There is some concern as the new school year begins that arts education will be cut from New Jersey schools.

Education experts say that while not every student is an artist, arts can benefit any student.

“It’s not less important, it’s not more important. It’s equal in importance,” says Bob Morrison, director of Arts Ed New Jersey.

Arts Ed is a nonprofit that partners with visual and performing arts groups to advocate for arts education. Morrison says that he is concerned that some school districts in New Jersey will reassign art teachers to cover other subjects this fall due to COVID-19-related staffing changes. He says that this will cost students the benefits of arts education.

“Creativity, innovation, working in teams, coming up with unique and creative ways to address modern problems. These are the things that businesses are looking for in students, and these are the things arts provide for them,” he says.

Psychologist Maurice Elias of Rutgers University says the arts can help students with COVID-19-elated anxiety and life skills.

"In order to be succeed in life, you have to be able to read feelings, read situations, deal with strong emotions. Not let obstacles derail you. And think about how important all that is in COVID,” he says.

Arts Ed New Jersey partnered with a recent COVID-19 study at the University of Colorado Boulder on disbursement of respiratory aerosols while playing brass or wind instruments, singing and other theater arts. The study looked at how to mitigate release through masks on players and even instruments.