Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center’s many-year search for a permanent home has come to a close, with its acquisition of a property located at 3464 Central Parkway at the border of Clifton and Camp Washington.
The 18-year-old nonprofit’s purchase of the 13,000 square foot historic building on a one-acre site was seeded by generous donations from two long-time supporters.
The purchase launches the start of a three-year plan drafted by Manifest’s staff and board of directors during which the building will be renovated and reimagined as the future world headquarters of Manifest’s multiple programs, with the future name as Manifest Center for the Visual Arts.
The first programming to transition to the new facility will be Manifest’s regionally-engaging educational Drawing Center studio offerings, including all drawing, painting, darkroom photography, and related activities, as well as the Scholar in Residence program. This transition will occur by mid-2022, and new offerings are already in the planning stages. The new location will enable expanded programs, accessibility, dynamic cross-disciplinary interactions and other partnerships.
Manifest’s long-time home base on Woodburn Avenue in East Walnut Hills, with its five galleries, offices, and residency studios will continue as it has through its 20th season (through 2024), and pending funding support during the three-year plan, Manifest will retain its presence in the Victoria into the future as an
ambassadorial wing to the nearby community, allowing for educational outreach, expanded exhibitions and more.
In 2004, Manifest was founded by an all-volunteer group of professors and students from the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. Since January 2005 Manifest has presented 401 exhibitions and published 30 books and 74 catalogs representing 9,044 works by 3,683 artists from 50 states, Washington D.C., and 43 countries. Since mid-2004 its studio programming has served an estimated 60,000 participants of all ages and backgrounds, and twenty-two artists have participated in Manifest’s Artist
Residency program, a vast majority of them relocating to Cincinnati from across the U.S. and Canada for the year-long immersion.