Watch the interview on YouTube here.
In this interview Chris Garrard, co-founder of UK based Culture Unstained, talks about the importance of activists, artists, archaeologists, architects and arts workers coming together to kick out fossil fuel sponsorships of cultural institutions.
“Corporate sponsorship isn't philanthropy. It isn't a gift, it's a transaction, and something is always being sold.” Chris Garrard, co-founder of Culture Unstained.
Culture Unstained has been working to end fossil fuel sponsorship in the cultural sector for ten years. The organisations have been instrumental in getting major UK cultural institutions to cut their ties with oil and gas companies – including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Southbank Centre.
Chris also talked about their campaigning against the Science Museum in London which resulted in the ending of the Equinor sponsorship there.
The interview was recorded Monday the 2nd of February 2026 in connection with the event “Fossil-free arts, sports and advertising”, arranged by Klimakultur at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Norway.
Filmed by artist and filmmaker Mariken Halle.
About Chris Garrard:
Chris Garrard is the Co-founder and Co-director of Culture Unstained, a campaigns and research organisation that has turned the tide on fossil fuel sponsorship of museums, galleries and theatres in the UK. He is an art activist and has devised and coordinated large-scale creative protests, and currently directs an activist choir. He also has a doctorate in composition from the University of Oxford and was a Postdoctoral Researcher in theatre and activism at the University of Exeter.
