Youngstown State University is bringing its Summer Festival of the Arts back to campus in 2025.

The festival, which started in 1999 on the grounds of the university, moved to Wean Foundation Park between the Covelli Centre and the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre in 2021 after being canceled the year before because of the pandemic.

At the time of the move, former YSU President Jim Tressel said the festival didn’t have room to grow on campus and the park allowed for more social distancing as the country was coming out of COVID-19 restrictions.

In a statement Monday announcing the move, YSU President Bill Johnson said, “We are excited to bring the Summer Festival of the Arts back to its home at YSU. Returning to the campus not only honors the festival’s rich history, but also enhances the experience for both artists and attendees from throughout our region. We look forward to another year of celebrating creativity and community on our beautiful campus.”

The festival, which has drawn 15,000 people over two days, will take place July 12 and 13, and it will feature a juried artist market, live entertainment and interactive activities.

“We’re really grateful for JAC (Management, which oversees the park), Wean Park and the city,” said Phyllis Paul, dean of the YSU Cliffe College of Creative Arts, “They were wonderfully supportive, and we had four really good years there. We got a lot of new artists, and we also expanded the entertainment.”

Returning to the campus will allow for more collaborations with other cultural institutions, she said. The Butler Institute of American Art, Arms Family Museum and McDonough Museum of Art all are adjacent to YSU.

The move also would allow for the public to spend the day at the festival and then attend a larger event downtown in the evening, Paul said. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to do a Covelli Centre event or Y-Live concert at the same time as the festival if it remained in Wean Foundation Park.

“It opens up different kinds of possibilities,” Paul said. “We have yet to figure out exactly how we’ll explore that … It’s still developing, but I think people are really going to be pleased.”