10/19/2024
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES AND READ THIS INTERESTING STORY.
In 1976, while employed by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Dr. Rita Simo visited me asking for assistance in finding a home for her music program. I asked two of my staff to find her a building, and they did.
Little did I know that Rita's school would grow and become the outstanding school that it is today. I last spoke with Rita in 2015. She passed away in 2020.
Also, little did I know that in 2012 I would open EN-RICH-MENT, a program very similar to Ritas.
What I do know is that with the help of Foundations, family, friends and supporters of the arts, EN-RICH-MENT will one day, in the very near future, become a pillar for the arts in Stark County for underserved youth. We are on our way. God is good.
Dr. Rita Simó, a Juilliard-trained classical pianist, was inspired by the free music education she received as a child in the Dominican Republic. She dreamt of having her own place to teach and convey the joy of learning music to others. Her belief was that all children should have access to music education, regardless of their family’s socioeconomic status.
Rita’s dream became a reality on February 22, 1976 when she opened the doors of The People’s Music School in a vacant storefront in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, with only $625 and a piano donated by St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church. Rita placed a sign in the window that said FREE MUSIC LESSONS and a handful of students began to trickle in.
Rita was quoted as saying. “What we are doing is letting students discover their self-worth through their love of music.” In 1995, Dr. Simó and the school directors erected the building currently housing the school at 931 W. Eastwood Avenue, still in the culturally diverse Uptown neighborhood where it first began.
On September 22, 2020, Rita passed away.
