A well-known Edinburgh art gallery has cut ties with Baillie Gifford after the fund managers’ investments in concrete and IT companies were criticised for helping the Israeli military.
The Collective gallery said its Satellites Programme for emerging artists would no longer accept sponsorship from the financial firm because of “concerns” raised by six participants.
The artists’ position appears to be based on reports that Baillie Gifford has investments in a variety of international businesses which trade in Israel, such as Amazon; Booking Holdings, a US travel company; Cemex, a Mexican construction materials business; and Cisco Systems, a US tech corporation.
Their stance was ridiculed by Murdo Fraser, the Conservative MSP, as “a display of intolerance and narrow-mindedness which should have no part in modern Scottish
