Interview. Mastercard: How the private sector is boosting Romania’s cultural scene

It’s a fact that culture is still underfinanced in Romania, although official data shows that the Ministry of Culture’s budget has increased by 51 percent since 2016, meaning RON 766 million. It’s also a fact that each year, more and more companies decide to sponsor the cultural sector. Why? It’s festivals’ time in Romania so we asked some of the brands with whom we are meeting at these festivals what drives them to invest in this particular sector. Today’s interview is with Ada Iftodi, Marketing Manager Mastercard Romania.

 You are one of the few companies that invest yearly in some of our best known cultural projects with a great tradition in Romania. What cultural partnership do you have this year?

Cultural projects are one of Mastercard’s main interests and each year the company increases the budget for this kind of events, because they are expanding also, in terms of attendees and program. TIFF and Electric Castle are two of the best known festivals both in Romania and in Europe, therefore we are really proud to be supporting them on long term. In 2017, Mastercard is for the 11^th consecutive year TIFF’s partner, while the collaboration with Electric Castle started three years ago, so we can already state that we have a tradition in supporting cultural events.

Read also: Analysis: How is the private sector boosting Romania’s cultural scene

From your brand point of view, how does an ideal partnership with a cultural project look like?

Read more about

Mastercard Tuesday continues with a new campaign dedicated to grocery shopping

read more

Mastercard has a rich tradition in supporting cultural events all over the world and offering Priceless experiences to fans from a large range of areas of interests. We are present at world’s top music events such as BRIT Awards and Grammy and at music festivals such as Balaton Sound in Hungary, Opener in Poland, Ultra Europe in Croatia and Electric Castle in Romania. At the same time, Mastercard passionately gets involved into developing the cinema industry, through our partnership with Cannes Film Festival and Transilvania International Film Festival. We have a great relationship with all the organizers of these events and together we manage to create the most memorable experiences for people from all over the world.

In Romania, we are pleased with our partnership with both TIFF and Electric Castle. Our relationship with the organizers becomes stronger each year and we appreciate their openness regarding our creative proposals for the festivals. Each edition, we focus on offering the participants memorable moments, together with the most innovative payment technologies. In 2015, we launched the Mastercard Priceless Surprise concept, through which we make people’s dreams come true. Last year, at Electric Castle, a fan had the chance to meet Alternosfera, his favorite band, right in his hotel room. It was definitely an unforgettable moment.

On the other hand, by providing festival participants with modern, safe, fast and innovative payment solutions, we make sure they can enjoy the spectacular atmosphere of the festivals relaxed and without cash related worries. With the festival’s organizers’ support, in 2014, for the first time at a cultural event in Romania, our company introduced the payment by contactless credit cards and, since 2015, it has become Preferred Card at TIFF.

We manage to do all of these wonderful things due to the fact that for both us and the organizers the main objective is to generate quality time and create special experiences for the participants

When we speak of challenges, what do you see as the greatest obstacle to the successful development of cooperation between culture and arts on one side and successful companies on the other?

As long as the sponsor and the organizers of cultural events understand each other’s role in such a partnership, there should be no important obstacles on the way. But obstacles can sometimes come from the outside context. Most companies choose to support already known projects, events and artists, with a strong background, as they gain a higher visibility through such a partnership. This is not the case of Mastercard, which partnered up with TIFF from early stages, believing in the festival’s potential and reach. It is important to always be open about new projects and collaborations and be ready to offer consumers the best experiences and moments, instead of just directly exposing them to your own products and services.

From your side, is cultural sponsorship gaining ground in Romania? Should there be some tax incentives for companies to finance the development of the arts?

There is an increasing number of high quality cultural events and projects developing in Romania, which deserve to be supported. Over the past 27 years, the cultural sector and people’s thirst of arts and culture have been constantly increasing. Yet, in our country, cultural sponsorship is still in the beginning, although the opportunities are great. Brands are now more willing than ever to get involved into this kind of partnerships as they are aware that such a collaboration benefits everybody and has the power to reach niche audiences. Considering the fact that arts and culture benefit from less state funding than they need, some tax incentives for companies that offer financial support in the cultural domain would be  seen as a nice to have in the private sector, but these amounts would be better reverted directly to the cultural area itself, maybe through NGOs, foundations or associations that can promote the development and implementation of cultural projects at national level and increase the consumption of film, theatre, reading etc. at all levels of demographics.