The Spirit in Hip Hop

Chetan Kothari, affectionately known as 'Che', is the Executive Director of Manifesto Community Projects, whose mission is to unite, inspire and empower diverse communities of young people through arts and culture. Manifesto is best known for hosting the annual Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture, which has grown to become Canada's largest celebration of hip hop culture and beyond. Manifesto has 2 sister organizations Manifesto Jamaica & Manifesto Barbados. In addition to his role as Executive director, Che spends time as a mentor, workshop facilitator, keynote speaker and is also an internationally recognized portrait photographer and has shot some of the leading artists of our time. He is involved on a number of boards and advisory's, both locally, nationally, and internationally, and is building a strong legacy of youth arts organizing tied to self-actualization globally.

Culture. Love. Positivity. Opportunity. Change. These are the words that sum up what Che stands for. At a young age, he has not only become an accomplished photographer but also a role model and leader within his community dedicated to fostering other young artists and young leaders in the cities he lives in and the world at large.

Fresh out of school, he focused his lens on documenting the current artists of our time – those artists who had a message of social change embedded into their storytelling. He has photographed intimate portrait sessions with the likes of Ziggy Marley, Ice Cube of NWA, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Zaki Ibrahim, Common, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Afrika Bambaataa, K’naan, Erykah Badu, Nas, k-os, Shad, and many others as personal work as well as for covers of magazines and publications. These images have been apart of over 100 exhibitions from museums to the streets in Toronto Canada, Kingston Jamaica, New York USA, Tokyo Japan, Bombay India and more.

Although che had ample opportunity to focus solely on photography and play a role in helping to document social leaders of our time, he knew he had a responsibility to do more. The next step for che was building a non-profit organization, Manifesto Community Projects, of which he serves as the volunteer Executive Director. Manifesto is a grassroots organization whose mission is to empower young people through culture; it works to unite, energize, support and celebrate vibrant and diverse arts communities, and find innovative ways of working together towards common goals. Manifesto aims to provide a platform and the resources needed to advance the growth of the arts as a tool for positive change. che also co-founded sister organizations of Manifesto in Kingston Jamaica and Barbados. Manifesto’s main initiative in each country is a multi-day annual festival. Growing to be the largest and most unique festival of its kind in each city, the annual Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture brings together countless community members, artists, performers, and audience members to showcase local youth culture, strengthen foundations by building a collective sense of pride and possibility, and provide a stage for voices that are often marginalized from mainstream arts festivals.