Baltimore native, Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman donates $250,000 to Baltimore School for the Arts

Baltimore native and Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman not only thinks the Baltimore School for the Arts is “cool,” he’s willing to put up some money to help it become even cooler.

Rothman, a graduate of the Park School who has been Chairman of the Motion Picture Group of Sony Pictures Entertainment since 2015, is donating $250,000 to the BSA, to create the Rothman Endowed Fund in Visual Storytelling. Along with his wife, actress Jessica Harper, Rothman is establishing the fund in honor of his parents, Donald and Bette Rothman. Donald, a prominent Baltimore attorney who helped establish Center Stage, died in 2009, Bette in 2014.

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“BSA is an inspiring institution of defiant determination and belief,” Tom Rothman said in a release announcing the donation. “It’s also really cool. My father and mother supported it back in the day, and my sister does so now. My wife Jessica and I are honored to continue that tradition of support, and hope others will join us.”

Rothman’s sister, Julie Rothman, is vice chair of the school’s Board of Trustees. And Donald Rothman led the school’s first endowment campaign, helping it raise $1 million in the 1980s. The BSA, founded in 1979, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year

The Rothman fund will be used to support initiatives such as artists-in-residence, master classes, students projects and film productions, school officials said. A new film space at the school is scheduled to be dedicated in honor of the Rothman family during the 2019-20 school year.