National Portrait Gallery and Scottish Ballet sever links to BP

TWO major arts institutions cut ties with BP on the same day amid celebrity pressure over climate change.

The FTSE 100 oil and gas giant is ending its sponsorship of the National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish Ballet, it emerged yesterday.

Campaigners have been pushing cultural institutions to sever links to the oil and gas industry amid criticism that companies are sponsoring them to “greenwash” their reputations while not doing enough to shift to cleaner energy.

Nearly 80 artists, including Gillian Wearing, Sarah Lucas and Bill Woodrow, urged the London-based National Portrait Gallery in July 2019 to end its 30-year relationship with BP unless it invested more in renewable energy.

Its sponsorship of the annual portrait award will end in December, BP and the gallery said yesterday. BP said it was looking for “new ways to best use our talent, experience and resources”.

Nicholas Cullinan, the National Portrait Gallery’s director, said it was “hugely grateful” for BP’S long-term support.

Separately, Scotland’s national ballet said its agreement with BP no longer “aligns with the company’s green action plan – to be carbon neutral by 2030”. It revealed yesterday that it had ended the deal, in agreement with BP, on Jan 31.

The decision was taken last year, the charity said, adding “we sincerely acknowledge the long-term support of BP, particularly in helping the company tour to Aberdeen”. It had faced protests over BP’S sponsorship at the Cop26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November.

It comes despite Bernard Looney, BP’S boss since 2020, making efforts to reposition the company as a greener institution. This month he sped up those plans, saying BP would cut emissions from its products to net zero by 2050 and increase the proportion of cash that it spends on greener products, such as electric vehicle charging, hydrogen and wind power to 40 per cent by 2025.

The tie-up with the National Portrait Gallery is one of the long-running partnerships BP struck with four of the UK’S leading artistic institutions in the 1990s and earlier. In 2016, it announced a new five-year sponsorship round worth about £7.5 million across all four.

Of those, the Royal Shakespeare Company cut ties with the company in 2019 following complaints from young audience members that “amidst the climate emergency [...] sponsorship is putting a barrier between them and their wish to engage with the RSC”.

BP ended its sponsorship of Tate Britain in 2017, citing a challenging business environment after the oil price crash of 2015. It remains a sponsor of the British Museum, which backed their relationship yesterday, saying the funding helps “support the Museum’s mission, providing public benefit for a global audience”.

A Royal Opera House spokesman, meanwhile, said their partnership was in place until at least next year, adding: “We remain in partnership with BP and are excited to continue our joint work building on the Royal Opera House’s sustainability agenda as we work towards our goal of reaching net carbon zero by 2035.” BP also remains a sponsor of the Science Museum.

The National Portrait Gallery was not due to hold a portrait award this year as it is closed for refurbishment. The award’s future funding is not yet clear, with the gallery saying it was “considering options for when we reopen”.

‘We sincerely acknowledge the long-term support of BP, particularly in helping the company tour to Aberdeen’