Petition asks Womad to ditch oil company sponsors: Stop using ‘dirty money’

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Climate Justice Taranaki’s petition asks Womad to leave oil companies OMV and Todd Energy of its sponsor list in future.

Charlotte curd

Climate Justice Taranaki’s petition asks Womad to leave oil companies OMV and Todd Energy of its sponsor list in future.

A petition opposing two of Womad’s biggest sponsors had attracted nearly 2000 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

The World of Music and Dance festival was called out for continuing with its longtime sponsors, oil companies OMV and Todd Energy.

Urs Signer of Climate Justice Taranaki, who originated the petition on the Greenpeace website, said the festival was taking “dirty money from fossil fuel corporations causing the climate crisis”.

“OMV and Todd Energy are actively drilling in Taranaki, offshore and onshore, and we all know fossil fuels need to stay in the ground if we want to have a stable future for future generations.

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“The event brings people from across the world to celebrate the arts, celebrate music which is great, but it has main sponsors that don’t align at all with the kaupapa that Womad stands for.”

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust chief executive Suzanne Porter declined to comment.

It wasn’t the first time the festival had seen an attack on its sponsors.

In 2012, a Facebook page called “Boycott Womad” was set up to encourage people to avoid the event because two of its major supporters were Shell and Todd Energy.

In 2020, New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom told Greenpeace to “put their money where their mouth is”.

If they wanted a change in sponsorship they could invest some of the millions raised from New Zealanders and sponsor Womad instead, he said.

Urs Signer of Climate Justice Taranaki says the festival was accepting ‘dirty money’ from ‘dirty companies’. (file photo)

LIAM COURTENAY/STUFF/Stuff

Urs Signer of Climate Justice Taranaki says the festival was accepting ‘dirty money’ from ‘dirty companies’. (file photo)

Signer said the intention of the petition was to encourage event organisers to make a change in time for Womad 2024.

“People going to Womad have concerns themselves, we know people playing on stage have concerns about the fact they are playing underneath an oil company logo, so it’s about bringing that to the forefront.

“Once the event is over, we’ll take that petition and line up a hui with the team, have a kōrero over a cup of tea and once again explain our concerns and present the petition to them.”

He emphasised the petition wasn’t to stop Womad from going ahead.

“The goal is to have an honest discussion with the organisers and just really say to them, they need to no longer have these logos plastered across the event, and we need to move away from creating a space for these dirty companies to have a platform.”

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