Archives for June 2016

About the Lecture

The David Rockefeller Lecture on arts and business is an annual lecture in New York City featuring prominent business leaders addressing the vital connection between the arts and business. The Lecture is named for David Rockefeller, founder of the Business Committee for the Arts for the Americans for the Arts program and former Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Corporation. This ongoing lecture series was created to advance Rockefeller’s belief that the arts are essential to free enterprise and human achievement, and to encourage businesses to form alliances with the arts as an expression of their broader responsibility to their communities.

Americans for the Arts has a core belief that when the arts and businesses partner, everyone profits, and this belief is carried through our programs including the Business Committee for the Arts, pARTnership Movement campaign, and professional development and communications strategies reaching arts and business leaders alike.

2016 Lecture Recap

David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, presented the 2016 David Rockefeller Lecture on May 4 at The TimesCenter in New York City. He was introduced by acclaimed singer Renée Fleming and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Blakely Youth Ensemble performed.

Thank you to The Conference Board for providing video services for the event.

To view the entire lecture, click on the red arrow below (Lecture is 1 hr. 2 minutes),  or click here to view  David Rubenstein’s 2-minute “Call to Business Leaders.”

President Obama signed into law the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015, which retroactively reinstates the provision for tax-free charitable gifts from IRA’s for 2015 and makes the provision permanent going forward. This is important news because the law that allowed individuals to make tax-free charitable gifts from an IRA expired at the end of 2014.

If you have been considering a tax-free rollover gift from your IRA to Missouri Citizens for the Arts or Missouri Citizens for the Arts Education Fund, you may find the information below helpful.

Under the new law:

· You must be 70 ½ years of age or older when the distribution is made.

· The transfer must go directly from your IRA to MCA or the charity of your choice.

· The provision has been made permanent. You may made tax-free transfers from your IRA to a charity or charities totaling up to $100,000 each calendar year. Your spouse may also be eligible to make such gifts up to $100,000 from his/her IRA.

· A charitable rollover gift from your IRA will count toward your minimum distribution requirement.

· Gifts from IRA may only be used to make an outright gift to a qualified public charity. Missouri Citizens for the Arts is a 501(c)4.  Missouri Citizens for the Arts Education Fund is a 501(c)3.

IRA assets cannot be used to fund a gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, a donor advised fund, or a private foundation.

Please consider Missouri Citizens for the Arts or Missouri Citizens for the Arts Education Fund when you make your charitable gift-giving plans. We thank you for your support.