DISARM THE GALLERY

Good news!

The National Gallery's long-standing sponsorship arrangement with arms company Finmeccanica has come to an end, one year before it was due to expire. Read the press release or browse these pages to find out more about the campaign.

The National Gallery is one of our most iconic public institutions. It is also supporting the arms trade.

Last year the National Gallery hosted an evening reception to celebrate the first day of business at DSEi, the world's largest arms fair.

Arms company Finmeccanica buys the opportunity to use the Gallery's rooms for its 'corporate entertaining' – that is, for impressing its clients and lobbying decision-makers – for only £30,000 a year. By entering into this arrangement the Gallery is giving both practical support and a veneer of legitimacy to an industry based on death and destruction.

But public criticism can make the Gallery reconsider. After receiving hundreds of letters condemning its support for arms fairs, the Gallery said it would not be hosting Farnborough International's reception for arms dealers in July 2012. If we keep up the pressure we can persuade it to end all support for the arms trade.

Join the campaign to get the arms dealers out of the arts.

The Gallery's current deal with arms company Finmeccanica runs until October 2013, but negotiations for renewal will start much earlier. Now is the time to put on the pressure.

We're calling on the Gallery