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Book festivals previously sponsored by Baillie Gifford seek donations
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Nine festivals that were previously sponsored by investment company
Baillie Gifford are now seeking donations.
"Amidst intense discussion around arts funding and challenges to our
continued flourishing", reads a joint statement, the festivals have
"joined forces" to "call for increased support".
Monday's statement comes weeks after Baillie Gifford partnerships with
the nine festivals ended - including Hay festival, Edinburgh
international book festival and Cheltenham literature festival - after
calls by campaign group Fossil Free Books (FFB) for the company to
divest from fossil fuels and companies linked to Israel.
"As writers and other book workers, we care deeply for literary
festivals and support their call for sustainable funding," said FFB in
response to the statement.
It also emerged on Monday that publishing house Bloomsbury has donated
£100,000 to be split between the nine festivals. "A member of FFB
directly reached out to Bloomsbury suggesting they donate to book
festivals in light of Baillie Gifford's withdrawal, and was
responsible for securing their support," the group told the Guardian.
"We are grateful for new backing in the face of arts austerity as we
work towards a long-term model, and hope to celebrate more wins for
and with our festivals soon."
The joint statement highlighted benefits of book festivals, including
improving public discourse and supporting writers. Hay festival CEO
Julie Finch made the case to the Guardian for literary festivals'
importance "in terms of health and wellbeing, reading and community
development, and also tourism and the economy".
The Publishers Association said that it endorsed the statement, adding
that the "significant funding pressures" festivals are facing "are of
profound concern". Festivals' futures "can only be achieved through a
mixed model of earned revenue, public funding, corporate sponsorship
and private philanthropy".
In May, Hay festival dropped Baillie Gifford as a sponsor after
several speakers boycotted the festival. Days later, Edinburgh
international book festival and the company "collectively agreed" to
end the sponsorship. Soon, it emerged that sponsorships of Borders,
Wimbledon BookFest, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Stratford, Wigtown and
Henley festivals had also been cancelled. The company's sponsorship of
the Baillie Gifford prize remains in place.
FFB encouraged "people and publishers" to read the festivals'
statement and to "give where they can". It also encouraged festivals
to "work with authors and outside groups such as Culture Unstained to
develop transparent, ethical fundraising policies".
Finch said that Hay is exploring "the whole gamut" of fundraising
sources, including from "the public, high net worth individuals,
trusts and foundations, corporate [and] legacies".
She added that the charity has to adhere to Charity Commission
guidance and regulations.
"Ultimately, we have to say yes to funding until there's a reason to
say no," said Finch. "And, obviously, we go through a process. So all
funding opportunities are explored, regardless of their sources, they
are vetted in a really robust process, and then a decision is made as
to where and how that funding might manifest itself."
Asked why Hay didn't put more pressure on Baillie Gifford to divest
from fossil fuel and Israel-linked companies, Finch said that that is
not the festival's "role". It's "not our business to do that.
Hopefully, this whole episode has highlighted the fact that festivals
are simply not campaigning organisations."
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In May, FFB released a statement - since signed by more than 800
authors - which reiterated demands for Baillie Gifford to cease
investments in fossil fuel industries and called on the company to
divest "from companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation
and genocide".
In a June interview with the Guardian after the termination of the
sponsorships, film-maker, writer and FFB campaigner Omar Robert
Hamilton said that he "wouldn't call it a victory". Campaigners said
that they had hoped festivals would have leveraged their relationships
with the company to "talk to them about divesting".
When approached for comment, Baillie Gifford pointed to statements
made in May after the Edinburgh international book festival and the
company parted ways. "We hold the activists squarely responsible for
the inhibiting effect their action will have on funding for the arts
in this country," said Nick Thomas, a partner at Baillie Gifford. "The
assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is
a large investor in several multinational technology companies,
including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these
global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is
unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable
to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon."
Thomas said that Baillie Gifford is not a "significant" fossil fuel
investor. "Only 2% of our clients' money is invested in companies with
some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies
helping drive the transition to clean energy."
Author and FFB campaigner Tom Jeffreys wrote in the Guardian last week
in support of the group's actions, arguing that "such shifts may not
feel like victories, but in several important ways they are". He said
that FFB and other collectives are in conversation with festivals to
develop more ethical funding policies, and that "alternative funding
possibilities" are emerging.
Adam Rutherford, a scientist who hosted several events at this year's
Hay festival, said that he "fully" endorsed the festivals' statement.
"Book festivals are a vital organ in national life, one that fuels
ideas and discourse and creativity and education, and a love of books
- the record of the best of humanity."
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