The tide has turned on BP sponsorship – now cultural institutions like the Royal Shakespeare Company must act

With artists, musicians and actors calling for action to address the climate emergency, why are directors and boards still backing the oil and gas giant?

To BP, or not to BP? That is the question that leading artists and musicians have been putting to BP-sponsored cultural institutions in the last fortnight. And on Friday, Oscar-winning actor Sir Mark Rylance added to the mounting pressure by announcing his resignation from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) over its ties to BP, saying: “I do not wish to be associated with BP any more than I would with an arms dealer, a tobacco salesman or anyone who willfully destroys the lives of others alive or unborn.”

The ethical case against oil sponsorship is clear cut. In the midst of a climate emergency, BP is continuing to lobby against climate legislation, while planning to spend £41bn on exploring for new oil over the coming decade. But despite this, those at the top of the RSC and other BP-sponsored institutions are still standing by their sponsor, continuing to give legitimacy to a company whose business plans makes a mockery of the Paris climate goals. Directors and Boards of Trustees have a duty to protect the reputation of their institutions and make sure sponsors share their values. BP now poses a serious reputational risk.

Some have asked whether audiences and visitors actually pay much attention to the BP logos splashed across the National Portrait Gallery or the British Museum, but like any good advertising, repetition is key. While BP spreads greenwashing with TV adverts that vastly overstate its backing for renewables, BP-branded theatre tickets and exhibitions project an image of the company as a socially responsible corporate entity “giving back” to society.

But these sponsorship deals don’t just give BP a “social license to operate”. They give the company powerful lobbying opportunities as well. BP regularly invites government ministers to sponsored plays, operas and exhibition openings in a bid to shore up its political influence.

Back in 2015, a BP-sponsored Mexico-themed festival at the British Museum allowed the company to meet with ministers from Mexico while it was waiting for approval for a bid on new drilling licenses in the country. Sure enough, it won the bid. In the last few years, BP has sponsored exhibitions of artifacts from Australia, Egypt, Russia and Iraq – all countries where the company was looking to boost its business.

As Peter Mather, BP’s vice president, admitted, “when there is an option, naturally, we are going to try to match a particular exhibition with somewhere we have an interest.” Meanwhile, over at the National Portrait Gallery, the company continues to have direct influence over who wins the BP Portrait Award as BP’s head of art, culture and paralympics has a permanent seat on the judging panel.

Some commentators fall for BP’s smoke and mirrors, buying into the myth that cutting ties to the oil firm would mean cutting worthwhile projects too. But ending BP’s sponsorship of the RSC’s £5 ticket scheme for 16-25 year-olds, for example, wouldn’t have to mean young people losing out.

Only around 0.6 per cent of the RSC’s annual income comes from BP and, since 2014, the RSC has been accumulating a healthy surplus of millions thanks to the success of Matilda the Musical. So, if it really wanted to, the RSC could take an ethical stand and cut its ties with BP tomorrow, ring-fencing the £5 ticket scheme while it finds a more ethical funder.

If BP was genuinely concerned about the long-term sustainability of the arts, it could give to grant-making bodies with a clear strategy for promoting access to the industry, and support regional organisations that are struggling to make ends meet. Instead, BP has embedded itself in the most high-profile institutions and cynically targeted initiatives that help it to pose as some kind of philanthropist operation.

Of course, there are always going to be ethical questions to consider about any potential sponsor of the arts. But sometimes the centre of moral gravity suddenly shifts and ethical red lines must be redrawn by museums and galleries together. Hundreds of organisations in the cultural sector have now declared a climate emergency. It’s time the trustees of the British Museum, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Opera House faced up to this new reality: there is no longer any room in the arts for BP.

Dr Chris Garrard is a composer and co-director of the campaigns and research organisation, Culture Unstained