UBS Named to BCA Hall of Fame
For Exemplary Support of the Arts in America
Sponsored by Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. and FORBES Magazine
New York, NY, October 6, 2005 – UBS, New York, New York, was named to the BCA Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) and FORBES Magazine, for its exemplary long-term support of the arts in America on October 5 during a black-tie gala attended by business and arts leaders from throughout the country at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, New York.
UBS was cited for its support of arts organizations large and small throughout the United States and for its sponsorship of major exhibitions, including Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and Earth at the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth; Cluck Close: Self Portraits 1967-2005 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Isamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design Exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. The company also sponsors major performances of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, plus the Colorado Music Festival, Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, and the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. For a number of years it has been a major sponsor of Art Basel and more recently, Art Basel Miami Beach - two major festivals of contemporary art from around the world.
UBS actively promotes its sponsorships through local and national advertising in print and radio, as well as direct mail and communications with its clients. Each ad is designed to communicate that the partnership between UBS and the arts is a partnership of shared values. This approach builds brand association for UBS and a "buzz" for arts organizations.
In 1971 UBS began its world-famous art collection under the leadership of Donald B. Marron, former Chairman of PaineWebber Incorporated, to support artists of our times and enhance the work environment for employees and customers. A selection of works from the collection of more than 900 pieces, including commissioned works by Frank Stella and Susan Rothenberg, have been on tour to major museums throughout the United States and were recently shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in an exhibition titled Contemporary Voices: The UBS Art Collection. Forty-four works from the collection have been promised to MoMA and as of December 2004 the public has access to the collection through The UBS Art Collection Web Museum (www.ubs.com/artcollection).
In 1985 the company established the UBS Art Gallery in the lobby of its midtown Manhattan building to enable not-for-profit arts and cultural organizations to mount exhibitions that might not otherwise be seen. Three thousand employees, clients and members of the general public visit this gallery daily.
Beyond general operating and project support, UBS also makes grants to help the arts reach the underserved and children who are at-risk and from low-income families. It recently underwrote admission and transportation for 410 students from City Park Intermediate School in Dalton, Georgia, for the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera's Young People's Concert. It supported a similar opportunity for 2,000 Denver-area low-income middle and high school students who attended Dracula, presented by the Colorado Ballet. It supported special educational programs and teacher curriculum materials for student programs presented by the Grand Rapids Symphony, the High Museum in Atlanta and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. And, in New York City, it collaborated with the MoMA to sponsor UBS Educators Open House: MoMA and the Contemporary Classroom, which was attended by 2,500 educators to encourage them to include the arts in their curriculum. UBS also supports the YMCA's Virtual Y
& Contemporary Voices, a daily literacy-arts-based after-school program for New York City elementary schoolchildren.
Additionally, UBS annually invites more than 16,000 of its clients to attend the visual and performing arts sponsored by the company, and it encourages employees to volunteer for the arts and serve on arts boards. It also encourages employees to make personal gifts to the arts, which UBS matches dollar-for-dollar and to participate in the arts by using the UBS Culture Card which offers employees access to the major arts organizations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Chicago. And, each year, the company sponsors Little Dividends - a series of art workshops conducted by Studio in a School in New York for employees and their children.
"UBS has a longstanding and on-going commitment to supporting the arts and culture," said Mark B. Sutton, Chairman & CEO, Americas, UBS. "We are dedicated to making cultural opportunities accessible to a broad audience and to embracing the belief that interaction with the arts inspires creative thinking."
"UBS's vision, leadership and commitment to the arts and its exceptional initiatives that increase awareness and involvement of the arts is nurturing the creativity of America's arts organizations and increasing participation in the arts throughout the United States," said Judith A. Jedlicka, President, Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.
The BCA Hall of Fame was established in 1992 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. Since BCA was founded in 1967 by David Rockefeller to bring business and the arts together, business support to the arts has grown from $22 million in 1967 to $3.32 billion in 2003. The mission of the Business Committee for the Arts is to ensure that the arts flourish in America by encouraging, inspiring and stimulating business to support the arts in the workplace, in education and in the community. For information about BCA, visit www.bcainc.org.
UBS joins the following companies in the BCA Hall of Fame: Altria Group, Inc., American Express Company, AT&T, Bank of America Corporation, Chevron Corp., Corning Incorporated, ExxonMobil Corporation, Ford Motor Company, General Mills, Inc., Hallmark Cards, Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin Corporation, MetLife, Principal Financial Group, Prudential Financial, Inc., Sara Lee Corporation, and Target.