It’s that time of year again — time for the annual University Students’ Council Festival of the Arts. Never heard of it? That’s probably because it is usually held off campus. But this year, it will be taking place in the University Community Centre Wednesday and Thursday.

The event is held to showcase art and music within the Western community. Festival of the Arts commissioner Jonathan Pinkus says the event is really trying to reach out more to Western students this year.

“We are really trying to identify the event with Western. It is a Western event, not an event at Western,” he explains. “Rather than trying to compete with the USC, we want to take advantage of what it has to offer.”

An art exhibit is just one portion of the event and will take place in the UCC atrium over the two days. It will feature everything from photography, to drawings, to oil paintings — all submitted by Western students.

Complementing the art will be a continuous flow of acoustic performances in the atrium throughout the day.

Comedy acts presented by the UWO Comedy Club will take place in the Cardio Annex Wednesday as well. There is no cover fee.

The final portion of Festival of the Arts will be Purplepalooza at the Wave Thursday night.

“I am really excited for [Purplepalooza]. We were originally going to have a dry event and incorporate first-year bands — but then realized no one would show up so we made it a 19+ event,” Pinkus says.

The three bands to perform were chosen following Pre-purplepalooza, which took place at the Spoke Jan. 22.

Following their performances Thursday night, the bands will be critiqued by a panel that includes members of the music community and CHRW, who will be airing the event live.

The three bands set to perform are alternative rock band Right Eye of Horus, progressive rock and metal band Anathema’s Blessing and alternative rock group Second Stage.

There will also be door prizes at the event, including a guitar from John Bellone’s, tickets from the John Labatt Centre and prizes from The Book Store and Mustang Alley.

Pinkus says that there has been a lot of support and sponsorship from the Book Store at Western and CHRW.

The organizers of Festival of the Arts are expecting this to be its most successful year yet.