Without some intervention, an advocacy group says, the future of fine arts education in Utah elementary schools could be in trouble.

Ellery Pugmire has been the dance specialist for two years at Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Cedar Hills. Her position was created through the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program, funded jointly by Sorenson and the Utah State Legislature. Now that state funding has been cut, some arts teachers like Pugmire are in danger of losing their jobs.

But Pugmire would rather talk about how it affects the kids.

"This is a side-by-side teaching model. The classroom teacher and I collaborate to apply the arts to what they are studying," she said.

Jed Francis is the art specialist at Alpine Elementary School in Alpine, and he, too, works side by side with the core teachers. Recently the sixth-graders at Alpine were studying Egypt, and he had the students doing Egypt-type art, created much the same way it was anciently.

"This program is such a good thing. It keeps arts going in the schools. And some kids learn better the art way," Francis said. "The Legislature needs to understand how important this is."

It's programs such as these that Friends of Art Works for Kids is traveling the state to save. This statewide initiative has been created to advocate the state's ongoing support of Sorenson's program in Utah elementary schools. Because of budget shortfalls, funding for the program will be cut at the end of the 2009-10 school year, unless the Utah Legislature acts to extend the program, based on feedback from parents and other concerned residents from throughout the state.

Beverly Taylor Sorensen started the Arts Learning Program after seeing the "wonderful things they were doing in the colleges and the high schools," she said.

"I asked, 'Where is this in the elementary schools?' And there was really no program for the elementary schools. That sent me off on a quest," Sorensen said in an interview Monday.

On her quest she found a school that was in one of the most at-risk areas. After the principal of that school brought in an integrated arts program, the gang problems diminished and it changed the community.

Sorensen wanted to see that change happen in all schools. To date, she and her family's Sorensen Legacy Foundation have provided $45 million in funding for arts education in the elementary schools.

"It's too large now for me to fund it all. I'm very concerned," Sorensen said. She said the program needs to be in place for four years to show results.

Sorensen has traveled with the advocacy group to let the community know how important the arts are, and to inspire them to let their legislator know. The team will finish its tour of the state at the end of November.

"In this crucial time for Utah, parents and other concerned citizens throughout the state need to let their legislators know that there is no substitute for quality integrated arts instruction in a child's education," Sorensen said.

The public can join the cause to keep this program through Friends of Art Works for Kids at the Web site www.artworksforkids.org.

To keep arts education in schools, go online and join:

Friends of Art Works for Kids

Register at www.artworksforkids.org