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For immediate release
Sponsorship protests hit two London museums at once
· A ‘splashmob’ of singing mermaids have invaded the British Museum in protest at BP sponsorship
· At the same time, the London Transport Museum is being targeted by campaigners in protest at arms company funding
· Campaigners from two groups – BP or not BP? and London Campaign Against Arms Trade (London CAAT) – have joined forces to challenge “unethical” museum sponsorship deals
Photos and film footage available on request. Contact Jess at BP or not BP? on 07946645726 and info@bp-or-not-bp.org, or London CAAT on 07535 992123 and londoncaat@riseup.net.
Today at 2pm, two simultaneous protests began at two different London museums, calling on the institutions to end their controversial sponsorship deals with oil and arms companies.
In the British Museum, a troupe of ten mermaids – from theatrical protest group ‘BP or not BP?’ [1] – launched into a BP-themed version of ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid, near the BP-sponsored ‘Sunken Cities’ exhibition. They briefly blocked the entrance to the exhibition and are now roaming the museum, singing songs and holding signs to thank BP for all the cities that will sink in the near future, thanks to the climate change caused by the oil company’s products and political lobbying. [2] Meanwhile, other members of the group have set up a giant map, showing cities at risk from rising sea levels, in the museum’s Great Court. They are spending the afternoon gathering personal memories of those cities from museum visitors.
At the same time, members of London Campaign Against Arms Trade (London CAAT) [3] have organised a demonstration outside the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. They are protesting against the sponsorship of the museum by Thales, one of the world’s biggest arms companies. Thales’ products include missiles, drones and aircraft carriers. Its customers include some of the world’s most repressive regimes such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. London CAAT are distributing postcards and encouraging those interested to contact the museum to voice their concerns.
Controversy around BP’s arts sponsorship has been growing rapidly this year. After six years of pressure it was announced in March that, after 26 years, BP’s sponsorship of Tate would come to an end. [4] It was followed by the news just weeks later that after 34 years, BP would no longer be a sponsor of Edinburgh International Festival, after BP or not BP?’s creative protests hit the headlines at the festival last year. [5]
The British Museum’s new director, Hartwig Fischer, was welcomed on his first day with a letter from almost 100 cultural and political figures calling on him to drop BP sponsorship. [6] Soon afterwards, Art Not Oil published a damning report exposing BP’s ‘corrupting influence’ over the museums it sponsors [7] and protests have continued to escalate at the British Museum just as it is deciding whether to renew its 5-year deal with oil giant. BP or not BP?, Greenpeace and the London Quakers all took action at the museum last month. [8,9] However, Dr Fischer reportedly told journalists this week that he hoped the museum’s relationship with BP would continue. [10]
Meanwhile, the arms company Thales – sponsor of the London Transport Museum – has been the target of multiple corruption allegations, and in 2011 was fined 170 million Euros for bribery. The company is listed as a leading member on the transport museum’s website, and has used the museum’s rooms to meet with UKTI DSO, the government body responsible for promoting arms exports.
London CAAT member Wendy Horler said: ‘Museums are places to learn and discover while arms companies’ business destroys and devastates. The London Transport Museum should end its sponsorship with Thales immediately. With oil sponsorship of museums being challenged and some museums cancelling these deals, we hope arms companies will also be seen as anathema to museums.’
Danny Chivers from BP or not BP? said: ‘BP is actively blocking clean energy laws, and pushing to extract more and more oil and gas. Its business plan relies upon a level of climate change that will cause enormous damage to dozens of major cities from rising sea levels. We still can’t quite believe that the British Museum has chosen this company to sponsor an exhibition called ‘Sunken Cities’. We want to see museums adopting genuine ethical sponsorship guidelines that would prevent them from giving false legitimacy to destructive companies like BP and Thales.’
ENDS
Notes
[1] www.bp-or-not-bp.org
[2] http://bp-or-not-bp.org/news/drenched-performers-occupy-british-museum-after-hours/
[3] https://zylum.org/london_campaign_against_arms_trade/
[4] http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/mar/11/bp-to-end-tate-sponsorship-climate-protests
[5] http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/06/bp-ends-34-year-edinburgh-international-festival-sponsorship
[6] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/03/british-museum-bp-sponsorship-hartwig-fischer-climate
[7] http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/sites/default/files/BPs%20Corrupting%20Influence.pdf.pdf
[8] http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/blog/five-protests-against-bp-arts-funding-one-week
[9] https://www.facebook.com/SustainableQuakers
[10] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36689275