A visitor at Tate Britain. Photo courtesy of Tate
The Tate in London received £4m in sponsorship from the energy giant BP between 1990 and 2006, the UK institution revealed today. In a statement, the Tate says the sum constitutes “considerable funding”, but according to campaigners who supported the Freedom of Information request challenged by the gallery, it is lower than might be expected.
The campaign group Platform, which helped bring the case to court and has accused the Tate of providing BP with a “veneer of respectability”, had previously estimated BP’s annual sponsorship to be £500,000. From the 1990s to 2006, the average annual figure is around £235,000, climbing from £150,000 more than two decades ago to £330,000 in 2006. The Tate describes these figures as “historic” and declines to reveal recent or current sponsorship details due to their commercial sensitivity.
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