Old Vic sponsor Royal Bank of Canada targeted over fossil fuels at opening night of ‘The Real Thing’
Advertising van denounces Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) sponsorship at opening night of ‘The Real Thing’ with damning video testimony from those impacted by bank
RBC is one of world’s biggest fossil fuel financing banks and has billions of investments in companies supplying arms to Israel
Intervention comes after over 140 actors, playwrights and theatre-makers, including Mark Rylance, Paapa Essiedu and Caryl Churchill signed letter calling on Old Vic to end partnership last month
RBC-sponsored Toronto International Film Festival opens later this week and faced controversy last year after members of film industry objected to sponsorship
Theatregoers attending last night’s Press Performance of Tom Stoppard’s ‘The Real Thing’ starring Bel Powley and James McArdle were unexpectedly greeted by an advertising van targeting The Old Vic’s ‘principal’ sponsor Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the biggest investors in fossil fuels in the world.
BREAKING! Tonight, as the audience arrived for the ‘Press Night’ of #OVTheRealThing, an AdVan pulled up at @oldvictheatre playing testimony from those impacted by its sponsor, fossil and arms funding bank @RBC… 🎭🛢️🌎
Parodying the joint branding of RBC and The Old Vic, the digital van played video testimony from First Nations and community leaders impacted by fossil fuel projects financed by the bank with audience members stopping to watch, until the theatre called the police in an attempt to bring the truth-telling intervention to an end.
Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in Canada was pictured on the AdVan screen outside the Old Vic, saying:
“RBC, who is a sponsor of the Old Vic, is upon our lands assisting in building a pipeline to destroy our waters, our land, our culture, people and our future”,
…in reference to the construction of the CoastalGas Link pipeline in unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, in which Old Vic’s principal sponsor RBC has invested heavily. He added, with reference to the state harassment of Wet’suwet’en land defenders protesting the pipeline:
“The Royal Bank of Canada is also a sponsor of the violence that comes to our lands, and our people. Our people have been arrested, they have been removed, our cabins have been burned to the ground, they have come to our doors with axes and power saws, with attack dogs, with snipers. This is what the money of the Royal Bank of Canada does. That money must be gone. Because when the money is gone, the violence is gone. Do not allow Royal Bank of Canada to continue to sponsor this building.”
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel financing banks, investing over $250 billion in fossil fuels since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2015. The van also played testimony from Sharon Lavigne, organiser of Rise St James, Louisiana, speaking after the 2024 RBC Annual General Meeting. Lavigne said:
“I am trying to save the lives of the people in my community. My community is dying because of people like RBC. They are out to make money. They don’t care if they pollute us. They don’t care if we don’t drink clean water. They don’t care if we breathe clean air.”
The state of Louisiana has been subject to rapid expansion of gas and petrochemical industries, in which RBC is a significant investor. St James is a predominantly-Black community in the so-called ‘Cancer Alley’ surrounded by polluting industries and with rates of cancer significantly higher than the national average. UN human rights experts have called for an end to further industrialisation in the area, naming it as environmental racism.
It follows the publication of an Open letter last month calling on the Old Vic to end its partnership with RBC, signed by over 140 actors, playwrights and theatre-makers, including actors Mark Rylance, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Dilane and Morfydd Clark, and playwrights Caryl Churchill and Dawn King.
“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. Given the disparity between RBC’s professed commitment to social and environmental causes, and its deeply destructive business operations, it is clear that it would not be appropriate for the Old Vic to continue promoting RBC as a positive contributor to society.”
Mark Rylance, Paapa Essiedu and Caryl Churchill are among the creatives urging London’s Old Vic to cut its ties with the Royal Bank of Canada over its links to fossil fuels and arms manufacturers that have supplied Israel 👇 https://t.co/NCAZCbApvc
“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 by allowing it to be the leading partner of Canadian film.
The contract between Old Vic and Royal Bank of Canada came up for renewal this August 2024, but The Old Vic is yet to comment on the future of the partnership.
Not a high street bank in the UK, RBC’s core business in London is in wealth management for ‘high net worth individuals’ and investment banking, and it acquired the London-based wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin in 2022.
The Old Vic presents sponsorship as a means to ‘enhance your corporate credibility by positioning your brand as a crucial supporter of the arts and its positive impact on the communities theatre serves’ and to ‘drive superb ROI back to your business.’
Campaigners argue this makes clear that the sponsorship from RBC is a ‘cynical branding exercise’ which is a ‘transaction, not a donation.’
Isobel Tarr Co-Director of Culture Unstained said:
“As one of the biggest funders of climate destruction in the world, RBC’s sponsorship of the arts is dwarfed by its investments in fossil fuels. It is ranked as one of the worst global banks for funding energy transition, and has invested billions companies producing arms being used against the Palestinian people, including in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet The Old Vic continues to paint RBC in a positive light in its communications; this is what sponsorship money buys. RBC’s relationship as a ‘Principal Partner’ to the Old Vic is a cynical branding exercise which is a transaction, not a donation. If The Old Vic is serious about its ‘social mission’ it will join the long list of cultural institutions which have liberated themselves from fossil fuel funding.”
The Old Vic Trust’s Annual Report states that fundraising activity is governed by a detailed Ethical Donations Policy, and that any complaints received from the public about a gift are taken seriously. However, although Culture Unstained’s Directors have written to the executive staff and Chair of Trustees on numerous occasions since December 2023, the Old Vic has so far ignored all communication. The signatories of the Open Letter last month are yet to receive a response.
Background to RBC relationship
More information on RBC’s investments in fossil fuels, in human rights abuses, and in arms companies that support the Israeli occupation of Plestine and the Gaza genocide.
RBC has investments in companies which are controversial in the arts and culture sponsorship landscape including BP, Shell and Adani
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.
Examples of cultural institutions which have ended fossil fuel sponsorship can be found here.
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 also offers wealth management services via Brewin Dolphin, which it acquired in 2022.
What does RBC want from the Old Vic
RBC prioritises sponsorships that ‘offer RBC visibility and opportunity for client and/or employee engagement’
Old Vic membership offers exclusive events with the cast for donors 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”
Toronto Film Festival
In 2022 RBC’s sponsorship of the Toronto Film Festival came under fire from filmmakers and high profile actors including Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, signing a petition asserting: “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.”
Culture Unstained 