BP is “ dismayed” after the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has said it is to end an eight-years sponsorship deal with the supermajor after growing pressure to end the involvement of oil companies in the world of arts.
RSC said on Wednesday that its decision comes amid protests from young climate activists as well as campaigns from artists, the public and environmentalists.
In a joint statement, Gregory Doran, the RSC’s artistic director, and Catherine Mallyon, its executive director, said: “Amidst the climate emergency, which we recognise, young people are now saying clearly to us that the BP sponsorship is putting a barrier between them and their wish to engage with the RSC. We cannot ignore that message.”
The sponsorship deal will end at the end of this year – more than two years before it was due to expire.
In response, BP criticised the “increasing polarisation of debate” around what is required as the world works to move towards a low carbon future.
BP said in a statement: “We’re dismayed because we share many of the concerns that apparently contributed to the decision. We recognise the world is on an unsustainable path and needs to transition rapidly to net-zero in the coming decades.
“The debate centres around how to deliver this whilst meeting the world’s growing energy demands. BP is focused on this dual challenge; we are in action, have ambitious plans for the future and welcome engagement with all about how to make the energy we produce cleaner and better,” BP said.
According to BP, over the past eight years its sponsorship has enabled 80,000 young people to see RSC performances at reduced rates, as the group funds its £5 ($6) tickets scheme for 16 to 25-year-olds.
“Ironically, the increasing polarisation of debate, and attempts to exclude companies committed to making real progress, is exactly what is not needed. This global challenge needs everyone – companies, governments and individuals – to work together to achieve a low carbon future,” BP added.
There has been growing criticism of oil and gas companies and their involvement with leading arts companies.
Recently, young students in the UK in school climate strikes said they would boycott the RSC unless it severed its ties with the oil industry.
British Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, who had been an associate artist with the RSC for 30 years, resigned earlier this year, saying BP’s sponsorship deal allowed the company to “obscure the destructive reality of its activities”, which he said threatened the future of the planet.
In addition, an open letter earlier this year from 78 artists to Nicholas Cullinan, director of London’s National Portrait Gallery, has also called on the institution to end its decades-long sponsorship deal with BP.
