- State museums have entered into sponsorship agreements worth almost SEK 70 million over the past five years, Kulturnytt’s review shows.
- Some museums waive money from arms companies, but the Air Force Museum in Linköping receives multi-million sums from the arms manufacturer Saab.
- At the same time, the Moderna Museet does not want their brand to be associated with the arms industry.
State museums have entered into sponsorship agreements worth almost SEK 70 million over the past five years. It a review Kulturnytts done. But the view of which companies you should cooperate with differs.
While, for example, the Modern Museum waives money from arms companies, the Air Force Museum in Linköping receives multi-million sums from the defense group Saab.
Noomi Eriksson is the director of the Air Force Museum.
– Our assignment has clear points of contact with Saab in particular and that it is therefore natural that we cooperate. We have in our collections somewhere around 150 aircraft that Saab has manufactured, says Noomi Eriksson.
Sponsorship collaboration with arms manufacturer Saab was started in 2009 before a renovation of the premises and has since given the museum SEK 1.9 million – annually. In exchange, the museum undertakes, among other things, to sell Saab’s profile products in the museum shop and to lend its premises for Saab’s events. However, Saab has no influence over the content of the museum’s exhibitions, says Noomi Eriksson.
– We have no dialogue between us and Saab regarding the content of exhibitions or the story we convey.
According to a compilation made by Kulturnytt Since 2015, the state museum authorities have signed sponsorship agreements, mainly with private companies, to a value of SEK 67.5 million – which also includes so-called barter agreements, where museums exchange goods and services, e.g. marketing against wine.
Some museums express clearly what type of companies and organizations you say no to – e.g. political parties, or activities that are harmful to the environment or violate human rights. In its policy, the Modern Museum has formulated that it waives money from the arms industry in particular.
– We believe that our brand should not be associated with the arms industry and this is an attitude that we share with virtually the entire international sponsorship world where it is seen that the arms and tobacco industry is not included in sponsorship, says Gitte Ørskou, director of the Modern Museum.
According to the Swedish Financial Management Authority Authorities that receive sponsorship money should have a policy to avoid becoming financially dependent or damaging credibility. But despite the Air Force Museum receiving money from Saab for over ten years, the museum still lacks a policy. Noomi Eriksson says that they have not previously worked actively with sponsorship and therefore have not seen the need for written guidelines, but that they are now working to produce such.
– It is clear that there should be a policy in this area if it is the case that you should actively work with sponsorship, says Noomi Eriksson.
Source: ICELAND NEWS