Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today announces that David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, will deliver the David Rockefeller Lecture on arts and business. Held on Wednesday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at The TimesCenter in New York City, the evening will also feature an introduction by acclaimed singer Renée Fleming, and a performance by Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra Blakey Ensemble. 

 

The lecture will address Rubenstein’s perspective on why it is important to support the arts, how creativity can help businesses succeed, and how the arts play a role in building a creative and innovative workforce. The lecture series—a signature program of the Business Committee for the Arts—is presented annually by a business leader who is internationally recognized for forming enduring links between business and the arts. 

 

“Our goal is to inspire business leaders to create meaningful collaborations—partnerships that not only support a healthy, creative, and arts-rich community, but that also give businesses a strategic advantage,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “I am pleased that David Rubenstein will be delivering this engaging lecture, and what better time than the 50th anniversary of David Rockefeller’s founding address for the Business Committee for the Arts.” 

 

In recognition of Rockefeller’s mission to ensure that the business community supported a thriving and vibrant arts community, Americans for the Arts is reinstating the lecture series, with the goal of advancing 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. Past speakers include Eli Broad, Raymond Nasher, and David Rockefeller Jr. 

 

The event is free and open to the press. Press must register in advance by contacting Inga Vitols at [email protected], or 202-371-2830. 

 

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

 

The Business Committee for the Arts (BCA) merged with Americans for the Arts in 2008 and continues to place an emphasis on building partnerships between the arts and business sectors through The pARTnership Movement, the BCA National Survey of Business Support for the Arts, the BCA 10 Awards, and other programming. The Business Committee for the Arts Executive Board, a group of key business leaders, provides insight and support for these programs. Visit www.pARTnershipMovement.org for more information.