Patronage of culture

For more than 30 years, cultural involvement has been an important part of Bank Millennium’s social activities. The Bank supports cultural undertakings with a national and local range alike. It is a 360° patron of culture as it promotes art in nearly all its manifestations, including music, painting, sculpture, film, theatre, photography, literature and performance. Bank Millennium’s interest spans niche and popular culture. Its assumption is to be a long-term partner. For 17 years, the Bank funded the Golden Sceptre award for outstanding creators of culture, for 11 years, the Bank was the patron of the “Millennium Pearls” (“Perły Millennium”) joint program of Bank Millennium and Polish TV (TVP), whose purpose was to produce, promote and present artistic events in the high art realm on Polish TV. For 17 years, the Bank was a sponsor of the Złota Tarka [Golden Grater] Old Jazz Meeting, an International Traditional Jazz Festival. For many years it has also supported the Sacrum Profanum contemporary music festival, the Bella Skyway Festival – a multimedia show prepared by an international group of artists, the „Two Theatres” Festival, the Gdańsk Music Festival, the Mozart Festival in the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and many others.

The Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival was the most important cultural project endorsed by the Bank in 2021. It is the largest film festival in Poland and a major documentary film festival in the world. Bank Millennium has been a partner of the Festival for 16 years and has signed an agreement to extend its cooperation for 2022-2024.

The Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is the biggest celebration of documentary cinema in Poland and its popularity is growing every year. The authors of the festival, as well as its sponsor – Bank Millennium – want to bring knowledge about the modern world to as many people as possible. The festival owes its intensive development, among other things, to its nomadic character. The festival’s presence in multiple cities and, starting in 2020, online, allows the best documentaries from around the world to reach a wide audience. Thanks to that Millennium Docs Against Gravity achieves its main goals – film and social education, brining audiovisual culture to a wide audience (not only in big cities) and bringing emotions.

Bank Millennium extends the barrier-free community concept also in the non-banking sphere. In 2021, for the third consecutive year, during the 18th edition of the festival, selected films were available with audio description and voice-over, making it easier for people with visual impairments to access the world of culture.