History

Krone Museum

Idyllwild Arts (formerly Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts or ISOMATA) was founded by Dr. Max Krone and his wife, Beatrice. Visionaries with a dream of a remote place where people of all backgrounds could come together to experience the arts, they established the Idyllwild Arts Foundation in 1946 and purchased acreage in the scenic San Jacinto Mountains on which to build. In 1950, approximately one hundred adult students began attending summer classes in the arts.

Over the years, summer activities have continued to grow, expanding to include programs for children of all ages, a special Family Camps. Classes in music, dance, theatre, visual arts, witing and Native American arts are offered to students from age 5 and up. Each year over 1800 adults and children attend Idyllwild Arts Summer Program courses.

In 1964, day-to-day operations and general management of the property was given to the University of Southern California under the terms of an agreement with the Idyllwild Arts Foundation. In 1983, the Foundation exercised its option to resume independent management and resumed sole ownership of the instituion. Dr. and Mrs. Richard H. MacNeal became major benefactors in 1985 and provided the funds to realize a long-time dream: the establishment of the first independent boarding high school for the arts in the western United States, the Idyllwild Arts Academy.

The Academy opened in the fall of 1986 with a student body of 70 students, grades 8-12. In that first year, students attended a nearby independent school each morning for college-preparatory academic classes and returned to the Idyllwild Arts Academy campus to receive pre-professional training in the arts each afternoon. By 1990, academic classes were held on the IAA campus. In a remarkably short time, the school began attracting some of the most talented young artists from around the world.

Today, the Academy is a fully-accredited college preparatory school in its own right and prepares artists for the finest conservatories and professional companies, liberal arts colleges and universities. The Academy hosts over 270 students from across the United States and around the world. President Brian D. Cohen, Deans and faculty scour the U.S. and the globe to bring the most talented students from Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, Africa and North America back to California. The Academy boasts a student teacher ratio of 8:1, with almost 65% of students receiving some form of financial aid (an annual total of over 5 million dollars).