In an effort to expand student involvement in downtown life, the Off-Campus Student Union is in the beginning stages of creating an all-student arts festival.

Off-Campus Student Union President Ryan Bennington said the project is in the "very, very, very early stages," but he said he is hopeful that this year, the foundation can be set for an event that would grow in the future.

"This year, the main goal is to get things off the ground and running," he said. "I would like to see five years down the road that it would be huge, including a film festival."

For this year, Bennington said he would be happy with three blocks of pedestrian traffic where students can set up shop and sell work sometime in April.

The Off-Campus Student Union wants to hold the festival downtown on Pugh, Allen and Fraser streets, between College and Beaver avenues.

However, State College Mayor Bill Welch said that he is concerned about closing streets in that area.

"I'm all for art," Welch said, but he voiced concerns about the potential for parking problems.

Marielle Russack (junior-art education) said she liked the idea of the student art festival and might consider participating. "I went [to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts] this past year for the first time. Some things were really ridiculous, like brooms for $3,000," Russack said.

However, Russack said participating as a vendor in the spring semester sounds hectic to her.

"There is so much work during the semester and cleanliness, finishing touches and making sure your idea [for the art] is conveyed correctly is important," Russack said.

Welch said he is in favor of holding it in the State Theatre once it reopens. As far as closing streets, he said, the State College Borough Council would have to decide.

"We need to be able to make it accessible for emergency vehicles to get in and out and people to be able to circulate," Public Works Director Mark Whitfield said. "Offhand, it sounds like a lot of streets."

He said Fraser and Pugh streets provide access to parking garages, and Pugh is also a bus route.

Bennington said he plans to meet with borough officials to work out details of the project.

Executive Director of Arts Festival Rick Bryant said he doesn't think the student festival will take away from the annual Arts Festival. "In general, I think anything that brings people to art is a good idea," Bryant said. "I think it is much cooler to have a coffee mug that someone made rather than one from a country we can't spell."

Elody Gyekis (sophomore-visual art) said she thinks it is a wonderful idea to give students an opportunity to buy and sell art to their peers.

"It is great for upperclassmen who need money and have lots of work," Gyekis said.

Brittany Frost (junior-bachelor of arts) said she would be interested to see what other people would sell, but she doesn't think she would submit anything herself.

"I don't know if I'd have the time ... it would be mid-semester and it would be crazy with the amount of work that would go into [it]," Frost said.

Ideally, the festival would include student vendors selling work that is affordable to other students, Bennington said.

"The idea is that people could actually decorate their apartments with this stuff," he said.

Russack added that even though she is a student with studio work, it is not prepared properly for sale. "For paintings and prints, you have to frame or mat everything and that takes time and costs money. With 3-D things, you have to make sure it is easy to transport," Russack said. "Presentation is such a pain."