Voices: We’re proof that Utah’s arts investment works. Will today’s students get the same opportunities?

We are three arts professionals, who received arts education via Utah’s K-12 and university systems. Practicing theatre, visual arts, dance and choir in Utah schools supported our mental health and gave us professional skills we are currently using 30+ years later. We all have meaningful careers where the arts are integral to how we give back to our communities.

Jim studied theatre and co-founded Wasatch Theatre Company almost 30 years ago. Erin studied fine arts and teaches art for Granite School district. And Candace studied theatre and is now a tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan.

Over the decades, we have watched the Utah Legislature erode support for arts education in Utah schools. Utah is still among the lowest in public education spending per student and does not use arts education as an indicator for overall successful student outcomes. While the Beverly Taylor Sorensen (BTS) program offers much needed support for arts education, it lacks permanent funding, does not support middle or high school systems and does not reach all Utah elementary schools. As an arts educator funded through BTS, Erin has been responsible for 600 to 1,300 students annually (compared 30 students for general education teachers) and only allotted 45 minutes of prep time per week.

Utah higher education is also bleak: In 2025, the Utah Legislature cut 81 academic programs gutting degrees in the performing arts.

The three of us are examples of how arts education provides essential skills that create professional opportunities and contributions to the larger community. Decades of research show this to be the case. And as educators, we have witnessed the extraordinary impact arts education has on student mental health and wellbeing. Again, research supports these observations.

Utah youth are facing a mental health crisis. As educators, we witnessed the pandemic intensify mental health challenges for students. We also know that arts programming provides students with creative outlets for processing trauma, with tools for emotional expression and with affirming communities. Decades of research shows that students involved in arts programs have less anxiety, manage stress better and have stronger social connections.

Erin had a student — we’ll call her Josephine — who cried and yelled daily during her first year at school. The second year, Josephine’s behavior changed, she was attentive in class and played with kids during recess. One morning at the playground, Josephine’s mother approached Erin and shared, “Josephine loves your class. She looks forward to it more than anything. She says she feels ‘free.’”

While many variables likely affected Josephine’s behavior, clearly, the art classes were influential.

Candace interviewed queer and transgender youth during COVID-19 lockdowns. When asked about pandemic-related depression and anxiety, most said they were struggling. But when asked how they coped, more than 90% named art-making. One student — we’ll call her Bella — gave a typical response: “Doing art makes me happiest … The act of creation is just such a rewarding process. Even if there’s challenges involved, that makes it all the more rewarding once you get through the whole process of creating something.”

Bella’s perseverance demonstrates how mental wellbeing is foundational to building 21st century professional skills necessary to compete in an increasingly technologized economy. Arts education cultivates these essential humanist skills. Theatre teaches students flexibility, adaptability, collaboration, problem-solving and leadership. Visual arts train students in creativity, innovation, critical thinking and to be independent learners. Music education fosters active listening, teamwork and discipline. These skills also emerge through engaging with countless other artforms.

If Utah is serious about youth wellbeing and cultivating engaged community members, it must fund arts education accordingly. Make BTS funding permanent and adequate by eliminating one-time appropriations, expanding to all elementary schools and creating equivalent programs for middle and high schools. Address arts education labor inequities by hiring more arts educators and implementing equitable class prep time. Restore university arts programs cut by the Legislature.

The three of us, through careers bolstered by arts education in Utah, have spent decades giving back to our communities through the arts. We worry that we may be the last generation for whom these paths will be possible. Will Utah youth have these same opportunities? That depends on whether the Legislature will treat the arts as essential to youth wellbeing rather than expendable.

M. Candace Christensen (they/them) is an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Christensen holds a BA in theatre and literature from the University of Texas at Dallas and an MSW and PhD from the University of Utah. They co-founded the Avalon Isle: Women’s Theatre Group in 2004 in Salt Lake City.

Erin Esplin (she/her) is an elementary arts educator in Salt Lake City for grades K-5, having previously taught general education to grades K, 1st, and 4th. She received her BFA with an emphasis in painting and drawing in 2004 from the University of Utah, her elementary education licensure in Utah in 2009, and completed the MATFA (Masters in the Art of Teaching Fine Arts) from the University of Utah in 2021. Erin has been involved in various art shows and performance art pieces throughout her life and has helped collaborate on various community art pieces and murals.

James Martin (he/him) is a lifelong educator who has served in a multitude of educational roles including teacher and principal. He created Wasatch Theatre Company in 1997 and still actively works as its executive director.

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