The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will name its huge solar-powered entry pavilion the “BP Grand Entrance” in exchange for a $25 million donation from the oil giant, the Los Angeles Times reports.
BP is aggressively seeking to repair its reputation after last year’s Arctic oil spills, pipeline shutdown, a searing report on a Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 workers and the filing of a federal price-fixing lawsuit.
The museum donation follows on the heels of a 10-year, $500-million commitment to a UC Berkeley consortion researching alternative fuels, returning a sizable California charitable presence that all but vanished when BP bought California-based Arco. Nothing, however, comes without a cost. BP executives will be on the board controlling the UC research and will have a big say in commercial development, if any, of its discoveries. At LACMA, BP’s corporate name (and logo?) will occupy the museum’s most publicly visible space—though probably in lettering smaller than the Staples Center.