UniCredit Bank stands by FITS again this year, continuing a long-standing partnership. Anca Ungureanu, Director of Identity and Communication, UniCredit Bank, told us how and why.
What does this long-standing friendship with the Sibiu International Theatre Festival mean for UniCredit?
This year marks the 18th anniversary of the first collaboration between UniCredit Bank and the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, so we could say that this beautiful relationship celebrates its coming of age at the current edition of the Festival.
The friendship with FITS, as you so nicely put it, is an expression of what we believe in, but also a promise that is honoured year after year: we support cultural events in the communities where we are present, we stand by the people of Sibiu, but also by the community of all beauty lovers – the audience from all over the world that comes to Sibiu especially for the festival.
For UniCredit, this long-standing collaboration also means the joy of being part of this wonderful event that happens in Sibiu every summer.
What’s new in the partnership this year?
Like every year, we want to offer unique experiences that matter to the festival audience, in line with the theme that the organisers have chosen. Two years ago, at the edition themed The Art of Giving, we offered people ” The Giving Tree”, a multimedia project in which the spectators became artists themselves, part of the interactive show: through good thoughts sent via the FITS app the tree projection on the Evangelical Church in the Big Square “grew” – and the reactions were absolutely overwhelming.
This year, the theme of the festival is “Building Hope Together”, and we propose to the audience present in Sibiu to build the “Wall of Hope together”. It will also be a collaborative generative art project, held in two locations – in the main square and in the foyer of the Faust Hall – where everyone at the festival can send us a personal hope which will become a brick in the Wall of Hope.
At this edition, FITS turns art into hope, and we, together with the audience, will turn hope into art, in a continuum that will last throughout the event.
We continue, of course, to support ica de Cultură IACM Construcţii SA – UniCredit project (the Factory of Culture), which has already become one of the most important destinations for performing arts fans, both during and outside FITS, and a centre of excellence.
We also return with the FITS 2021 app, in an updated form that we hope will enhance the experience of all participants, and there is also the printed Festival magazine, offered free of charge in several thousand copies, containing the full programme, along with recommendations and other details.
Why is it important for a company to invest in culture?
We have all experienced almost a year in which we have not been able to interact with the performing arts other than online, we have not been able to enjoy, without fear, the reunion in a cultural event, be it theatre, film, concerts or exhibitions.
We have always supported culture, the arts and the creative industries, but now, after this trying period, it seems clearer than ever that we need culture and culture needs our support.
Everything that is art, creativity in this field, is an approach that, beyond its intrinsic value, helps us be more empathetic, more open, more understanding, more educated and more tolerant. All these are values that we now cherish all the more.
How do you link culture, economy, community and mutual trust?
The simplest, but also the most honest answer would be “over time”.
All this connection and its results only appear in the long term, they are strengthened over time, just as we are building the relationship with FITS and the community of Sibiu and all those who feel the good and the beautiful as expressions of the Festival events. In fact, there are numerous studies and investigations that clearly show that long-term investments in culture have the effect of educating a community, increasing civic awareness and, inherently, increasing the income and the quality of life of that community. But it doesn’t happen overnight, only in the long term, in a commitment that must be genuine and not a mere PR effort.
(article published in the special edition of Capital Cultural magazine, No. 27)
(article supported by FITS)
