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Time to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3

Time to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3

Roman Abramovich under sanctions! Chelsea up for sale! Scandal engulfs Everton FC as a key donor Alisher Usmanov is added to the UK government’s list of ‘named Oligarchs’. The Economic War has opened a new front on the pitch. Football is pulled into the Russian invasion of Ukraine just as Western corporations and the oil...
#ShakeTheSystem: Legacies & futures with Voices that Shake!

#ShakeTheSystem: Legacies & futures with Voices that Shake!

[From the #ShakeTheSystem team] It’s 2020 and we’re celebrating 10 years of Voices that Shake! with an anthology, toolkits, workshops, showcases and more. This is #ShakeTheSystem: A Decade of Shaping Change Over 200 marginalised and underrepresented young people have directly been part of the deep personal and community transformation that the unique space of Shake!...
Seizure of Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Bus #bus4ogoni9

Seizure of Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Bus #bus4ogoni9

This statement is issued to call public attention to the seizure by the Nigerian Customs Service of a “Living Memorial” to Ken Saro-Wiwa donated by Platform  – friends and colleagues in the United Kingdom – to the Ogoni people. The memorial is a sculpture of a bus made in remembrance of the struggles of Ken...
This Bitter Earth - rendering the invisible visible

This Bitter Earth – rendering the invisible visible

During my leave over the summer I was really glad to catch the performance Arctic Requiem outside the Shell Centre in August. Here’s a piece I wrote about it, prior to Shell’s decision to cease drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The rain lashes down. A strong south westerly drives it along the Thames, across Jubilee...
You'll want this stunning new poster artwork for the Ogoni 9

You’ll want this stunning new poster artwork for the Ogoni 9

Long-term struggles need new creative energy to stay nourished. So today we launch a stunning new print artwork – a collaboration between the internationally acclaimed political artist Alfredo Jaar and designer Jon Daniel. Platform commissioned it mark the 20th anniversary of the executions of writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 Ogoni colleagues. Below, see how you can...

Art and power: reflections on austerity and sponsorship

We often get asked: if we want the arts to be free from sponsorship by climate-wrecking oil companies, where’s the money going to come from? And aren’t we just going to push art institutions towards other corporate sponsors (arms dealers, banks) with tarnished reputations to polish? My immediate answer to this question is in the...
Take The Money And Run? Ethics, funding and art

Take The Money And Run? Ethics, funding and art

40-min and 5-min documentation of Take The Money And Run? - an event about ethics, funding and art that took place at Toynbee Studios, London on January 29, 2015.
Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts

Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts

Order Artwash for just £10 (RRP £12.99) UK postage or collect in person: Go to our shop for checkout and more options As major oil companies face continual public backlash, many have found it helpful to engage in “art washing”—donating large sums to cultural institutions to shore up their good name. But what effect does...
Where do we go from here? Climate change, arts & Culture Shift

Where do we go from here? Climate change, arts & Culture Shift

We’re very excited about Culture Shift – the new report by Emergence on how artists are responding to sustainability. (It’s also available in Welsh). Culture Shift includes a great idea for a “Gablik Test” for the arts, learning from the Bechdel Test. Here is an extract from the report.   “If the scientists are right,...
Take the money and run?   - an event about ethics, funding and art

Take the money and run? – an event about ethics, funding and art

Thursday 29 January, 2015 Event 10am – 5pm; Drinks 5pm – 6pm £12.50, including tea/coffee, lunch and a complimentary copy of the publication Take The Money And Run? Some positions on ethics, business sponsorship and making art by Jane Trowell (Platform) *15 free places are available by application to those on low/no income. at Toynbee...
Arts and Ethical Fundraising Policies – you know they make sense

Arts and Ethical Fundraising Policies – you know they make sense

In the context of the furore that’s raging about artists provoking the Sydney Biennale to reject funding from Transfield Holdings – who run offshore detention centres for asylum seekers – now is the moment to really grasp just how incendiary the sources of our funding can be. Or to put it positively, just how important...