Kanders, then vice chair of the Whitney Museum of American Art, stepped down after scrutiny from the protest group Decolonize This Place (DTP) for his role as CEO for a company profiting from crowd-control weapons-for example, rubber bullets, batons, stun grenades and tear gas being deployed against migrants attempting to cross the southern border into the United States. 27 After an eighteen-year partnership with Shell, the Van Gogh Museum halted the agreement in 2018. 26 In November 2019, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery announced it would not show exhibitions sponsored by BP. BP (British Petroleum) ended its 26-year-long sponsorship of the Tate in 2017. 25 Similar decisions have been made regarding supporters from the fossil fuels industry. 24 In the UK, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate art galleries also halted donations from the Sackler Trust. 23 Subsequently, in 2021, The Met announced its decision to remove the Sackler name from its walls. Specifically, a month prior to the public announcement of the partnership between The National Museum and Fredriksen Family Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York announced that it would no longer accept donations from Sackler family members with ties to the opioid epidemic in the United States. Much of the critique and response to the patronage of cultural institutions is driven by the artists themselves, calling for art institutions to decline funding from controversial sources or what they refer to as “dirty money.” 22 As a result, a number of art museums turned down donations from long-term beneficiaries. 21 In response to increased public pressure, art museums internationally continue to make strides toward greater transparency in endowment and general fundraising practices. The museum-philanthropy relationship is vast in its complexity and philanthropy itself is a contested concept, particularly in its “normative valence,” as suggested by Siobhan Daly, who claims that what the public good is and how it should be served are inherent to philanthropy’s contestability. 17 Dedicated to its mission, The National Museum seeks out private funding to promote inclusion, diversity, gender equity and access for sustainable growth as it negotiates its place in a global cultural field. The nonprofit business model is complex and museums struggle for sustainability within this framework. Traditional models of philanthropy are subject to class, prestige and wealth. As such they enlist a wide range of tactics to bring in income. 16 More often than not, museums, among other nonprofit arts organizations, are underfunded. In pursuit of sustainable funding models and with Norwegian political ambitions for museums to increase private funding, it is essential for museums to consistently address institutional ethics. Norway’s ruling right-wing government (led by Erna Solberg), in power from 2013 to 2021, zealously encouraged museums to generate their own revenue and sponsorship. 15 While this is historically the case, a shift occurred with the change of government in 2013. For instance, the Arts Council Norway, the advisory body to the central government and public sector on cultural affairs, handled around €150 million in state funding earmarked for arts and culture in 2020, which is about 10% of the national cultural budget. 14 This is apparent in the substantial governmental funds channeled into the arts. How is the partnership between The National Museum and Fredriksen Family Art relevant to Norwegian cultural politics? Norway’s long-standing democratic approach to the arts and generous public arts funding has established a model that is unique to the world and grounded on the idea that arts and culture are a vital part of a welfare society.
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