Culture Unstained
100 signatures reached
To: Greg Doran and the RSC Trustees
End BP Sponsorship of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company: end your sponsorship deal with BP whilst ensuring that the £5 ticket scheme for 16-25 year olds continues.
Why is this important?
The Royal Shakespeare Company is one of Britain's best-loved theatre companies. But the RSC's reputation is being tarnished by its decision to allow oil giant BP to sponsor its £5 ticket scheme for 16-25 year olds.
BP's extraction of fossil fuels around the world is driving dangerous climate change and causing toxic oil spills. The company works with repressive regimes, fuels conflict and blocks clean energy alternatives. 16-25-year-old theatregoers should be able to see the plays they love without helping promote a company that is putting their futures at risk.
BP provides less than 1% of the RSC's income. Other arts organisations, including Tate and Edinburgh International Festival, have moved away from oil sponsorship following pressure from artists, scientists and campaigners. The theatre company has the funds to do the right thing without putting the £5 ticket scheme – or any jobs – at risk. It's time the RSC brought the curtain down on its relationship with one of the world's most polluting companies.
Many theatre stars have already endorsed a crowdfunded ethical alternative to the BP-sponsored scheme - Fossil Free £5 Tickets. So join Sir Mark Rylance, Vanessa Redgrave, Andrew Garfield, Emma Thompson, Maxine Peake, Tamsin Greig, Caryl Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon McBurney, Miriam Margolyes, Zoë Wanamaker, Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Britton and many others in calling on the RSC to find a more ethical alternative to oil sponsorship.
This petition is being launched by Culture Unstained, a member of the Art Not Oil coalition, with support from Warwick Students' Union, the National Union of Students and People & Planet.
To find out more about the Fossil Free £5 Ticket scheme, including getting hold of a ticket if you are aged 16-25 or donating to the crowdfunder, see cultureunstained.org/fossilfreetix
BP's extraction of fossil fuels around the world is driving dangerous climate change and causing toxic oil spills. The company works with repressive regimes, fuels conflict and blocks clean energy alternatives. 16-25-year-old theatregoers should be able to see the plays they love without helping promote a company that is putting their futures at risk.
BP provides less than 1% of the RSC's income. Other arts organisations, including Tate and Edinburgh International Festival, have moved away from oil sponsorship following pressure from artists, scientists and campaigners. The theatre company has the funds to do the right thing without putting the £5 ticket scheme – or any jobs – at risk. It's time the RSC brought the curtain down on its relationship with one of the world's most polluting companies.
Many theatre stars have already endorsed a crowdfunded ethical alternative to the BP-sponsored scheme - Fossil Free £5 Tickets. So join Sir Mark Rylance, Vanessa Redgrave, Andrew Garfield, Emma Thompson, Maxine Peake, Tamsin Greig, Caryl Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon McBurney, Miriam Margolyes, Zoë Wanamaker, Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Britton and many others in calling on the RSC to find a more ethical alternative to oil sponsorship.
This petition is being launched by Culture Unstained, a member of the Art Not Oil coalition, with support from Warwick Students' Union, the National Union of Students and People & Planet.
To find out more about the Fossil Free £5 Ticket scheme, including getting hold of a ticket if you are aged 16-25 or donating to the crowdfunder, see cultureunstained.org/fossilfreetix