SLIPPERY ROCK — Theater professor Deanna Brookens has always known two things: she was born to act and to teach acting.

But ending up back at her alma mater, Slippery Rock University, in her hometown, and directing the school’s arts festival? Even Brookens she didn’t see that coming.

SRU’s annual arts festival, Kaleidoscope, which runs through Thursday, is Brookens’ baby this year. The festival features dance, music, theater, visual and literary arts and guest artists.

Brookens, 31, is in her third year of teaching at SRU and her first full year of directing Kaleidoscope after taking over halfway through last year’s planning process, when the event’s former faculty director moved out of the area.

Brookens said she liked her experience last year so much that she decided to reapply for the directorship position.

“I have a passion for what the arts can do in our communities, and what’s great about this festival is that it offers something for everybody,” Brookens said. “That diversity in terms of programming is really effective, and I love being a part of that.”

Brookens will be the first to say that planning Kaleidoscope doesn’t happen in a vacuum or only in the confines of her office. She and a team of 11 faculty members meet once a month throughout the academic year, pitching ideas for programs and visiting artists and evaluating the technical and logistical needs.

“There’s a variety of tasks, and it is a very busy year,” Brookens said. “But in the last two weeks of April, it really pays off.”

In a first for Brookens this year, she said, a “core” group of students — many of them arts administration majors — has helped shepherd the festival. For Brookens, who thrives on working together and who enjoys teaching beginning classes to non-majors and working with children, Kaleidoscope is a chance to create a teachable moment spread over 14 days.

“What’s so nice about these student-driven events is, they are helping lead the charge, and they feel like active participants,” Brookens said. “I think it’s a cue to the rest of the campus population that they can get involved.”

This year SRU brought in Oregon-based multidisciplinary artist Tim Stapleton, whose play “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” deals with his childhood in Appalachia and his return to the area 30 years later.

In addition to working with SRU theater students, Brookens said, Stapleton’s show, which was performed Sunday and will go on again tonight, includes student artists from SRU as well as a student stage manager.

The festival also includes events for much younger artists-in-training such as the combination Children’s Day/Earth Day celebration that occurred last week. That included dramatic and musical performances, arts and crafts, and a chance for budding artists to explore their creativity.

Brookens sees art as an outlet that challenges youths to see things from different perspectives and trust their peers to accept and support them when they take creative risks.

“The arts are something where they can really express themselves and become more compassionate as well,” Brookens said. “I think it’s good for their confidence and their abilities to collaborate.”

For Brookens, Kaleidoscope is more than just an art festival or a sequence of events. It’s a way to enrich the community where she grew up — both literally and intellectually. Brookens graduated from Slippery Rock High School, got her undergraduate degree from SRU.

She went on to graduate school at the University of Iowa, and now is a member of the academic community she credits for nurturing her desire to become an actor and teacher.

This year Brookens and SRU students are doing something to help refurbish a tactile expression of that artistic community — they’ve started a crowdfunding effort to repair a tile mural on Elm Street, created in 2009 by Erie-based artist Ed Grout and SRU students.

The festival has supported the ongoing renovation of the mural since 2014, but after significant deterioration occurred this winter, the decision was made to replace the piece with a wood mural in connection with artist Bill Smith. So far the effort has raised $1,075 of its $3,500 goal.

Brookens said she wants the festival to be an expression of SRU’s diversity, interconnectedness and creativity.

“We have such talented students, so I think sometimes it’s hard for our students because they get so busy ... to get out and see different programming,” she said. “Having a vibrant art scene in this community is really important for me.”

To get information on the festival and for a schedule of events, visit http://bit.ly/23UKitx.