manifesto festival
Client Identity
Founded in 2007, Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture is a celebration of hip-hop culture and beyond. The non-profit, youth-powered platform was designed to showcase local artists and create events aimed at cultivating multi-disciplinary artistic and professional development for young people across a variety of mediums.
Now in its 15th year, the festival continues to provide carefully curated programming in music, visual arts, dance and more – through concerts, art shows, block parties, workshops, summits.
250+ 5- 15 40- 50 100+ 60K FULL
WORLD RENOWNED ARTISTS DAY CITY-WIDE FESTIVAL ANNUAL EVENTS ORGANIZERS / VENDORS AVG. ANNUAL PARTICIPANTS DEMOGRAPHICS OF PARTICIPANTS
the challenge
Story, Tone & Stategy
they gave us access to:
250+ 5- 15 40- 50 100+ 60K FULL
WORLD RENOWNED ARTISTS DAY CITY-WIDE FESTIVAL ANNUAL EVENTS ORGANIZERS / VENDORS AVG. ANNUAL PARTICIPANTS DEMOGRAPHICS OF PARTICIPANTS
WHAT CAN WE CONVERT THIS OPPORTUNITY INTO? WHAT CAN WE BUILD AROUND ALL OF THIS? By 2010, Manifesto had established early success and already demonstrated an ability to create strong community gravity. The third year had a curation of events running annually, culminating with a large free open city concert in the heart of Toronto. Manifesto board of directors invited us to help scale the organization with the aid of new media.
the approach
Our response to the opportunity
We asked ourselves how can we evolve Manifesto’s ecosystem through content and experiences. How could we expand their existing team, retain the heart of the festival, and grow new audiences?
With access to a vast talent base, we consulted across all of Manifesto’s 8 core departments of programming. Developed a report and brought our writers, video directors, producers, cinematographers, stage technicians, designers and live show directors to reimagine the expansion of Manifesto’s ecosystem through film, design, physical activations. Pure Percent formally partnered with Manifesto’s in house Doc Team and 40oz Heros. Through a vision born from Che Kothari, Ryan Patterson and Jesse Ohtake, Jawn Taboika and Jason Rodricks, MANIFESTO TV was officially launched as a content studio in 2010.
the revamped content
ecosystem
Rebrand their existing media ‘doc team’, and call it Manifesto TV. Create production process models of a standard broadcast company and scale it down. This team would dream, produce, capture, edit content monthly.
Convert privileged access to thought leaders and world renowned artists into a series of shows. Develop 10 monthly shows covering a range of content areas. Dance, Film, Music, Business in Arts, Biographies, Panel Discussions, POV Docs, Tutorials.
Create multi course menu of video items at runtimes. From video snacks, micro shows, to full in depth documentaries videos.
10,000 people + showing up to concert annually, and we had to rethink their lighting, audio/visual stage design.
Create new entry points for brands to build with Manifesto through content and live experiences. Develop custom shows that align and gravitate audiences, energy, and brands together.
Develop new relationships with TIFF and Hot Docs. Forge distribution relationships in radio/broadcast/film. Create new live events with film at the core. Create a community where cinephiles from Manifesto’s participants can grow themselves. Expand Sponsorship value.
Grow online audience base. Instagram channels, Youtube, Facebook. Promotionals, exclusive artist interviews, panel discussions, video snacks for IG/Twitter, Artist performances recaps,
With an average of 22 cameras running per event day, patrons, performers, small business were being captured selling their products and performing their acts. The footage captured shows the performers and festival vendors interacting with thousands of participants. We created an accessible way for artists/vendors to buy stock footage for their repurposing. This helped the department generate revenue and help pay for itself.
the VISUAL
results
These videos are recaps of each festival year. Showcasing stage design, video capture & production, energy of people, enjoy the results of grind that the Manifesto TV team made happen, and continue to make happen year after year











the NUMBER
results
38 ORIGINAL CONTENT STREAMS
Every month Manifesto TV dreamt, produced, shot, and edited 38 streams of content including; original micro shows, celebrity interview series, expert panel discussions, performance highlights, festival recaps.
52 MEMBER TEAM OF CREATORS
At peak operating, 52 crew of camera operators, directors, producers, editors, vfx artists, audio technicians, hosts, production managers, equipment managers were asseblembed to meet monthly production requirements.
300+ PRODUCED VIDEOS
From 2010 – 2018 Manifesto TV produced over 300 videos. Pure Percent developed the infrastructure, workflow, best practices and brand guidelines for Manifesto TV.
INTRODUCTION OF 4K VIDEO
Live shows were all upgraded from 480p/720p systems to RED 4k capture.
CAMERA CRANES
In crowds around 30,000 people. Getting cameras in places can be challenging. 18’ , 24’ and 40’ cranes were used to captures the live shows over the years. Each crane unit was connected to the main show mixer. Giving the large audience far at the back up close, projected angles on large screens around the concert.
MULTI-SCREEN PROJECTION
40’ x 25’, 60’ x 25’ screens were built and used to project stage performances hard to see from the back of the crowd. We created custom graphics and show assets for each artist that came on stage. Motion graphics were cued with lighting systems to give the show more punch.
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