V and A Dundee to remove Sackler name but keep £500k donations
The V&A Dundee in Scotland has denounced its association with the Sackler Trust as part of the ongoing debate around “toxic philanthropy”, which concerns giant corporations with dubious connections funding otherwise positive organisations like museums and charities.
The Sackler name, found on the walls of museums and galleries worldwide, has become intrinsically associated with a global opioid epidemic, which has seen several members of the Sackler family pull in huge profits. Many believe their company, Purdue Pharma, has been funded by financially exploiting the global crisis, with several artists protesting the group.
As reported by the BBC, the Sackler Trust gave V&A Dundee a £500,000 donation ahead of its opening in 2018. Signs that had adorned the building walls and recognised Sackler’s contributions were taken down last month following the removal of a specific sign in the museum’s Old Oak room, which was removed last year.
The museum, however, is not prepared to return the donation. They confirmed that they’d be keeping the money to The Art Newspaper, and a spokesperson for the museum told the BBC, “V&A Dundee, like other organisations who have removed crediting, is not in talks to return the historic capital support received for the creation of the museum, which were made before V&A Dundee opened in 2018.”
The decision follows that of many other institutions around the world, including the Louvre, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate group. In 2021, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art removed the Sackler name from several exhibitions.
Like the V&D Dundee, many have chosen to withhold their funding procured from the Sackler Trust. Earlier in May, Oxford University announced the removal of the family’s name from the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Libraries and several research positions at the museum.
They confirmed in an official statement that “all donations received from the Sackler family and their trusts will be retained by the University for their intended educational purposes.” Many organisations have now sought out a “morals clause” as part of the donation agreement that will ensure their financing “in the event of a donor falling from grace.”
