Artwashing - BP Gets Press To Trumpet Aberdeen Gallery Donation Even Though 1/30th Of Total Budget
Last week wasnt the best week for the reputation of oil giant BP. Greenpeace activists blockaded BPs 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. ITVs 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 projects budget is coming from a public body (the Lottery Heritage fund) and a third coming from taxpayers via the city council, it was BPs 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. Its no surprise then that the National Portrait Gallerys 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