The Manifesto Festival season is officially in full swing! This evening I had the privilege to sit in on the Manifesto town-hall meeting where council members from the community discussed the many layers involved in running a festival of this magnitude for our community. As a fan of hip-hop culture, and as a purveyor of all that is great about our city, I love to see local talent shine, and I must say, this year's festival is going to be of the grandest levels to date. This year marks the 5 year anniversary of the festival, and as Michie Mee pointed out this evening, the importance of the commitment to community and the unselfishness of our goals are still very much the sole purpose of this festival.

It will take place from September 15th - 25th with areas in arts, culture, community, and music. In terms of what you can expect at our 11 day festival, the information will roll out shortly; however, know that the Manifesto team takes due diligence in presenting material at the highest quality and you will not be disappointed.

Every year I marvel at the commitment that each person takes to their specific roles and am impressed with the level of community cohesiveness. Pegged as the "Screwface Capital" many entities of this fine metropolitan landscape take great pride in dispelling this stigma, as it is becoming apparent in the way we approach arts and culture. I personally love to see this energy and cannot wait for you, the public, to see the effort and time that hundreds of people have taken to develop this festival.

Down below you can catch a time lapse video of the council meeting brought to you by talented filmmaker Mark Valino.

Also, for those that are not as familiar with Manifesto, after the jump you can catch footage of last year's 2010 Manifesto Festival. Be sure to stay tuned to themanifesto.ca, our twitter @Manifesto_fest and our Facebook page for all updates as we approach the festival launch!!