The recession isn’t doing much to dampen Columbia College’s plans for its annual day-long festival of student work known as Manifest.

Fourteen galleries, six stages and a parade, among other things, will show off the work of about 2,000 seniors and graduate students this year, says college vice president of student affairs Mark Kelly.

One event that did get the axe: a concert in Grant Park for students that last year featured the rock band OK Go. The concert at the end of the day was closed to the public last year but cost the college $50,000 to put on, including the costs of rentals and hiring extra security guards.

“Everybody’s looking to trim their budget, and this is a pretty obvious place,” says college spokeswoman Micki Leventhal.

While that news initially was met with dismay by some students, Columbia’s campus paper yesterday endorsed the administration’s plans to bag the concert and put the money toward other parts of Manifest.

“What wound up happening last year was because the kids were ecstatic (about the headliner band), you had to be a Columbia student to get into the event,” says Leventhal. “If it’s really a popular thing, you’re not going to get into the concert anyway (as a member of the public).”

Instead this year, Kelly says, the entire $270,000 budget for Manifest is going into the rest of the day’s events, which take up several blocks in the South Loop. Columbia relies on corporate sponsorships to cover some of those costs, with the rest paid for out of student activities fees.

“It just focuses more on the campus,” Kelly says. “Instead of bringing in outside talent, it’s our talent.”

Student work will be on display in more than a dozen galleries around campus, much of it for sale. Student bands will perform on the outdoor stages. The day’s events will include a rendition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in American Sign Language, as well as a fashion show organized by students and showing off student work.

Kelly says he expects Manifest will draw at least 30,000 people.

The college is also hyping the planned appearance of author Ray Bradbury, who is slated to receive an honorary degree and participate in the Spectacle Fortuna parade.

“Imagine Ray Bradbury in a bicycle rickshaw at the front of the parade,” Kelly says.

The day’s events start at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 15. Everything is free and open to the public.