Project Elements Easthampton

Project Elements Easthampton now showing at Forbes Library is a wonderful trip down the past of stories from the Easthampton newspaper. Some stories are funny and some are downright hysterical. Burns Maxey is the artist that created this trip down the alphabets A-Z with stories she removed from the past.

Here is a quote from the website:

“Welcome to the world of Project Elements Easthampton. These illustrations were inspired by sifting through microfiche and finding true stories that happened in Easthampton, MA from 1898 to 2009. Some are poignant while others are humorous.”

Machakos Kenya Photos at CPA

Machakos, Kenya

Community Photo Access is a community based, art & photography center working in collaboration with local artists, regional organizations and other stakeholders who are actively involved in the Pioneer Valley creative arts community. Between June 4-11, we are sponsoring the exhibition Machakos-Through their Eyes. This fund-raising photography exhibit documents the lives of the children that live at the rescue center in Machakos, Kenya, and was a project conceived and organized by Abby Tuominen and Shira Kaufman, two Amherst Regional High School Seniors. The photographs were taken by the girls at the orphanage and gives us a glimpse of their daily lives. Ani Rivera, of CPA, has donated his time to organize the exhibition at Community Photo Access. Proceeds from sales of prints will go to the Machakos fund. Take a look under news for the press release that provides more information.

Art and Estate Planning

Art and Estate Planning*

By Julie Lackner

As an artist, you’ve spent a lifetime not only creating, but collecting, art.  What’s going to happen to it all after you are gone?  You may have accumulated a large collection of art, and better yet, that collection might be worth a lot of money.  What’s the best way to pass on all that value to the next generation of owners? This is where a good estate planning attorney will be helpful.

The main thing to consider is whether to give away some of the art during your life or to give it away through your will after you’ve passed away.  The tax treatment to the recipient of the gift is different in each option.  If you give away a piece of art during your life, the person who receives the piece will have the same basis as you.  Basis is a tax term, and it means the cost that was paid for the piece originally.  For example, say you bought a piece Takashi Murakamiby Takashi Murakami before anyone knew who he was.  You paid $10,000 for the piece.  Today, imagine the piece is worth $1,000,000.  You decide to give it away as a gift to your child, Joe.  Joe is not much of an art collector, and he decides that he wants to sell the piece.  When he sells it, he will step into your shoes for tax purposes and take your basis.  That means he will pay capital gains on the entire gain on the sale.  He’ll pay tax on $1,000,000 – $10,000, which is $990,000.  At a 15% capital gains tax rate, Joe will pay $148,500 to Uncle Sam.  Once you account for the tax Joe has to pay, you’ve only given him a gift worth approximately $850,000.  Note that if you give a gift while you are still alive, you may need to file a gift tax return and pay a gift tax.  You can give away cash or property worth up to $13,000 in 2010 to as many people as you like without having to file a gift tax return with the IRS and without having to pay any gift tax.  Over your lifetime, you can give away up to $1,000,000 before you have to pay any gift tax at all.

What happens if you die next year and you leave Joe the piece in your will instead?  You may have to pay some estate taxes on it, but Joe will get what’s called a “step-up” in basis.  That means that his basis for tax purposes will be whatever the property was worth on the day you died.  So if the piece is worth $1,000,000 on the date of your death and Joe turns around and sells it for $1,000,000, he will have no gain on the sale.  No gain means no tax, and Joe gets to keep the entire $1,000,000.  In fact, he may even get to take a loss for any commissions he has to pay when he sells the art!  Passing on art at death can be accomplished either through a will or a estate planning trust.

In addition to deciding whether you want to give away your art during life or at death, you’ll need to decide who will receive it.  As in the above example, you could give it away to a family member, but you don’t have to.  You could decide instead that you want to give your entire collection to a museum.  If the museum is a qualified charity, then no taxes will be due on the transfer and you could even get a charitable deduction.

As a final thought, it’s generally best to pass on highly appreciated assets at your death, rather than giving them away during your life.  None of the appreciation gets taxed so the recipients will get a lot more bang for their buck, and they should thank you for that.

*The material contained above has been prepared by Bacon Wilson, P.C. for informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.

First Night Northampton MA 2010

Picture 3Northampton’s First Night has a long history and poster creation by local artists. It is made up of local venues that host artist that have been contracted to play blocks of set starting from 12 noon to 12 midnight on January 31. In addition to contracted venues we also have 2-5 performer venues that host concerts of varies kinds. The weather is usually very cold but not always. Hotel Northampton's First Night BallWe also have a tradition of the ball raising for the countdown to New Years. A feast for the eyes, ears, and tastes  in downtown Northampton (Paradise City)

Click Here is the official schedule

Brief History of Northampton MA: In 1851, opera singer Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale”, declared Northampton, MA to be the “Paradise of America”. Among the city’s famous residents are: author William Cullen Bryant, the fire and brimstone preacher Jonathan Edwards; the ascetic health guru Sylvester Graham, namesake of the Graham Cracker; children’s author and illustrator Eric Carle, Sojourner Truth, African American abolitionist and orator; Lydia Maria Child, authoress of the Thanksgiving poem “Over the River and Through the Woods”; musicians Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne; Calvin Coolidge, who served as mayor of Northampton before becoming governor of Massachusetts and U.S. president.

Great Rendition of MJ’s Beat-it!

This is a great video