Arts organisations need to decide what moral hierarchies guide their operations - sponsorship included, says James Doeser.
'The Royal Shakespeare Company’s decision to end its sponsorship relationship with BP has been widely praised in our sector, but it has prompted a few thoughts about wider attitudes to sponsorship and funding in the arts.
We all have our own opinions of what’s a vice or a virtue. I imagine big tobacco and gambling companies or pharmaceutical giants might be jostling for space in most people’s league table of evil, but for someone who loves a cigarette, a flutter on the horses, and the relief of strong painkillers, they might not be such a bad thing.
Our current age has taken against the oil giants, BP chief among them. Are they part of the world’s problems or best placed to deliver green energy solutions? Despite many long associations with the arts, a noisy version of consensus has suggested the former. Vigorous and youthful protests have left our cultural leaders having to take a stand, which is tough because some of them have been getting very oily.' ... Keep reading on The Stage
'The Royal Shakespeare Company’s decision to end its sponsorship relationship with BP has been widely praised in our sector, but it has prompted a few thoughts about wider attitudes to sponsorship and funding in the arts.
We all have our own opinions of what’s a vice or a virtue. I imagine big tobacco and gambling companies or pharmaceutical giants might be jostling for space in most people’s league table of evil, but for someone who loves a cigarette, a flutter on the horses, and the relief of strong painkillers, they might not be such a bad thing.
Our current age has taken against the oil giants, BP chief among them. Are they part of the world’s problems or best placed to deliver green energy solutions? Despite many long associations with the arts, a noisy version of consensus has suggested the former. Vigorous and youthful protests have left our cultural leaders having to take a stand, which is tough because some of them have been getting very oily.' ... Keep reading on The Stage