Should Arts Organizations Accept Sponsorship from Oil Companies?

In 2010, England-based Liberate Tate began a campaign in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The group of artists and activists called for London's Tate Galleries to remove BP from its list of sponsors. "And so we spent the past six years making unsanctioned performance interventions at Tate Galleries to force Tate to end its sponsorship deal and that's what happened this year," says the group's Mel Evans. By unsanctioned performances, Evans means protests.

For the better part of October, Liberate Tate members have been traveling by train from New York City to Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The goal is to lead discussions about whether arts organizations should accept sponsorship from oil companies and Houston is the last stop of their tour. "It's super important for us to be here in Houston, where of course there is a whole number of oil sponsors," Evans says.

Liberate Tate's Houston visit is co-sponsored by the University of Houston's Center for Art and Social Engagement. "Some might think of it as controversial. Some might think of it as exactly what needs to happen," says Sixto Wagan, the center's director. "And what is that line that artists need to continue to walk at this point about social consciousness?"

Liberate Tate's discussion of oil and art is Friday night at 7:00 at Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd. It'll be followed with a workshop on Saturday from 11:00 am-2:00 pm at Alabama Song, 2521 Oakdale St.