Pictured: Art in Education, held at the Sarasota Art Museum, showcased students from various Sarasota County Schools. Provided photo.

March is Arts in Education month, and I've been thinking about what that really means. What do arts programs actually do for our students? And more importantly, what happens when they're not there?

We talk a lot about preparing students for the future, for jobs that don't exist yet, for challenges we can't predict. There's a framework for this called 21st-century skills, built around four Cs: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Those are the capabilities that matter most in a rapidly changing world.

And here's what I find fascinating; those are exactly the skills that arts education develops. They're also, not coincidentally, the skills that differentiate us from artificial intelligence. In an age when everyone's asking what humans will still be needed for, the answer is right there in the band room, the theater, the art studio. The things that make us distinctly, irreplaceably human.

We don't teach arts just to create more artists. Arts education gives young people a safe space to take creative risks, to work together, and to find their voices. We’re teaching life skills.

But here's the thing: school is the most reliable, most consistent way that students have access to arts. Full stop.

Think about it. Private piano lessons and dance classes at a studio are wonderful. They're also not available to everyone. They require money, transportation, and parents with flexible schedules. Without arts in schools, we're essentially saying that a child's access to creative development depends on their family's resources.

This is why school arts programs matter so much. They reach every student, regardless of what neighborhood they live in or what their family can afford. Just like we've decided that every child should learn to read in school, and every child should have water safety education (we do live around a lot of water, after all), we should ensure every child has access to arts education. It’s why the Alliance has long convened our arts organizations, educators, and community partners to support this work.

School districts everywhere are facing difficult budget decisions. And arts programs, because they often exist as singular positions are uniquely vulnerable. You might have several English teachers at a middle school, but there's often just one choral director, one theater teacher, one dance instructor. Cut that position, and you don't just reduce a program. You eliminate it entirely. And once that happens, restoring it could take a lot of time, and we know that it can also be unlikely.

So, what can we do? We can see the impact that the arts have in schools by attending a theater performance, an art exhibition, or a musical performance. Experience the impact for yourself, and you can join the conversation. On April 8, we're hosting an Arts & Education Advocacy panel, bringing together leaders from across Florida to talk honestly about the future of creative learning in our schools.

Because that's what this month is really about. It's not just celebrating arts in schools. It's recommitting to making sure they stay there as an essential element of a complete education.

The creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving students learn in arts classrooms don't stay in those classrooms. The students we invest in today become the workforce we depend on, the neighbors we live beside, the leaders who shape what comes next. Arts education doesn't just build better artists. It builds better citizens, better colleagues, better community members, the people all of us will work with, live with, and count on. That's our shared future.

Visit sarasotaarts.org to learn more Arts & Education.

Brian Hersh is the CEO of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.

Pictured: Art in Education, held at the Sarasota Art Museum, showcased students from various Sarasota County Schools. Provided photo.