Most cultural institutions in the UK – and many in other countries – have now ended their sponsorship relationships with fossil fuel companies after over a decade of creative campaigning from members of the Art Not Oil coalition and arts workers.

They include:

UK

Institutions and organisations

• The British Museum and BP (June 2023) with BP’s remaining ‘sponsor benefits’ to be used by the end of 2023.
• Picturehouse cinemas, London and INEOS (April 2023)
• Royal Opera House, London and BP (January 2023)
• New Scientist Live and BP (March 2022)
• Scottish Ballet, Glasgow and BP (February 2022)
• National Portrait Gallery, London and BP (February 2022)
• Kew Gardens and Tullow Oil (March 2021)
• Southbank Centre, London and Shell (March 2020)
• British Film Institute, London and Shell (March 2020)
• National Theatre, London and Shell (October 2019)
• Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon and BP (October 2019)
• National Galleries Scotland and BP (November 2019)
• Edinburgh Science Festival and all fossil fuel funding (April 2019)
• National Gallery, London and Shell (October 2018)
• Edinburgh International Festival and BP (April 2016)
• Tate galleries, UK and BP (April 2016)

Significant one-off events

• COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow formally excluded fossil fuel sponsorship (October 2021)
• ‘Creating a sustainable future’ conference hosted by New Scientist dropped BP (September 2021)
• Channel 4’s broadcast coverage of the Paralympic Games dropped BP (August 2021)

International

• Darwin Festival and Santos, Australia (October 2022)
• Perth Festival and Chevron, Australia (October 2022)
• Australian Open and Santos (January 2022)
• NEMO Science Museum, Amsterdam and Shell (June 2021)
• Perth Fringe Arts Festival and Woodside (June 2021)
• Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Shell (September 2020)
• Mauritshuis, The Hauge drop Shell (August 2018)
• Museon, The Hague drop Shell (August 2018)
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and Shell (August 2018)
• Canadian Museum of History and CAPP (2018)
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and Aramco (- 2017)
• American Museum of Natural History divests (December 2016) with David Koch (January 2016) and Rebekah Mercer (January 2020) also forced to resign from its board, in part, over their fossil fuel ties
• Field Museum, Chicago divests (November 2015)
• Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (-)

Partial wins include:

• London’s Natural History Museum used to be sponsored by Shell (specifically the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award). Under pressure, it shifted to DONG Energy/Orsted which has now divested from fossil fuels to focus on renewables. However, the museum subsequently named a hall after climate-denial-funder Michael Hintze, and until recently, BP funded the museum’s BP micropalaeontology research project. The museum is yet to fully rule out future partnerships with all fossil fuel companies.

There’s also a growing international community of arts organisations and artists who have committed never to take fossil fuel sponsorship by signing up to the Oil Sponsorship Free commitment. They include the Royal Court and Arcola theatres and several live art organisations.

A full list of UK cultural institutions that are still funded by oil companies can be found here.