BP and the National Portrait Gallery are ending a 30-year partnership this year, with the oil giant’s sponsorship of the gallery’s annual Portrait Award due to expire in December 2022.
BP’s sponsorship of the Portrait Award has attracted criticism in recent years. Other arts institutions such as Tate and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) have already cut ties with BP following environmental campaigns.
The oil firm still sponsors London’s British Museum and Royal Opera House. “The gallery is hugely grateful to BP for its long-term support of the BP Portrait Award,” Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said in a statement.
“We are immensely proud of our role in championing British arts and culture for over 30 years, but the BP of today is a very different company from when we first started our partnership with the National Portrait Gallery,” said BP executive Louise Kingham.
Oil giant’s sponsorship set to expire
“As we transition to become net-zero by 2050 and help the world get there too, we must look at new ways to best use our talent, experience, and resources,” Kingham added.
BP’s funding for the Portrait Award has “fostered creativity, encouraged portrait painting for over 30 years and given a platform to artists from around the world”, Cullinan said.
“The gallery is committed to working with artists and continuing to promote portraiture and we look forward to developing the future Portrait Award as we plan for our reopening in 2023,” he added.
Cultural institutions’ partnerships with private companies have been under scrutiny over the last few years. Recently, Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art dropped the Sackler name amid concerns about the family’s role in the opioid epidemic.
The Science Museum has also attracted criticism over sponsorship deals with oil and gas companies Shell, BP and Equinor. Its new climate change gallery is supported by the solar power arm of Adani, which has major holdings in coal.
Images: National Portrait Gallery
