Seven students gathered in the Arroyo lounge Sunday evening to discuss plans for a new community arts-based co-operative house on campus. With hopes of opening the co-op next fall, the students envision a house that will act as a home for arts events and as the mouthpiece for the arts community.

Shelly Ronen ‘09, student organizer for the initiative, estimated that about 40 people have emailed her regarding the creation of the new co-op, and the Facebook group she created has 43 members.

Interest for a community arts-themed house has been steadily increasing in recent years. The emergence of student organizations such as Student Organizing Committee for the Arts (SOCA) in 1999 and Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SICA) in 2005 are testaments to the rise in arts interest on campus. SICA won the Dean of Students Outstanding Achievement Award in 2007.

The arts co-operative would allow student artists to come together and organize in a space run by their peers. Interested students could use the space both for the creation of projects and as a home for discussion, criticism and mobilization of new ideas and cooperative projects.

“There is a tension on campus that is unspoken that Stanford is lacking in the arts,” said Klara Klein ‘09. “There are just not many spaces available for theatre and music, for example. Coming home to something creative like the community arts co-op would provide an outlet to express oneself in a communal space.”

The project is pitched as an academic-themed house, but the communal living aspect is key for the community-arts house. While they are receptive to the idea of running the community-arts based co-op in a dormitory, the students emphasized that such a living space would not be ideal, as it would not have a kitchen and would promote a divisive and individualistic living environment.

The community aspect would extend beyond creating a home for artists.

“By building community, we would also be encouraging the development of relationships and connections between sub-communities within Stanford,” Ronen said. “Community connections are strongest when a house cooks, cleans and works together.”

She also stressed that the co-op will not be limited to arts majors or those taking arts classes.

“This community arts co-op is a home for anyone interested in the arts,” she added. “We welcome anyone who is passionate about their creative ideas and looking for extracurricular stimulation and stress relief through group arts.”

Students in attendance expressed excitement for the project as they doodled on a white sheet with colored markers, naming project ideas that would work well in a co-operative arts house: photography lessons, pottery and ceramics nights, critique nights with both personal and guest art and cooking lessons.

Despite the students’ enthusiasm, Nathaniel Boswell, associate director of Residential Education (ResEd), said that, because the project is still in its infancy, he could not predict its future.

“Residential Education did have occasion to meet with student Shelly Ronen who was looking for information and advice about how to move forward with a proposal for an Arts Co-operative on campus,” Boswell wrote in an email to The Daily. “Residential Education encourages creative thinking and suggestions for supplementing the programs in our campus residences, but at this point we have only been involved in one preliminary conversation with a single student,” he added. “There has been no commitment for next or any subsequent year. We are interested in hearing more about the project and taking a look at a concrete proposal in the coming months.”

Ronen, however, hopes that the house will be approved and in operation next year, for her final year at Stanford.

“We’re very confident this co-op will be up and running next year,” she said. “We will submit our proposal this December according to the ResEd application deadline in the hopes that we can achieve our aim.”