Protesters push arts institutions to drop oil company sponsors – British Museum among latest to feel heat over BP backing
- Climate change activists have pushed British Museum and Louvre to stop taking oil money, as London’s Tate has done and Royal Shakespeare Company says it will do
- Museum says temporary exhibitions like its BP-backed Troy: Myth and Reality show, which activists targeted, are expensive to mount and need such sponsors
Oil companies are becoming increasingly unfashionable partners for cultural institutions, as they ditch corporate sponsorship under pressure from artists and environmentalists.
Members of the “BP or not BP?” protest group disrupted a recent event for the British Museum’s new exhibition on Troy, which is sponsored by the British oil giant.
Activists dressed as Greek gods and heroes such as Zeus, Athena and Achilles, were sprayed with a black liquid by “Petroleus” – a deity created especially for the occasion.
“BP’s sponsorship of the British Museum is, ironically, just like the famous Trojan Horse highlighted in the exhibition,” says activist Sophie McIntosh.
“The company sponsors the museum to look like a generous gift-giver that cares about culture but, in reality, it’s a cynical attempt to deflect attention from something far more sinister.”