Protests Mount at Arts Institutions That Receive BP Money

A coalition of artists and environmental activists plans to picket an event at the Tate Britain on Monday commemorating the London museum’s 20-year sponsorship tie with oil giant BP, the Guardian reports.

The action, by a group calling itself Good Crude Britannia, follows protests this week by another artists’ group outside a BP-sponsored event at London’s National Portrait Gallery. Several major musical acts, including Lady Gaga and the Backstreet Boys, have said they would boycott BP during forthcoming British tours due to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Plus: An Iowa aquarium is altering a planned exhibit on the gulf’s wildlife to highlight the damage caused by the spill, the Associated Press writes.

The National Mississippi River and Aquarium in Dubuque had planned to fill tanks with sharks, rays, and other fish as well as coral and seagrass for an exhibit opening Saturday. Instead the main, school-bus-size tank will contain only water and artificial coral, with stickers resembling sinking oil adorning its sides.

See The Chronicle’s recent article about the challenges the oil spill has caused other charities that accept BP money.

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