We are:

manifestA is a collectively-led organization facilitated by students and open to all members of the A-School community (students, faculty, and staff)–past and present. We welcome participation from all disciplines, backgrounds, sexual orientations, genders (including trans and non-binary folx), ethnicities, races, and abilities. manifestA seeks to challenge the explicit and implicit inequities and biases that have been perpetuated within the allied design professions and the built environment.

We acknowledge our professions’ complicity in creating and reinforcing unjust systems. manifestA stands against white supremacy and systemic racism. We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement in solidarity for the dignity, protection, and empowerment of Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color. manifestA is a platform to address these institutions of injustice as they intersect with design and the built environment.

In alliance with the Inclusion + Equity Committee of the School of Architecture, the National Organization for Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS), A-School International Student Association (AISA), and others, we aim to foster meaningful conversations and educational programming that will strengthen the A-School community's ability to address issues of justice and equity in academic and professional work.

Join us in our commitment to listen, learn, and amplify the voices leading these conversations.

We will:

Hold our organization and larger institution accountable to continue to address injustice in the UVA School of Architecture guided by the Call to Action, which was led by A-School community members. Work with partner organizations inside and outside the A-School to foster meaningful conversations, host educational programming, facilitate collaboration between different departments and in related fields, and serve as a connector to larger issues of inclusion + equity at the University of Virginia. Share resources which promote dialogue about equity across the disciplines of the built environment.

Programming + Resources:

Digital Resources Library: An evolving list of publicly accessible resources available on the web related to the built environment and centering BIPOC/ feminist/ LGBTQIA+/ international voices and concern

Equity Library Book Share: A curated collection of books exploring various issues related to equity in the built environment is available to students, faculty, and staff of the A-School to borrow

Exhibitions: An annual effort to more deeply explore issues of equity through a public exhibition to be hosted by the A-School

Guest Lectures and Speakers: Advocate for a diverse slate of lecturers, visiting faculty, reviewers, and guest critics reflecting the diverse demographics we wish to see in the discipline

Although this organization has members who are University of Virginia students and may have University employees associated or engaged in its activities and affairs, the organization is not a part of or an agency of the University. It is a separate and independent organization, which is responsible for and manages its own activities and affairs. The University does not direct, supervise or control the organization and is not responsible for the organization’s contracts, acts or omissions.

We are currently processing architectural precedents we have already received, updates to come!