What’s the best leadership approach if a corporate arts partnership leads to backlash? Photo: Marvin Meye via Unsplash.
It’s the kind of crisis arts leaders are becoming a lot more familiar with.
It typically comes after an arts company signs a corporate deal with a business whose activities are seen to be in stark opposition to its own values, raising difficult ethical questions.
Such was the case last month when WA Museum announced it had renewed a longstanding partnership with energy company Woodside Energy. Both parties agreed to extend Woodside’s financial support of some of the museum’s programming and marine research activities for another five years.
ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
