It was announced today that BP’s sponsorship of Tate museum will end next year, following a long campaign during which Nicholas Serota, Tate’s director, confirmed the deal would be reconsidered.
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Platform, alongside art collective Liberate Tate, Art Not Oil and a growing number of artists, cultural commentators and art lovers have campaigned for Tate to end its relationship with BP since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
Last year the campaigners forced Tate to reveal in an Information Tribunal that BP’s fees accounted for only 0.5% of Tate’s budget (an average of £224,000 a year). This May, Tate is to appear at the Information Tribunal once again over refusal to disclose further sponsorship details.
‘The end of Tate’s sponsorship deal with BP is hopeful news for us, for the art world, and for everyone whose lives are affected by climate change.
‘BP can no longer use Tate’s art collections to mask or excuse the devastation its operations have caused to people’s lives in Colombia, Azerbaijan, Alberta. And the gallery – whether it admits this or not – has taken the best form of climate action it could.
‘We only hope that the British Museum, Science Museum, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Opera House will follow in Tate’s lead. We look forward to Tate joining the Fossil Funds Free commitment!’
Anna Galkina , Platform campaigner
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