{"id":2405,"date":"2024-07-08T10:26:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T09:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/englitpostgrad\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2024-07-08T10:29:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T09:29:07","slug":"page-breaks-arts-sponsorship-3-30pm-mon-15-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/englitpostgrad\/2024\/07\/08\/page-breaks-arts-sponsorship-3-30pm-mon-15-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Page Breaks: Arts Sponsorship (3.30pm, Mon 15 July)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Hay Festival, \u00a9 Sam Hardwick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For our final Page Breaks of the year, we will be discussing arts sponsorship. We will be primarily looking at the recent controversy with Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm that invests heavily in the arts, particularly in literary festivals across the UK. At Hay Festival 2024, the literary festival was boycotted by authors and Fossil Free Books over its sponsorship by Baillie Gifford and the firm\u2019s links with fossil fuels and Israel during the Israel Gaza war. Following the boycott, the festival ended its sponsorship agreement with Baillie Gifford, leading the Baillie Gifford stopping all of its festival sponsorship, including of Edinburgh, Cheltenham, and Borders book festivals.<\/p>\n

Questions of ‘greenwashing’ and ‘artwashing’ arise with commercial sponsorship of arts organisations – other examples being the Sackler family\u2019s donations to cultural institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim to promote its name tarnished by its role in the opioid epidemic in the United States.<\/p>\n

This session will ask questions such as: why do arts organisations rely on commercial sponsorships? How does this sponsorship impact the organisations’ work? And what are the complications that arise from commercial sponsorship; is there any way around them?<\/p>\n

When and Where<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.30pm, Monday 15th July, room Arts 237.<\/p>\n

What to read<\/strong><\/p>\n

A series of Guardian articles have covered the Baillie Gifford story from varying perspectives, here are a few to read beforehand, but there are many more available if you’re interested to go further!<\/p>\n