Curtis Institute Completes 11-Year Fundraising Campaign to Keep Tuition Free

A total of $255 million has been raised, to be put towards the school's endowment and more

The Curtis Institute of Music has completed a large-scale fundraising campaign, which earned a total of $255m towards the school's endowment, musical instruments, programs, and another building on Rittenhouse Square.

The fundraising, which took eleven years to complete, has also secured the future of free tuition for all Curtis students. Curtis has been totally free for its students to attend since 1928, when its founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, abolished tuition. With the school's endowment newly replenished, this practice can continue.

Over the course of the campaign, Curtis received an extraordinary number of individual gifts, especially considering that the school has only around 165 students at any given time. The flagship donation of $55 million was made by the philanthropist Nina Baroness von Maltzahn, and this was bolstered by five other gifts of more than $10 million each. There were also 17,000 smaller donations made by a total of 4,654 donors.

Already, the school has allocated $4.5 million to obtain the Philadelphia Art Alliance building, though further fundraising will be required to develop the space as needed.

"[Tuition is] something that I think about because it’s in support of Mary Louise Curtis Bok’s intention," said Roberto Díaz, Curtis president and CEO. "I see it as fulfilling her original idea about what the school should be."

"It nearly doubles the Curtis endowment, which I think is remarkable for a school of this size," said Matthew Sware, senior vice president for advancement.