V&A Dundee drops Sackler signs over opioid row

Dundee's V&A museum has removed signs with the Sackler name because of the family's alleged links with the opioid crisis in the US.

The museum received a £500,000 donation from the Sackler Trust ahead of its opening in September 2018.

Signage recognising the donation was taken down last month, with a separate sign in the museum's Oak Room removed in September 2022.

The museum confirmed that it has not returned the donation.

It follows a similar move by the V&A in Kensington last October, and other institutions across the world have also taken action.

The billionaire family owned Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin painkiller that has been hit with lawsuits in the US.

They claimed that Purdue aggressively marketed OxyContin, while at the same time misleading doctors and patients over addiction and overdose risks.

The family denied the allegations but a $6bn (£4.85bn) settlement was later reached which would see money spent on treatment programmes.

The story featured in the recent Netflix show Painkiller.

The artist and activist Stephen Pritchard has carried out research into the subject of so-called artwashing, the funding of art institutions from ethically-questionable sources.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland that he did not believe the museum "had any option" but to remove the signage.

He said: "Recent films like Painkiller and widespread media content has really brought that to the public's attention.

"I think it's been quite a long time coming. The decision was obviously that it was becoming completely untenable to have any ties with the Sackler name or brand."

Mr Pritchard said that the £500,000 donation would have been "exceptionally small change" to the trust.

He added: "But what it gives them is potentially a real way to show a different side to themselves, which often masks the effects of what their organisations might be doing."

A V&A Dundee spokeswoman said: "Along with many other cultural organisations in the UK and abroad, V&A Dundee has removed signage relating to the Sackler Trust.

"It was agreed by V&A Dundee's Board to remove the final piece of Sackler Trust crediting in August 2023."

"V&A Dundee, like other organisations who have removed crediting, is not in talks to return the historic capital support received for the creation of the museum, which were made before V&A Dundee opened in 2018."