UK’s National Portrait Gallery agrees not to proceed with £1 million donation from Sackler Trust, charitable arm of family linked to US opioid crisis
- The Sackler Trust, run by the family that owns the controversial Purdue Pharma, had planned to give the sum to the gallery’s Inspiring People project
- Both parties insisted the decision to cancel the grant was mutual
Britain’s National Portrait Gallery has become the first major art institution to give up a grant from the multibillionaire Sackler family, in a move that campaigners said was a landmark victory in the battle over the ethics of arts funding.
In a decision hailed as “a powerful acknowledgement” that some sources of income could not be justified, a spokesperson for the gallery said it had “jointly agreed” that it would “not proceed at this time” with a £1 million (US$1.3 million) donation from the family, whose US pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma makes the highly-addictive opioid prescription painkiller OxyContin.
The spokesperson added: “We fully respect and support the Sackler family’s decision.”
With some leading members of the Sackler family facing a growing number of lawsuits over their alleged role in the deadly US opioid crisis, the family – which vigorously denies the allegations – claimed the donation to the gallery’s Inspiring People project had been dropped to avoid creating a “distraction” for the gallery.
But while both parties insisted that the decision was mutual, it will be seen as a major blow to the family’s status as leading philanthropists and evidence that a campaign against the Sacklers, led by the American artist Nan Goldin, has been effective.