Simon the Green of the Art of Delay From Shakespeare
A group of climate scientists, archaeologists and those familiar with the museum industry have written to the British Museum'southward lath of trustees to urge them to sever a sponsorship deal with BP, arguing that it goes against the museum's own policies and that a renewal would damage its reputation.
The submission, put together by the group Culture Unstained, is part of an escalating campaign confronting the oil business firm's sponsorship of the museum, which is expected to brand a conclusion virtually renewing the deal imminently.
It is signed by Sir Robert Watson, the former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard University; and Rodney Harrison, a professor of heritage studies at Academy Higher London (UCL).
Other signatories include Willow Coningham, from the U.k. Student Climate Network; Mark Serwotka, the general secretarial assistant of the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents many British Museum staff; Paul Ekins, a professor of resources and environmental policy at UCL and the one-time co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre; Jonathon Porritt, the founder director of Forum for the Future; Hilary Jennings, the director of the Happy Museum Projection; and Dr Chris Garrard, the co-director of Culture Unstained.
They highlight the many ways in which BP's record regarding the climate crisis "clearly falls short of the calibration and appetite of corporate responses that are now required".
They phone call on the museum's board of trustees to "fulfil their legal duties" past ensuring a due diligence process is undertaken before a decision is made nearly any new deal with the company.
Trustees, they say, have "the capacity to reject a proposed partnership with BP because it would not conflict with their fiduciary responsibilities". They allege that a failure to do so "could get out the museum exposed to regulatory intervention".
The submission also calls for George Osborne, the museum chair, and Philipp Hildebrand, a board member, to recuse themselves from discussions on BP sponsorship "due to their conflict of involvement" – BP is a client of Osborne's banking firm Robey Warshaw, while Hildebrand is the vice chair of BlackRock, 1 of BP's largest shareholders.
"The bulk of UK cultural organisations, including the National Portrait Gallery, Royal Shakespeare Company, Tate, Edinburgh international festival and Scottish Ballet, have at present ended their sponsorship agreements with BP, while the National Theatre, National Gallery, Southbank Center and the British Moving picture Establish have all ended their partnerships with Crush," the submission continues.
"The British Museum would exist isolated both in its continued acceptance of sponsorship from a fossil-fuel-producing company and its lack of a clear ethical stance on this effect."
BP has been a sponsor of the British Museum for years and is a supporter of its Stonehenge exhibition. The current five-year contract was signed in May 2016 and extended for a year due to Covid.
Harrison said the British Museum's human relationship with BP was "conspicuously out of step" with the remainder of the cultural sector.
He added: "BP's well-publicised involvement in fossil fuel lobbying and ongoing oil and gas exploration, which threatens the world's attempts to meet agreed global heating targets … conspicuously makes it an inappropriate partner for a museum which purports to act for the preservation of the world's cultures.
"At a time when national and international codes of ethics for the sector urge museums to ensure they work in the public interest, uphold the highest level of institutional integrity and maintain transparent relationships with partner organisations, the British Museum's carry raises questions of international concern which the trustees must address."
A recent liberty of information request made by Culture Unstained revealed how leading figures from large corporations, including BP, are members of an "influential but near entirely unaccountable" group advising the British Museum. The museum has said claims it is inappropriately influenced past any donations or sponsorship "are merely incorrect".
The museum's deal with BP has been the subject of numerous protests over the years, as part of a high-contour campaign confronting large oil'southward involvement in the arts. Earlier this year, more than 300 archaeologists and historians wrote to the museum's trustees calling on them to cut ties with the visitor, while activists presented false "Stonehenge drilling plans" to visitors. In 2020 the museum was occupied for three days during its BP-sponsored Troy exhibition.
The human relationship betwixt the British Museum and BP has besides drawn condemnation from the museum's staff and led in part to the resignation of i of its trustees, the novelist Ahdaf Soueif. Actors including Emma Thompson, Marker Ruffalo and Mark Rylance chosen on the museum's director to drop BP as a commercial sponsor.
Last month, the British Museum became the latest cultural arrangement to remove the Sackler family name from its galleries and rooms. In recent years, the name has become toxic, with some branches of the family accused of making a profit from the The states opioids crunch.
A spokesperson for the museum said: "The British Museum receives funding from BP, a longstanding corporate partner, to back up the museum'south mission and provide public benefit for a global audience through its support of our temporary exhibition plan. Without external support much programming and other major projects would not happen. The British Museum is grateful to all those who back up its work in times of reduced funding."
The spokesperson said that the managing director and trustees "remember carefully about the nature and quality of sponsorship earlier accepting", adding: "The museum is run solely by its trustees and staff as set up out in the British Museum Act 1963. All decisions are fabricated by the trustees and staff through our governance structure and in the best interests of the museum as a charity."
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/apr/19/climate-and-heritage-experts-call-on-british-museum-to-end-bp-sponsorship
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