Jonathan Jones is wrong to say: “It is not true that you can cut off a source of money to museums without harming art” (Is it time for the arts to start saying no to oil money?, theguardian.com, 8 September). When that money comes from an unethical oil company such as BP, we have already harmed that art by putting our values up for sale. And that is what the National Portrait Gallery did last year. By turning a blind eye to BP’s close ties to regimes that violate human rights – something that breaches the gallery’s ethical fundraising policy – it was able to renew its BP sponsorship and clean up the company’s tarnished reputation.
What value is our enjoyment of art when it comes at the expense of those on the frontlines of climate change and the destructive impacts of the fossil fuel industry? We need art and our cultural institutions to expose injustice, promote debate and create change in society. Denying BP the social legitimacy of a sponsorship deal would allow the gallery to rescue its reputation before it is damaged any further, and be part of the shift to a fossil-free culture.
Dr Chris Garrard
Culture Unstained
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