Corporate sponsors

Philanthropyanalysis

Cash-strapped museums struggle with ‘moral reckoning’ over sponsors

The Israel-Gaza war has escalated campaigns against arts funders deemed to be problematic

Revealed: How British Museum trustees wrestled with ethical and security implications of £50m BP deal

Minutes from trustee meetings dating back to spring of 2023 chronicle the internal agonising before the energy giant’s sponsorship was ultimately accepted

Science Museum in London criticised for promoting oil giant backer

The institution held a “Meet the Funder” event shortly after Equinor got approval to develop the Rosebank field

Law firm sponsor for National Portrait Gallery prize sparks controversy

Herbert Smith Freehills, which runs an "oil and gas" division, replaces BP

Guggenheim Museum laces up for year-long collaboration with Converse

A focal point of the partnership between the museum and sports clothing brand will be support for the Guggenheim’s internship programme

Turmoil at First Republic could jeopardise the bank’s art world sponsorships

The San Francisco-based bank is a corporate partner at museums across the US

Credit Suisse’s art partnerships up in the air after emergency UBS takeover

With a major art collection and multiple museum sponsorship deals, the collapse of the defunct Swiss bank is likely to have ramifications for the art world

Critics line up to condemn Science Museum’s sponsorship deal with Adani Green Energy

Museum is accused of “reprehensible” behaviour in allegedly allowing crisis-hit parent company Adani to greenwash its huge fossil fuel business

London's Victoria and Albert museum announces it will 'no longer carry the Sackler name'

Institution cuts ties with the family behind the highly addictive drug Oxycontin

Podcastspodcast

Should the Science Museum stop taking money from oil companies?

Plus, Michael Landy's exhibition at Firstsite and artist Shahzia Sikander on a manuscript miniature

Sponsored byChristie's

Louvre launches flurry of brand partnerships and ‘e-boutique’ in bid to make up Covid deficit

Deprived of visitors, the world’s most popular museum is striking deals with brands such as Uniqlo to reach international audiences online

Fill your boots: Dr. Martens gives £60,000 for new video commissions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London

Grants will be given to artists to create moving image works to premiere at the ICA's Image Behaviour 2021 forum

Business can and should help the arts through this crisis

The pandemic has laid bare the betrayal of the cultural sector, but corporations and individuals can alleviate the hardship

Fundingcomment

Museums will need ethical funders all the more after the coronavirus crisis

As institutions reopen their doors to a world that has changed significantly, public scrutiny of private money is not going away

The mechanics of sponsorship in 2020: an interview with Rena De Sisto, the head of Bank of America’s arts and culture programme

‘We help museums do what they do best,’ says the executive who oversees the company’s support of international institutions

Prizesnews

Artist Gary Hume says National Portrait Gallery should 'bite the bullet' and cut ties with oil giant BP

Fuel company's decision to withdraw from the BP Portrait Award judging panel was a missed opportunity to end sponsorship relationship, artist believes

Fossil-fuel giant Shell ends its support of London's Southbank Centre

Decision comes amidst pressure from activist groups for UK museums to end their oil sponsorship deals

Climate activists take over British Museum in all-night protest against BP sponsorship

Organisers of the three-day action, the group BP or not BP?, called it the "largest protest in the history of the museum"

Podcastspodcast

Troy: the show and the problem with BP sponsorship

We talk about the myth and reality of Troy presented in the British Museum's show and to an activist about ongoing protests relating to fossil-fuel companies' sponsorship of the arts. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Why is the British Museum still accepting tobacco sponsorship?

London institution has acquired 600 objects thanks to funding from Japan Tobacco International, makers of Benson & Hedges, Winston, Camel and Silk Cut

Martin Bailey. with additional reporting by Helen Stoilas

Demonstrators take over British Museum in biggest-ever protest against oil sponsorships

Event, organised by grassroots climate justice group BP or not BP?, highlighted relationship between oil companies and war in Iraq

Deutsche Bank to open Berlin art centre Palais Populaire in September

First exhibition will show around 300 works on paper from the bank’s vast corporate collection

Are art awards really worth winning?

Winning a prize can give an artist international exposure, but the question of who really benefits—critically and commercially—is an increasingly vexed one

Artists pull out of Great Exhibition of the North over arms dealer sponsorship

Group launches petition calling for arts festival to refuse backing from BAE Systems accused of “profiteering from the deaths of innocent children”

Anny Shaw. with additional reporting by Gareth Harris

Comment: The Tate should take BP’s money—and ask for more

Protests about the gallery’s lack of transparency concerning the energy company's sponsorship miss the point of how big business and the arts interact

Art Baselarchive

Deutsche Bank to back Art Basel Hong Kong

But usual sponsor UBS still keen on fair

Is the symbiosis between corporations and the arts an outmoded tradition?

Investment in art has become less popular among US companies when more commercial options are available

Museumsarchive

Dara Birnbaum comments on fostering the museum-sponsor relationship

Can a balance be found whereby both parties stand to gain from a partnership?