Tobacco companies can’t sponsor Australian arts. Should fossil fuel giants be banned too?

In October, Santos cut ties with Darwin festival after the festival was offered $200,000 by a coalition of philanthropists, artists and First Nations representatives to drop the oil giant sponsorship. Photograph: Duane Preston/Darwin Festival

Pressure is building on arts and cultural institutions to sever ties with fossil fuel companies, with a number of Australia’s major arts companies still relying on sponsorship, while those operating in natural resource-rich states face the biggest challenges in securing alternative funding.

There are now at least two Australian-based organisations – Comms Declare and 350.org – that track down sponsorship deals and lobby arts, sporting, cultural and other not-for-profit and government institutions to abandon lucrative partnerships with coal, oil and gas companies.