Barclays stops festival sponsorship after artist protests

(CelebrityAccess) – British banking giant Barclays has suspended its sponsorship of music festivals in 2024, including Live Nation’s Download, Latitude and the Isle of Wight.

The decision followed an uprising by artists against the Bank’s sponsorship of music festivals due to their ongoing business ties with Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Palestine. The relationship prompted artists such as country singer Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, known as CMAT, to pull out of the Latitude Festival because of the Barclays sponsorship, and British metalcore band Ithaca, who pulled out of Download for the same reason.

“I will not allow my valuable work, my music that I love so much, to be associated with violence,” CMAT said in a statement to the BBC.

In addition, more than 100 artists boycotted the Great Escape Festival, which took place last month, due to the festival’s sponsorship deal with Barclays.

Live Nation confirmed the change in festival sponsorship, telling the BBC: “Following discussions with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will withdraw from sponsorship of our festivals.”

In a statement to the Guardian, a Barclays representative said: “Barclays has been asked to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024 and has agreed. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals will not be affected and their tickets will remain valid. The protesters are seeking to see Barclays de-bank arms companies, a sector to which we remain committed as it is an essential part of the security of this country and our allies.”

“They have intimidated our staff, committed repeated acts of vandalism in our stores and harassed them online. The only thing this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken the fundamental support for cultural events enjoyed by millions of people. It is time for leading politicians, business leaders, academics and artists to stand together against this.”