Culture

Humanities are extremely important in an increasingly technologized world. Therefore, we invest in the new generation of creators, art, and music, supporting hundreds of events and programs each year. We are the only bank with a cultural foundation, Fundatia9, our own cultural center, and a cultural magazine, one of the most relevant components of journalism in present-day Romania. Our editorial platform, Scena9, showcases the cultural scene in Romania. We cover cultural news, write about what is relevant, new, regarding the yet to be discovered and vibrant life that enriches the local cultural landscape. We follow the new generation of creators in a wide range of fields, tracking their projects and mapping their progress. We seek to create and promote a portrait of this new generation that keeps the world moving.

Our pillars:

Supporting the younger generation

As far as Scena9 is concerned, a team of journalists-curators of the cultural phenomenon keep an eye on the new generation of creators from the most varied fields, from art to science, and follow their projects and evolution. Our common goal is to paint the portrait of this new generation that makes our world go round.

Rezidența BRD Scena9 is a cultural hotspot created by BRD – Groupe Société Générale, a hotspot that has earned a reputation as an accessible space where relevant thinkers and creators meet the public and employ arts, culture, and dialogue to better understand the world in which we live. This is also where independent artists find the support they need through micro-grant programs like Artists Rooms. Through Fundația9, our cultural foundation, we invest in young creators, open culture to the public, and cultivate curiosity and a critical spirit.

Classical Music

We believe that classical music deserves to reach as many people as possible, to be known in-depth, and access to it to become democratized. It is associated with values that are also our own: excellence, dedication, team spirit, innovation, and performance. In 2022, the projects we supported reached more than 150,000 people nationwide.

The following year marked the beginning of the partnership with the most important international cultural event organized in Romania, the George Enescu International Festival (FIGE), thus laying the foundations of a new stage in the festival's development. It aims to democratize access to classical music and open it up to the younger generation. Already known as a patron on the Romanian cultural scene, BRD aims to bring new experiences to the public over the next four years, with the partnership covering the 2023, 2025 and 2027 editions. Read more about it here.

The 2023 edition will include several premieres. These include a new series of dedicated family concerts with an educational component. Held at the Odeon Theatre, this is a first for FIGE, as it is the first time the festival has had concerts for children in the official program. At the same time, students of music high schools in Bucharest and in the country have free access to the concerts of the Festival on the basis of their student card, within the limit of available seats, at the Sala Mare a Palatului, Sala Mică a Palatului and Sala Radio. The initiative aims to connect great artists with the young artists of the future.

In 2023, we celebrate 11 years since we have been supporting the Sonoro Conac chamber music concerts. Their purpose is to emphasize the need for respect, attention, and support for Romania's heritage and extraordinary cultural resources by associating the music with various emblematic architectural works. With the help of BRD, the tour reached more than 150 legendary places all over the country as the concerts took place in mansions, castles, gardens, and houses whose history and music inspired us. We also support, as an official partner, the Sonoro Musikland festival, which consists of a series of classical music concerts performed in fortified churches, medieval fortresses, or traditional courtyards of local guesthouses. In the same spirit of forming a link between heritage and classical music, BRD supports the "Musicians' Houses" project. This is dedicated to the houses where great personalities of the Romanian musical life lived and resulted in the creation of a digital map implemented in Google Maps and documented through the website www.casedemuzicieni.ro.

Since 2015, we have been partners of the classical music festival with the longest tradition in Romania, founded by Alexandru Tomescu – Turneul Stradivarius, an event born from the musician's desire to bring the sound of the famous violin to as many people as possible. In 2022, he had 16 sold-out concerts in 15 cities.

In addition, BRD supported Festivalul Eufonia, the most important chamber music festival in western Romania. It aims to develop the cultural and educational dimension of the Banat region and to revive interest in classical music. At the same time, the national tour Violoncellissimo, which took its name from one of the most famous Romanian chamber ensembles, had BRD as its main partner.

We didn’t stay away from jazz either. In 2022, the fourth edition of the JazzUP Sea Festival, organized by the CultArt Association and financed by the Constanța City Hall, was supported by BRD, just like the first edition of the JazzUP Peak Fest festival. The two events were attended by 50,000 spectators. Another project that has BRD as a partner is Music Gallery, designed as a creative music hub, a space for meetings and experiences that challenges people to make room for jazz in their hearts. In Cluj, the 19 Music Gallery events, from concerts and masterclasses to exhibition tours to children's workshops and music classes that created a special journey into the world of jazz, attracted an audience of over 5,000 people. According to the organizers, music has thus become a place of meeting and connection, a premise for playing games, and an opportunity to learn and test musical instruments.

Contemporary art

Of course, we support contemporary art through our foundation and the cultural space Rezidența BRD Scena9, as well as through the Noaptea Albă a Galeriilor project. We also had partnerships with the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR) and the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania (MNAC). But we have taken this support further by providing new opportunities to artists and unique experiences to those who love contemporary art. With our help, within Timișoara - European Capital of Culture 2023, the exhibition "You Are Another Me - A Cathedral of the Body", created by filmmaker Adina Pintilie, an exhibition that represented Romania at the Art Biennale Venice 2022, could be seen for the first time in Romania. The project, curated by Cosmin Costinaș and Viktor Neumann, includes a multimedia installation and a cinematic sculpture.

In 2022, together with Galateca and the Neo Art Romania Cultural Association, we launched NEO ART CONNECT, the first network, national platform, and art & science festival. The pilot edition started with a series of exhibition events and the call for projects that allowed the young generation to benefit from scholarships and mentoring programs. The ideas selected following the call for projects will be produced and exhibited during the Art and Science Annual in spring 2023. Details about the program can be found at www.neoartconnect.ro.

We are also active when it comes to the mixed arts area. We have been participating for years with installations to the International Theater Festival in Sibiu (FITS), the most important festival of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe, to which we are also an official partner. And last but not least, together with our partners from the French Institute, we support the Clujotronic festival, an annual electronic art festival – video games, music, and digital art.