How does a tuition-free music school survive—and thrive—for half a century?
Speaking in their newest location at 54th and State on the South Side of Chicago, The People’s Music School’s chief program officer Natalie Butler has many explanations.
“We have to have results for students that are undeniable,” she says, “that even people who don’t know anything about the school say: wow, this is really amazing.”
A Gift, To Share and Hold
A rarity amongst non-profits, the school owns its building in Chicago’s Uptown—one of many little miracles handed down by its founder, Rita Simo.
A one-time nun and Julliard-trained pianist who immigrated from Trujillo’s Dominican Republic, Simo opened The People’s Music School (TPMS) in 1976 in a former beauty parlor with several hundred dollars and a donated grand piano.
Twenty years later, she somehow convinced the city’s First Lady, Maggie Daley, to sell her an empty lot for $1; the school’s “Uptown Academy” has called the lot home for the last 30 years.
Until her death in 2020, Simo was, by all accounts, a force of nature, who manifested her pure vision with the motto: “Music is a gift. Pass it on!”
After joining TPMS in 2009 at the age of 10, pianist Anna Pastrana remembers Simo attending her first jury (a semester’s end exam), in which Pastrana played a waltz by Chopin.
“Classical music is very strict, with all the articulations, but romantic music is more free,” Pastrana recalls. “That’s something [Simo] helped me understand about Chopin: you can take time, you can feel the melodies. That, I won’t forget.”
Although Pastrana had begun playing piano five years earlier, TPMS requires no auditions to enroll—one less barrier for youth who may not have had the opportunity or resources to discover, let alone develop, their musical talent.
Before transitioning to a lottery system, enrollment at TPMS operated on a first-come, first-served basis that had families literally camping outside the school’s doors up to a week in advance. But once enrolled—anywhere from 1st-11th grade in the coming year—that student can continue to take lessons at TPMS straight through to their high school graduation.
“In People’s Music School, you can tell that those students and parents don’t take that school for granted,” Pastrana says.
Everyone Plays Their Part
While free of tuition, each family does agree to pay—with their time. Each family commits to a handful of service hours per semester, like volunteering at the front desk. Butler recounts electricians who replaced every light bulb in the building, or carpenters who built instrument racks that the school still uses to this day.
Pastrana also credits TPMS’s model for giving the school a very family-like atmosphere, as many students may witness parents volunteering as they attend class.
In their new space at 54th & State, meanwhile, TPMS finally has space to feature a precious piece of its history: a small studio containing Rita Simo’s personal piano.
“That’s the magic of what Rita created from the beginning,” Butler says. “You create something so irresistible, that taps into something intrinsic in humans. What culture doesn’t have some sort of music, or rhythm? To tap into that, and give people the opportunity to experience it, is incredible.”