West Australian artists and climate activists are calling for an end to the "bad romance" between arts organisations and gas companies, as a new report from Swinburne University of Technology researchers, launching on Thursday August 10, for the first time quantifies fossil fuel company partnerships with the arts.
The report, Bad Romance: Coal, gas, and oil sponsorship in the Australian arts industry, was commissioned by climate activist group 350 Australia and finds:
- The number of partnerships with fossil fuel related organisations in the arts sector has been decreasing in recent years, often in response to community demands.
- 6.3% of the 127 major arts organisations examined in this report have partnerships with fossil fuel companies who undertake coal, gas, and oil extraction.
- The arts organisations are primarily located in Western Australia and the Northern Territory with other organisations based in the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and South Australia.
- In WA, organisations with current partnerships with fossil fuel extraction companies include the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Ballet, Barking Gecko Theatre Company, and John Curtin Gallery.
- The relatively small financial value provided by fossil fuel sponsors and partners for arts organisations could be replaced by arts organisations over time, especially with support from governments, whereas the benefits that arts provides to coal, oil, and gas corporations would be much more difficult to replace for these corporations.
- Arts organisations risk reputational damage posed by being associated with fossil fuel companies given shifts in public sentiment.
- Partnerships with coal, oil, and gas miners include those with symphony orchestras, major festivals, museums and galleries, and dance and theatre companies.
Artists and activists are calling for WA's arts organisations to ban sponsorships with fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis, similar to how unethical industries such as tobacco, asbestos and weapons are banned.
According to Swinburne University Associate Professor Adam Karg, lead researcher for the report, "Our research shows there remain numerous active sponsorships with fossil fuel generating companies within the arts sector, with many of these linked to specific regions where mining activities take place.
"While the total level of fossil fuel sponsorship investment within the arts is moderate, coal, oil and gas companies do derive many significant and unique benefits from arts sector partnerships.
"Similar to sport and other high involvement sectors, we have seen the number of partnerships with fossil fuel related organisations in the arts sector decrease in recent years. This has often been a response to increasing calls from communities demanding high levels of alignment between organisational values of organisations and the commercial partnerships they hold and support.
"Going forward, questions remain for arts organisations, as to whether continued alignment of fossil fuel companies adequately fit with the expectations of artists, supporters and other partners."
According to violinist Madeleine Antoine, who performs in various orchestras and ensembles in Perth, "I find it very disturbing when artists - who the community traditionally looks to to portray truths and delve into the mysteries of life - are caged by sponsorship deals with the most disastrous big corporations.
"The real hypocrisy is that Woodside Energy dares to sponsor leading arts organisations such as WASO, while in the same breath destroying some of the world's most ancient and sacred Indigenous Murujuga rock art. The government should be taxing big corporations appropriately, and funding our leading orchestras so that they do not have to diminish the quality of their art by association."
According to 350 Australia CEO Lucy Manne, "July 2023 has been confirmed as the hottest month on record, as people flee wildfires and suffer through extreme heat across the northern hemisphere. Meanwhile, as the world burns, fossil fuel companies are making obscene profits by pouring fuel on the fire.
"As we reckon with the terrifying impacts of the climate crisis, art can help us create a new and kinder world. But the arts are being used by fossil fuel companies to buy public support, through sponsorships that allow them to plaster their logo across festivals, galleries, concert halls and theatres.
"This is why it's so important that we all use our power as an audience member, a performer, an arts worker, a board member, or a donor to put an end to fossil fuel company greenwashing."
According to Richard Sowada, Festival Director of Revelation Perth International Film Festival, "It's crucial for arts organisations to operate with ethical sponsorship and program strategies at the very front of all decision making including toward fossil fuel - and it's not hard - we've been doing it for 27 years.
"The argument around 'if we don't take the money, we can't do what we want' is utterly incomprehensible to us. There are bigger things at stake here than doing what you want, and once that money is taken, so too is an organisation's ability to have an opinion and voice."
According to kelli mccluskey, chief executive artist of Boorloo-based pvi collective, "With most bad romances there is an awkward break-up. This is that moment between the arts and the fossil fuel industry.
"Whether they like it or not, this is the dying days of the fossil fuel industry. Now their delay and denial tactics are more exposed, the social capital they have accrued through arts sponsorship is fading and the tide of public opinion is turning.
"I think it's worth remembering that the arts are a social good and we are ultimately in service to the public, not to corporate interests or governments of the day. Audiences do not want the arts associated with the number one industry that is causing the climate emergency. We need to listen to that."
The calls from artists are the latest in a wave of momentum calling for sports, arts, cultural and community organisations to end partnerships with coal and gas corporations. In WA, Woodside has been the target of grassroots campaigns over many years over their partnerships with the Fremantle Dockers, Nippers, and the Fringe Festival. In 2022, Chevron and Perth Festival's long standing partnership ended.
According to 350 Australia, whose national campaign Cut All Ties tracks these partnerships across sectors, 10 organisations have pledged not to take funding from fossil fuel companies, and 16 have recently cut ties with fossil fuel partners.
