BP's Controversial Tate Sponsorship

About the Series

The Tate was forced to release its sponsorship arrangements with oil giant BP on 26 January 2015. The landmark ruling was the result of a three-year long Freedom of Information (FOI) appeals process by London-based campaign group Platform, FOI company Request Initiative and law firms Leigh Day and Monckton chambers. The ruling required Tate to publish the sum of money BP paid as a sponsor between 1990 and 2006, along with details of internal decision-making on the controversial relationship. Figures showed payments from BP increased from just £150,000 in 1991 to only £330,000 in 2006. The donations, which continue today, mean BP has its flower petal logo hanging around the galleries and, according to campaigners, provides them with a ‘social licence to operate’ by making them appear socially conscious and respectable. This DeSmog UK series reports at the forefront of this battle for information.

In This Series

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The British Museum has failed to assess the ethical issues involved in having oil giant BP sponsor its gallery, argue campaign group Art Not Oil, upon the release of new documents. Information pro...
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Oil giant BP gained privileged access to UK and foreign politicians and policymakers by sponsoring events at British museums, new documents reveal. According to emails uncovered via Freedom of Inf...
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Oil giant BP has announced today that it will end its 26 year sponsorship of UK art gallery Tate at the start of 2017.   BP and Tate had been the subject of many environmental protests over the pas...
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Art lovers visiting Tate would have to donate less than 1p to allow the galleries to drop oil company BP as a sponsor, according to figures released today following a Freedom of Information request...
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Tate must disclose its sponsorship arrangements with oil giant BP in a landmark ruling by the UK’s Information Tribunal after successful campaigning by environmental activists. After a three-year ...
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During the Tate’s Annual General Meeting on Friday evening multiple members of the Tate Gallery openly challenged the art institutions committed secrecy surrounding its partnership with oil giant B...