Susanna Rustin and George Arnett reveal how much corporate sponsors pay to buy their shares in the reputation of England's major arts institutions.
The recent release of figures by Tate that showed its galleries received sponsorship worth £3.8m (an average of £245,000 a year) from oil giant BP between 1990 and 2006 provoked mixed reactions. While the BBC’s Will Gompertz said this was “quite a lot of money for any arts institution”, the campaigners who fought a three-year battle for the information called it “embarrassingly small”.
They were not alone in thinking the company appeared to have got a lot of bang, in terms of visibility in the galleries, for its bucks. But how much can or should our top museums and theatres expect from corporate partners, in exchange for the display of logos in buildings, on programmes, in media coverage of sponsored shows?... Keep reading on The Guardian
The recent release of figures by Tate that showed its galleries received sponsorship worth £3.8m (an average of £245,000 a year) from oil giant BP between 1990 and 2006 provoked mixed reactions. While the BBC’s Will Gompertz said this was “quite a lot of money for any arts institution”, the campaigners who fought a three-year battle for the information called it “embarrassingly small”.
They were not alone in thinking the company appeared to have got a lot of bang, in terms of visibility in the galleries, for its bucks. But how much can or should our top museums and theatres expect from corporate partners, in exchange for the display of logos in buildings, on programmes, in media coverage of sponsored shows?... Keep reading on The Guardian