The British Museum’s inaugural ball, dubbed London’s answer to the Met Gala, raised more than £2.5 million ($3.3 million), with proceeds “securing vital funding for [our] international partnerships,” the museum said in a statement.
Last Saturday’s £2,000 ($2,700)-a-ticket fundraising event, attended by celebrities and prominent names including Mick Jagger, Janet Jackson, Tracy Emin, James Norton, and Naomi Campbell, featured a silent auction. Guests could bid on a pet portrait by Emin, a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum’s scientific research laboratories, a special preview of the Bayeux Tapestry when it arrives on loan next year, and a private dinner with the institution’s director, Nicholas Cullinan.
During the evening, the museum announced a £10.3 million ($13.7 million) pledge from the Garfield Weston Foundation. “This major contribution will enable the museum to move forward with our Visitor Welcome Program, which includes new Visitor Welcome Pavilions at both the North and South entrances. The program will create a world-class visitor welcome through cutting-edge design, horticulture, and a reimagining of the museum’s famous forecourt,” it said.
The star-studded event was not without controversy, though, after an unnamed woman gained access to the museum’s Great Court dressed as a waitress. She was seen in a video posted online by Energy Embargo for Palestine, an organization based in Britain, standing on stage next to George Osborne, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, holding a sign reading “DROP BP NOW.” The British Museum has drawn criticism for accepting a £50 million ($67 million) sponsorship from the oil and gas giant that is “causing climate collapse” and “actively enabling the genocide in Gaza,” the evening’s protestor claimed.
Not only this, but after the ball, Greece’s culture minister, Lina Mendoni, blasted the British Museum for allowing the 800 or so guests to get merry around the Elgin Marbles. She said the museum showed “provocative indifference” to the collection of ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens by entertaining next to them. Mendoni condemned the use of the marbles as mere “decorative elements,” saying such events disrespect the cultural significance of the sculptures and risk their preservation.
