With our sponsor partners, we mark America's 250th anniversary

At Aegon, we took a major step in the transformation of our company when we announced our ambition at Capital Markets Day 2025 to become a leading US life insurance and retirement group.

Building on our deep connections with America, which is our main market and the largest life insurance market in the world, we intend to relocate our head office and legal seat to the United States. The company will be renamed Transamerica Inc. at completion of the transition planned by January 1, 2028.

Our plans coincide with a major milestone in 2026: the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. This momentous event is widely acknowledged as the birth of the United States. Many other anniversary events are taking place in and outside of America. We are delighted to support our Amsterdam-based sponsor partners, the John Adams Institute (JAI) and the H’ART Museum, with whom we have created a vibrant program of talks and events under the title, America 250: Re-imagining the American Dream.

JAI is an independent podium for American culture in the Netherlands. Aegon has supported the JAI over its 30-plus years mission to celebrate our company’s Dutch and American ties.

John Adams Institute, Amsterdam

February 11, 2026
Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam
SOLD OUT

Jill Lepore, historian, Harvard professor, and staff writer at The New Yorker, will deliver a “State of the Union” address, drawing on her acclaimed work to analyze the present juncture of the United States and its constitutional legacy.

May 22, 2026
H'ART Museum, Amsterdam
Website

Rachel Khong, an acclaimed American author, will explore themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of family and heritage. This encourages participants to consider what it means to belong in a country built on diversity and contradiction. The interlocking themes are dialogue on identity and belonging, with guided tours of the David Levinthal and Chicano exhibitions at the H’ART Museum.

October 2026

The format will be a fireside chat with Francis Fukuyama, a renowned political scientist and frequent JAI contributor, with Aegon’s leaders. The aim is to foster strategic dialogue on the future of democracy and America’s global influence, offering insights relevant to Aegon’s leadership and our broader community. As we celebrate this remarkable 250‑year milestone, our sponsor partners remind us of the power of art and culture to capture the American story—its myths, its diversity, and its ongoing evolution. Through these exhibitions and dialogues, we are proud to support a deeper understanding of the country that will shape Aegon’s next chapter.

The H'ART Museum connects a broad audience to a wide variety of art collections that range from antiquity to the present day, and from classic to modern art. We started a strategic partnership with the H'ART to coincide with Aegon's move to a new headquarters at the WTC Schiphol in Amsterdam in mid-2025.

American exhibitions at H'ART, Amsterdam

February 14 – September 2, 2026

Photographer David Levinthal explores the role of myths in American visual culture. Using carefully constructed miniature scenes, the artist reveals how stories of power, heroism, and identity are constructed in the United States, from the Wild West to baseball and Barbie.

Levinthal’s photography has never before been shown in the Netherlands and this exhibition marks the first major collaboration between the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a European museum.

Early April – September 2, 2026

“Chicanx” or “Chicano” is a gender-neutral term referring to individuals of Mexican heritage in the United States. This exhibition highlights the history and experiences of Chicanx communities in the United States, showcasing how artists claim space for their narratives and celebrate cultural identity while challenging dominant historical accounts.

As we approach this remarkable 250‑year milestone, our sponsor partners remind us of the power of art and culture to capture the American story, its myths, its diversity, and its ongoing evolution. Through these exhibitions and dialogues, we are proud to support a deeper understanding of the country that will shape Aegon’s next chapter as we transition to an American company.

Aegon country websites

With our sponsor partners, we mark America's 250th anniversary

John Adams Institute, Amsterdam

American exhibitions at H'ART, Amsterdam

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