prize5-8, Exercise 2: A sponsorship dispute

Model answer (one possible treatment; check the facts of the case you choose):

Arguments against the sponsorship: campaigners say that taking money from a company with links to fossil fuels (or another contested industry) lends it respectability, undermines the festival's stated values, and puts authors and performers in a position they did not choose. Some performers have withdrawn in protest.

Arguments for: organisers say that sponsorship is needed to keep prices and fees at a reasonable level, that public funding does not cover the costs, that the sponsor has no say over the programme, and that refusing money would reduce what the festival can offer.

Evidence that would help: the size of the sponsorship relative to the budget, the terms of the agreement and any editorial control, what funding could replace it, how many artists and audience members objected, and the sponsor's actual record. The decision also depends on values, so evidence will inform but not settle it.