The Student Planning Committee, a University of Alaska Fairbanks student organization, consists of new freshmen to PhD students from a variety of cultural backgrounds which study a wide array of the UAF disciplines.  The students begin planning for the annual festival once the academic year starts each fall and plan until the Festival of Native Arts takes place during the first weekend in March.  The students involved with the Festival of Native Arts Student Planning Committee will leave their UAF experience with a greater knowledge and respect of traditional and contemporary Alaska Native culture.