Letter: One year on from the Baillie Gifford arts sponsorship boycott

Last year was a watershed moment for discussion about private money and the arts, beginning in May when Baillie Gifford was pushed out of its partnerships with literary festivals, following a sustained campaign by activist groups (“Hay Festival suspends sponsorship from Baillie Gifford after protests”, Report, FT.com, May 24 2024).

As culture secretary Lisa Nandy argued in her Jennie Lee Lecture, such relentless negativity has the potential for “killing off” arts and culture in the UK. Across the arts and culture sector, it is perhaps not well understood that working in partnership with businesses is a proactive choice. Corporate sponsorship can never provide a replacement for public funding.

However, partnering with businesses ensures our work goes further and has a greater impact. It adds more value and enables growth, ambition and
risk taking. Through partnerships, arts organisations also actively engage with the organisations that shape how we live. We never forget these businesses are made up of real people, engaged in real communities, who understand and believe in the power of the arts to bring joy, aspiration and change to our lives.

Our museums, theatres, festivals and artists need to operate within the economic structures in which society operates.

One year on from Baillie Gifford, we must find a way to show that cultural organisations contribute to a better world, and partnership with business and philanthropy is an admirable and valuable part of that mission.

Sir Alistair Spalding
Britannia Morton
Co-CEOs of Sadler’s Wells,
London EC1, UK

This letter is supported by the V&A, British Museum, Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre, National Gallery, Science Museum Group, Royal Ballet & Opera, Southbank Centre, The Old Vic and Edinburgh International Festivals