Art Not Oil

Art Not Oil began as a campaign by the climate justice network Rising Tide UK in 2004, railing against the likes of BP and Shell plastering their logos on esteemed cultural institutions​. In 2014 it formally became a coalition of autonomous activist groups– including Liberate Tate, Platform, “BP or not BP?” (Reclaim Shakespeare Company), Shell Out Sounds, and UK Tar Sands Network– united by a shared mission: to free the arts from fossil fuel influence. The Art Not Oil Coalition operates on the belief that oil sponsorship of the arts provides Big Oil a “social license to operate,” similar to how tobacco companies once bought goodwill through cultural ties​.

Through theatrical interventions, performance art, and behind-the-scenes advocacy, Art Not Oil members pressure institutions to cut ties with polluters, arguing that accepting oil money in a time of climate crisis is unethical. Over the years, Art Not Oil’s creative activism has scored notable victories. Their guerrilla performances, from mock award ceremonies inside museums to flash-mobs singing “climate songs” in gallery halls, helped force major institutions to drop fossil fuel sponsors​. By 2020, the coalition’s campaigns had contributed to the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Southbank Centre, BFI, and National Galleries Scotland all ending sponsorship deals with BP or Shell​.

In one of the coalition’s many celebrated actions, Art Not Oil activists infiltrated the British Museum and arranged themselves into the shape of a giant “NO” with black umbrellas, unfurling banners reading “No New BP Deal” on the museum’s floor. This powerful image, a response to BP’s longtime funding of the museum, underscored public dissent and was accompanied by a 40-page report detailing BP’s problematic influence on culture​. By combining artful protest and strategic campaigning, Art Not Oil has galvanized public opinion to view oil sponsorship as the new tobacco sponsorship: a tarnishing association that our most beloved cultural institutions can and should live without.