LONDON: The Cheltenham Literature Festival has ended its long-standing partnership with asset management company Baillie Gifford following threats of a boycott over the company’s links to Israel and fossil fuels.
The organizers of The Times and The Sunday Times-sponsored event announced on Tuesday that they are seeking “alternative funding,” formally ending the relationship with Baillie Gifford.
Expressing “great sadness” over the termination, the organizers said that funds from Baillie Gifford had been used “to positive ends” such as increasing access and representation within public debates that “can affect lasting change.
“We would not have chosen to find ourselves in this position. We believe that change is only possible if we as a culture make it together,” they said.
Held annually in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, the internationally acclaimed festival features prominent writers and artists including Scottish actor Brian Cox, English journalist and screenwriter Jojo Moyes, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and British comedian and writer David Mitchell, among many others.
“We support an end to fossil fuel usage, and an end to human rights abuses of all kinds. Every year for 80 years, we have platformed the most prominent writers and thinkers in the world, and championed progress. We will continue to do so, although like all literature festivals we operate within a straitened financial context,” the statement continued.
Baillie Gifford, which manages £225 billion in assets through vehicles such as the FTSE 100-listed Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, has been targeted by the activist group Fossil Free Books over its investments in fossil fuels and companies that have commercial dealings with Israel.
The Cheltenham Literature Festival is the latest event to sever its sponsorship ties with Baillie Gifford, following similar actions by the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Hay Festival.
Jenny Niven, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said last week that the decision was motivated by writers pulling out of the event, even if they did not support the “boycotters’ cause,” due to concerns over negative publicity for their books.
The boycott, however, has met with mixed reactions.
Philippe Sands, a barrister representing Palestinians at the International Court of Justice and a board member of the Hay Festival, noted that Baillie Gifford’s investments in the Middle East are minimal and below industry standards for fossil fuel investments.
He also described the evidence presented by Fossil Free Books on Palestine as “rather tenuous,” highlighting that most investments are in companies such as Amazon and Meta, which have commercial dealings with Israel.
