Gift for Classical Guitar Studies “Blends” Annual and Estate Giving Perfectly

A generous scholarship in classical guitar has been created to honor Richard Pick, who taught at the School of Music.

Last year a generous alumnus and his spouse approached us with a mission— to elevate awareness of the classical guitar program at the DePaul School of Music by establishing a new scholarship.

This fall DePaul’s first Richard Pick Scholar in Classical Guitar Performance will arrive on campus. The Pick Scholarship provides a very generous tuition grant to students of classical guitar, renewable for their four years on campus. “We have researched other scholarships in classical guitar studies,” the donors told us. “This is among the best available.”

They chose to name the scholarship fund to honor one of his DePaul professors, Richard Pick, an influential educator, composer and musician. Pick was the first guitarist to perform a solo concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During his extremely productive musical life, Mr. Pick created numerous original solo and ensemble works, transcriptions and arrangements. Pick founded classical guitar studies at DePaul, and he produced the first guitar method book published in the United States since 1924. The donors explain, “It is our privilege to create this scholarship in his name.”

The donors accomplished this through a “blended gift.” A classic example of a “blended gift” is when a donor promises to donate annually directly towards a scholarship. That same donor then ensures that this generosity will go on forever by creating an endowed scholarship fund through a bequest from his or her estate.

The beauty of a blended gift like this is that the donors will be able to see immediate application and benefits to the school. “This allows us to introduce the grateful student to these wonderful people,” says Rich Goode of DePaul’s Office of Advancement. “They get to see the impact that their gift will have.” The student is required to audition along with other applicants. The recipient will then be chosen to ensure highest qualifications are met so that DePaul enrolls a high-caliber classical guitar performance student.

“With the Pick Scholarship and our outstanding faculty,” Dean Ron Caltabiano explains, “the future is quite bright for DePaul’s classical guitar program.”