel discussion on “Creating an Online Performance,” which will include Sebastian Huydts, chair of the Music department, and other faculty and students who were involved in the process of creating these videos.

While social distancing prevents musicians from performing together physically, technology has provided a path that has enabled the music department to produce incredible performances via remote audio and video recording.

The music department has had great live performances in the past, featuring world class musicians like Cory Henry, Isaiah Sharkey, Lisa Fischer, and Todd Rundrgen performing with students. This week presents an incredible opportunity to share students’ music with far more people, so tune in and enjoy the show!

Free