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Local weather activists gathered exterior New York’s Museum of Fashionable Artwork (MoMA) throughout its annual “Celebration within the Backyard” fundraiser tonight, June 6, in protest of Board Chair Marie-Josée Kravis’s ties to the fossil gasoline business. Her husband, Henry Kravis, co-founded the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) personal fairness agency, which has invested billions of {dollars} in oil and gasoline firms.
A gaggle of round 15 activists known as for Marie-Josée Kravis’s quick elimination, chanting “Hey MoMA, drop Kravis!” and “Hey MoMA, get off it; the individuals over revenue!” Kravis has been a MoMA trustee since 1994 and grew to become board chair in 2021, when she changed embattled former chairman Leon Black. Tonight’s protesters represented advocacy organizations together with Local weather Organizing Hub, New York Communities for Change, Reclaim Our Tomorrow, Robust Financial system for All, and Cease the Cash Pipeline.
The activists famous that KKR additionally has a majority stake within the Canadian Coastal GasLink Pipeline that has spurred human rights considerations: On the venture’s inception, the corporate was accused of disregarding the sovereignty of the Indigenous Moist’suwet’en Nation. (A spokesperson instructed Hyperallergic that Coastal GasLink “has agreements in place with all 20 elected Indigenous communities alongside the venture hall, together with Moist’suwet’en communities” and that 17 nations signed onto a ten% fairness settlement.)
Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis have given tens of tens of millions of {dollars} to MoMA, and in 2019, the museum named its new efficiency house the “Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio.” The billionaire couple has additionally donated tens of millions to conservative political causes. Henry Kravis gave $300,000 to the Republican Nationwide Committee (RNC) in 2016 and he and Marie-Josée each donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. (Henry Kravis reportedly didn’t donate to the RNC or Trump in 2020.) Marie-Josée Kravis served as vice chair of the conservative assume tank Hudson Institute, the place she labored as government director from 1976 to 1994.
The air was thick with smoke from the wildfires at present raging in Canada. As well-heeled company entered the museum doorways, activists held up a banner that learn “MoMA, Drop Kravis” in entrance of a scaled-down oil rig that includes a picture of Ed Ruscha’s “Burning Gasoline Station” (1968), an outline of Normal Oil pumps going up in flames. Ruscha is amongst 4 honorees of this yr’s gala. (The museum can also be honoring artist Barbara Chase-Riboud, present MoMA vice chair and former banking government Marlene Hess, and Ford Basis president Darren Walker.)
“Henry Kravis, disgrace on you, we deserve a future too,” the group chanted throughout tonight’s protest. “We’d like clear air, not one other billionaire.”
Pete Sikora, local weather marketing campaign director for New York Communities for Change, handed flyers to arriving company. A QR code on the flyer led to an open letter and petition titled “MoMA: Drop Local weather Prison Kravis.”
“MoMA can’t declare to take the cash after which not have any accountability for what it’s enabling,” Sikora instructed Hyperallergic.
After round an hour on the museum’s principal entrance, the activists moved to the again of the museum, the place the company had congregated within the courtyard. They continued their chants by means of the slatted gates. Museum workers positioned a display on the opposite facet of the gate, obstructing the protesters’ view of the company. A gaggle of round 12 policemen gathered close to the activists, who raised their makeshift “oil rig” above the peak of the fence for the company to see.
Along with its Coastal GasLink funding, KKR can also be deeply tied to fossil gasoline initiatives on the Gulf Coast. The personal fairness large funneled billions of {dollars} into Sempra, an organization constructing a $13 billion facility for liquified pure gasoline (KKR could have a 25-49% stake within the venture) and has billions of {dollars} in different fossil gasoline firms as properly.
Activists accuse the corporate of paying lip service to a promise of sustainability whereas persevering with to put money into fossil fuels.
“There’s a number of issues they’ve mentioned about attempting to be sustainable,” mentioned Local weather Organizing Hub’s director Jonathan Westin. “However the proof is about the place they’re placing their cash.” Activists from Local weather Organizing Hub and New York Communities for Change additionally protested exterior KKR’s Manhattan headquarters in April.
In response to Hyperallergic’s request for remark, a KKR spokesperson mentioned that the corporate stands by the claims made in its sustainability report. “We’re targeted on investing in a sustainable vitality transition that helps a shift to scrub vitality whereas recognizing the continuing significance of supplying the traditional vitality wanted for well-being, safety and financial development,” the spokesperson mentioned. “To attain these targets, we put money into a various vary of vitality sources, together with renewable vitality and traditional vitality.”
Tuesday evening was not the primary time activists have descended upon the Celebration within the Backyard gala. At final yr’s occasion, union organizers decried the museum’s choice to honor Starbucks chairwoman Mellody Hobson, whom they accused of union busting. In 2018, MoMA workers members rallied for a good contract, and in 2015, employees protested the museum’s healthcare cuts.
Scrutiny of MoMA’s board members and sources of funding has ramped up over the previous three years. In 2020, artists and activists launched the 10-week Strike MoMA marketing campaign in protest of trustees’ unethical monetary ties. On the prime stage, MoMA’s then-board chair Leon Black was linked to each army contractor Blackwater and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Black gave Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 — after Epstein had pled responsible for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
“It doesn’t add up — the picture of what museums painting themselves to be and the individuals’s names they’re placing on their wings,” Westin mentioned. “Museums are selling all these social justice issues and selling sustainability. On the identical time, [MoMA’s] board chair and her husband’s firm are placing tens of millions into liquified pure gasoline.”
The Museum of Fashionable Artwork has not responded to Hyperallergic‘s quick request for remark.
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