The British Museum’s Red Ball fundraising gala took place at the weekend (17 October) against a backdrop of protests by Energy Embargo for Palestine, calling for the London-based institution to end its “unethical partnerships with oil giants and tech billionaires”, according to the group's Instagram.
The Art Newspaper observed approximately 60 protestors at the demonstration outside the main entrance, as high-profile guests arrived including the TV presenter Maya Jama, actor Benedict Cumberbatch and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
A spokesperson for Energy Embargo for Palestine addressed the heavily-policed crowd saying that “the British Museum has a track record of partnering with the Israeli Embassy” and called on the institution to “end its partnership with Zionist billionaires”. Light projections showing messages such as “Drop BP” and “Blood Ball” were also displayed across the museum façade by the demonstrators.
An Israeli Independence Day event organised by the Israeli Embassy was held at the British Museum in May last year. In 2023, the museum accepted a £50m sponsorship deal with BP. The museum director Nicholas Cullinan told The Art Newspaper’s The Week in Art podcast in 2024: “Ultimately when you have to raise hundreds of millions of pounds, you need to have a very good reason for turning down £50m.”
Meanwhile, the hedge fund billionaire Igor Tulchinsky, who has reportedly given £5m in sponsorship for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, served as the event's honorary chair in recognition of his support, the museum says. His links to the Israel Defense Forces have been scrutinised.
The organisation’s Instagram feed adds: “The museum’s management…have consistently shown that they prefer to align with the interests of US billionaires such as Igor Tulchinsky and Peter Thiel, and oil companies destroying the planet, than their own staff and public good.” The Guardian reported in August that the British Museum provided a private viewing opportunity to Peter Thiel, who co-founded Palantir and PayPal.
Additional activism occurred within the event itself; attendee Georgie Robertson posted images on Instagram of her wearing a red dress with the message "return the marbles" in front of the museum's Parthenon Marbles display.
A £30m donation
Meanwhile, the museum announced an anonymous £30m donation at the ball,which took place during Frieze week in the UK capital. This gift is separate from the yet-to-be-announced total of funds raised at the event.
Both the £30m gift and the funds raised at the event will go towards the museum’s masterplan, which is estimated to cost at least £1bn; the ambitious overhaul includes a complete reworking of the Western range of the museum, new welcome pavilions and an energy centre designed to reduce the museum’s carbon footprint.
A museum spokesperson told The Art Newspaper: “The British Museum is investing in one of the largest redevelopment projects ever undertaken by a cultural institution so that we can address the need for modernisation and keep the Museum open to all for generations to come. This project has a significant financial cost and will require a mix of private, corporate and public funding.”
According to a museum statement, “this year's Ball celebrates three extraordinary global milestones: the once-in-a-millennium loan of the Bayeux Tapestry from France (until 11 July 2027), a special display marking the 250th anniversary of the United States (Declaring independence: USA 250, until 29 November) and a landmark exhibition exploring 2,000 years of Korean creativity (Korea, until 31 January 2027).”
