A letter to the trustees of the Old Vic Theatre in London, signed by over 80 theatre professionals, names its ‘principal partner’ RBC as ‘one of the world’s biggest financiers of fossil fuel development’
- Sir Mark Rylance and award-winning playwright Caryl Churchill are among esteemed signatories with ties to the Old Vic
- Letter urges the Old Vic not to renew its partnership, which it says is up for renewal this August
- RBC has invested over $250 billion in fossil fuels since 2016 and remains consistently in the top-10 fossil financing banks according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report
- RBC holds billions of dollars of investment in the companies which supply Israel’s weapons, including those which have been identified as having been used against civilians
The Old Vic theatre has come under scrutiny from its major contributors, stakeholders and others from across the theatre and acting world in an open letter to its Trustees, urging it to end its sponsorship from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
Over 80 signatories, including Oscar-winning actor Sir Mark Rylance, theatre and screen figures Paapa Essiedu (Black Mirror) and Morfydd Clark (Rings of Power), and award-winning playwrights Caryl Churchill and Dawn King, have put their name to a letter denouncing RBC’s $250 billion USD worth of investment in fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement was signed, as well as its significant investments in companies which continue to supply Israel with weapons found to be used in attacks on civilians.
The letter also references the ways in which RBC-funded fossil fuel infrastructure projects are violating the rights of First Nations people and impacting disproportionately on communities of colour in North America, where there is already a long running campaign against the banks’ practices led by these communities.
The letter reads: “We share a deep concern for the climate crisis, human rights, and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and are deeply troubled that the Old Vic, an institution with a prominent and influential role in the arts world, is helping to both enhance the reputation and further the business of one of the world’s biggest financiers of fossil fuel development and investors in war.”
The letter is continuing to gather signatures, including producers and performers involved in Old Vic productions such as Fehinti Balgoun (Actor) and Morgan Lloyd Malcom (Playwright and screenwriter) as well as figures from worker-led organisations, such as the performers’ union Equity and Cultural Workers Against Genocide.
The letter and its supporting evidence, co-ordinated by the campaign group Culture Unstained, points to The Old Vic’s sponsorship brochure, in which the theatre sets out the benefits of sponsorship to companies such as RBC as a means to ‘enhance your corporate credibility’. The signatories wrote: “As performers, theatre-makers, artists and workers, we strongly object to our creativity and our labour being used to enhance RBC’s reputation and its profits.”
Not a high street bank in the UK, Royal Bank of Canada’s UK business focuses on wealth management and investment, with products aimed at ‘high net worth individuals’ and corporate executives. It acquired the UK-based wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin in 2022.
The letter goes on to say: “Corporate sponsorship is a transaction, not philanthropy – and no money is given in an ethical vacuum. When the Old Vic advertises sponsorship as a means ‘to meet your specific business objectives and to drive superb [return on investment] back to your business’, it is clear the theatre has been prepared to help further the profits and destructive business plans of a company like RBC…. We believe the Old Vic’s stated mission to be a “strong advocate for the power of theatre as a force for good” is clearly undermined by the Old Vic’s partnership with Royal Bank of Canada, rather than sustained by it.”
In North America there is a long standing and active campaign against Royal Bank of Canada led primarily by First Nations community leaders and environmental justice organisations, objecting principally to RBC’s funded fossil fuel expansion projects which violate indigenous consent, as well as polluting industries which impact largely on communities of colour in the southern gulf states.
As a result of these campaigns, Royal Bank of Canada has come under fire in the past from actors; Robert Downey Junior, Leonardo DiCaprio and Taika Waititi are among the signatories of a 2022 petition ‘No More Dirty Banks’ urging RBC to stop investing in fossil fuels.
Old Vic is not the first cultural institution to come under fire for its association with Royal Bank of Canada; last year Toronto International Film Festival received an open letter from leading filmmakers who said: “If we are to play a meaningful role in countering the climate crisis and stand in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, we cannot be blind to our industry’s role in shaping culture. We cannot implicitly endorse RBC…. Our values, as filmmakers and industry workers require us to make courageous choices.”
Examples of RBC-funded projects which violate human rights
See links for associated carbon production
East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline – causing mass displacement in Uganda and Tanzania
Trans Mountain Pipeline – violating indigenous territorial rights
Port Arthur LNG – bringing severe health impacts to communities of colour
Coastal GasLink – using violence against Wet’suwet’en First Nation to build a gas pipeline
Oil & Gas companies in Amazonia
RBC’s response to campaigns
At RBC’s 2023 AGM, an Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour delegation of shareholders were segregated to a back room, where they were only allowed to watch on a television screen. They were not allowed to raise questions in person about RBC’s operations or vote in person on resolutions. White attendees were allowed in the main conference room. In 2024, Indigenous delegates were repeatedly cut off, spoken over, and denied answers.
RBC published a Climate Report in 2023 in order to address criticism. However, independent assessment framework the Transition Pathway Initiative has assessed RBC as not in alignment with a pathway to 1.5 degrees / net zero by 2050, and RBC have failed to provide a long-term pathway beyond 2030 in accordance with the net zero framework.
RBC funding arms companies which supply Israeli occupation of Palestine & Gaza genocide
RBC is on the Canadian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions list.
RBC holds billions of dollars of shares in weapons manufacturers supplying Israel, including almost $1billion USD in Lockheed Martin and $863 million in General Dynamics
General Dynamics supplies MK84 and MK82 bombs, 2,300 of which were sent to Israel by the U.S to be dropped on Palestinians in Gaza in March 2024 and have been used in previous assaults in Gaza, and also produced Namer armoured vehicles used in Israeli assaults on Gaza and its military occupation of the West Bank.
Lockheed Martin produces the F16 fighter jets repeatedly used by Israel in attacks on Palestinians over more than two decades and the F-35 fighter jets used in Israel’s current assault on Gaza.
RBC also invests in Palantir Technologies, which provides Artificial Intelligence predictive systems to Israeli security forces.
Background to RBC relationship
RBC’s sponsorship of the Old Vic coincided with the start of Matthew Warchus’s tenure as Artistic Director in 2015. It was renewed in 2021 and is up for renewal this August 2024.
Matthew Warchus’s tenure is set to conclude in September 2026.
RBC’s London-based business
RBC Capital Markets is the global investment banking arm of RBC and “offers full-service brokerage and investment banking services to individual, institutional, corporate, and governmental clients, and provides asset management services for its customers and clearing services to unaffiliated correspondent firms and affiliated broker-dealers.”
RBC Wealth Management business in London is for:
- High-net-worth individuals and families
- Business owners
- Entrepreneurs
- Corporate executives
RBC also offers wealth management services via Brewin Dolphin, which it acquired in 2022.
What does RBC get from the Old Vic?
- RBC prioritises sponsorships that ‘offer RBC visibility and opportunity for client and/or employee engagement’ . RBC’s London-based wealth management businesses primarily targets inventors, corporate executives and ‘high-net worth individuals’
- Old Vic membership offers exclusive events with the cast for those donors who are able to contribute over £12,000 to the Old Vic
- Old Vic’s Brand Storytelling brochure states “Leave a lasting impression whilst you forge and nurture long term client relationships through our incomparable entertaining experiences”
Existing opposition to RBC in London
Culture Unstained 