Artwashing - BP Gets Press To Trumpet Aberdeen Gallery Donation Even Though 1/30th Of Total Budget
Last week wasn’t the best week for the reputation of oil giant BP. Greenpeace activists blockaded BP’s head office in London, shareholders took the company to task at its AGM in Aberdeen and protestors vocally declared the meeting “a crime scene“ as they were roughly dragged out by security. And on Friday, the biggest climate strike yet took place with young people leading protests in more than 1,400 cities across some 110 countries. But if you caught the news last Thursday, there was a very different story being told about BP, with the oil giant being celebrated as a champion of the arts – with the company paying £1 million for a series of “BP Galleries” to be named after the firm as part of a major redevelopment of the Aberdeen Art Gallery.
A Press Association news wire, picked up by ITV news as well as many local newspapers, described this as BP “ploughing” money into the new exhibition spaces. Others trumpeted this payment as a “£1 million boost” for the gallery. Given the lavish language of the reporting, you would think this was some record-breaking act of philanthropy from the oil giant. If you took the time to read the articles though, it was clear this was not the case. ITV’s story explained that the redevelopment project “received £10 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £10 million from the city council, while the campaign to secure the remaining £10 million has so far raised £4.8 million.”
So, while one third of the project’s budget is coming from a public body (the Lottery Heritage fund) and a third coming from taxpayers via the city council, it was BP’s payment of just 1/30th of the overall budget that was reported as the boost deserving of public celebration.
As is often the case when BP makes payments to major arts institutions, it makes sure to get ‘naming rights’ to help boost its brand: from “BP Big Screens” at the Royal Opera House to “BP Exhibitions” at the British Museum. It’s no surprise then that the National Portrait Gallery’s “BP Portrait Award” – which will be announced in just a few weeks’ time – will “return to the Aberdeen Art Gallery in 2020, as part of this new funding agreement”.
EDIT
https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/05/29/opinion-bp-s-aberdeen-gallery-donation-can-t-hide-its-big-oil-investments
