Jasleen Kaur, an artist whose recent installation work focuses on her childhood growing up in a Sikh community in Scotland, on Tuesday won the Turner Prize, the prestigious British art award.

The announcement was preceded by a small but noisy pro-Palestinian protest outside Tate Britain, the art museum in London where the prize ceremony took place.

As the award dinner began, about 100 activists gathered at Tate Britain’s steps and listened to speeches demanding that the Tate group of museums end any association with Israel, including the high-profile donors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz. In a protest letter published online, the activists said the Zabludowiczes have “well-documented economic and ideological links” to Israel’s government through the Tamares Group, the family’s real estate investment business.

The letter’s signatories included Kaur and two of the other artists nominated for this year’s Turner Prize, Claudette Johnson and Pio Abad. The protesters cheered Kaur’s arrival at Tuesday’s event after she held up a scarf, in Palestinian colors, that had the word “divest” written on it in support of calls for arts organizations to cut ties with Israel.

Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury, said before the ceremony that he would not comment on the protesters or their demands and that he just wanted to focus on Kaur’s art.