Today DeSmog published a joint investigation with Culture Unstained to reveal that the co-ordinated effort by leading arts institutions to undermine ethical sponsorship campaigns has been led by an oil PR firm, The Brunswick Group, commissioned by Sadler’s Wells.
The Brunswick Group’s clients include BP and Barclays, some of the same sponsors that have come under fire for their complicity in Israel’s genocide, and for their contributions to the climate crisis.
Our Freedom of Information Requests reveal Brunswick to be behind a communications strategy which included this May 2025 joint letter which appeared in the Financial Times, signed by CEOs of the major arts institutions which have come under scrutiny for their sponsorships. It said: “Our museums, theatres, festivals, and artists need to operate within the economic structures in which society operates”.
The investigation points to the disconnect between workers and arts institution heads on the issue of ethics, and also raises questions about the role of Arts Council England.
“A fossil fuel PR firm, Brunswick Group, is being commissioned by a publicly funded arts institution, Sadler’s Wells, to defend the theatre’s partnership with Barclays, the UK’s biggest climate-wrecking bank, which is also named by the United Nations as complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.
“By drawing other arts institutions into a defensive communication strategy which Brunswick Group themselves designed and delivered, it has manufactured a polarising narrative of ‘protestors versus the arts’ which is not remotely representative of the views held across the sector,”
– Isobel Tarr, Co-Director, Culture Unstained
Sources
Sadler’s Wells (via Arts Council England)
Sadler’s Wells corporate communications
ACE-Sadler’s Wells board paper extract
British Museum
BM correspondence with Alistair Spalding
BM correspondence with Brunswick
Arts Council Engalnd
Roundtable event on risks & reputation
Cause 4 commission: Risks & Reputation
Science Museum
Science Museum-Sadler’s Wells correspondence
V&A
Alistair Spalding correspondence
National Gallery
Culture Unstained 