*Shell ditched as sponsor of top wildlife photographer exhibition in face of widespread protest

Shell’s two year tenure as sponsor of the Natural History Museum’s
‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ exhibition has come to an end. A
determined, creative two year national campaign, coordinated in part by
the direct action group Rising Tide and its Art Not Oil (1) campaign,
helped to force the NHM to ditch Shell.

Using a combination of creative direct action (2) and a ‘Shell’s Wild Lie’
exhibition (3), Rising Tide has been pressurising the Museum and partner
BBC Wildlife magazine to acknowledge that one of the world’s largest oil
companies is not a good sponsor for an exhibition that has become a
powerful testament to the beauty, diversity and fragility of the natural
world.(4)

This campaign, and the significant public pressure it mobilised, has now
paid off.

London Rising Tide’s Chris Hyde said: ‘We are delighted that the Natural
History Museum has seen sense and bid farewell to Shell in what must rank
as the most absurd and appalling sponsorship deal ever seen. Now it’s time
for the Museum to turn down cash from climate-destroying companies like
BP, BA and Shell , and for cultural institutions across London and the
UK to do the same.'

'The oil industry is destroying our future, as well as the habitats and lives of
countless living beings and habitats right now. For that reason, and because this
victory has shown what climatically conscious grassroots art can achieve,
we will be keeping up the pressure with our Art Not Oil campaign.’

Contact: info@artnotoil.org.uk, 07708 794665