BUSINESS: 532 PRACTICES
Alpha Bank Group
The Alpha Bank Group is one of the leading Groups of the financial sector in Greece. It offers a wide range of high-quality financial products and services in the domestic and international market and has one of the highest capital adequacy ratios in Europe.
At the heart of Corporate Responsibility, Alpha Bank places a series of initiatives that support respect for diversity and the strengthening of equal access to society, the economy and culture. Aiming to serve people with disabilities, the Bank adopts a series of actions to facilitate their access to its services and products, while at the same time designing and developing programs that contribute to the removal of inequalities in terms of access to cultural and social life, cultivating conditions but also consciousness of social integration.
Through the "Cinema for all" Program, the Bank aims to expand access to the cinema for people who experience exclusion in their daily lives, as they are deprived of equal participation in entertainment and cultural events, due to a lack of accessibility infrastructure, which forces them to stay stuck at home.
People with disabilities (immediately)
General public to raise awareness (indirectly)
2019-2022
In Greece, citizens with activity limitations/disability have a minority and limited participation in cultural and social life. According to the "Disability Issues Observatory" of ESAmeA, live theater or musical performances have been attended by 11.5% of people with severe disabilities, while only 7.7% of the population have attended cinema. In other words, it becomes clear that in Greece, the vast majority of people with disabilities are excluded from the country's cultural life.
Alpha Bank's collaboration with the Thessaloniki Film Festival has as a common vision equal access to the arts and culture for everyone.
Since 2019, Alpha Bank, in collaboration with the Thessaloniki Film Festival, has succeeded in "bringing" quality cinema close to every viewer, through the "Cinema for all" action, offering equal access rights with film adaptation, so that they can be watched by visually and hearing impaired people.
More specifically, the possibility of audio description (AD: Audio Description) is provided for people with visual disabilities as well as subtitling (SDH: Subtitles for the Deaf or hard of Hearing) for the deaf and hard of hearing.
During the 62nd Thessaloniki Film Festival in November 2021, 33 feature films were screened with attached dialogue-based subtitles, so that deaf and hard of hearing viewers could watch them. In collaboration with the Center for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (KEAT), the program of universally accessible screenings was available in braille, while the Festival's online film screening platform was also accessible to all.
In 2022, Alpha Bank's collaboration with the Thessaloniki Film Festival was extended, through funding from the Bank for the preparation of a study that will make the historic and emblematic Olympia building accessible, both for the Festival's employees and the public. headquarters of the Festival.
At the same time, at the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival organized in March 22 with accessibility sponsor Alpha Bank, the first universally accessible screening in the history of the organization was shown. In collaboration with the Center for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (KEAT), the universally accessible screening of this year's Festival was available in Braille, while one of the Festival's spots also had an audio description.
As part of the "Cinema for all" program, 114 actions were carried out. Specifically, 114 films were shown, of which 66 were shown in physical locations and 48 online. These actions were attended by 51,200 people. In total, the disabled people (people with disabilities, but also people with temporary movement problems, pregnant women, etc.) who benefited from the actions of the Festival, as well as the improvement of accessibility in its spaces, exceed 85,000.
The people who have attended the screenings are mainly from Associations, Organizations and bodies that deal with people with disabilities, to whom targeted communication is made, without of course excluding individual people who were informed about the action. In fact, universally accessible films are offered free of charge, without a ticket, and can be watched by anyone, even people without a disability, where they can experience exactly what a universally accessible film means.
The Greek cinematographic community has begun to adopt the integration of subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing in the distribution of Greek films, which ensures, in addition to accessibility to excluded groups, a larger potential audience for Greek cinematographic works.
Through these actions, film education is cultivated in groups of the population that until now were excluded and while a new dynamic and fanatical audience is created that follows the actions of the Festival and knows and loves Greek cinema.
At the same time, with the participation of people with disabilities in cultural activities, greater participation in artistic creation by disabled artists is created, which contributes significantly to both artistic and social development.
Thessaloniki & through online screenings throughout the country
Thessaloniki Film Festival, Blind Education and Rehabilitation Center (KEAT)
Employees of the Bank have the opportunity every year to watch in person or online the accessible screenings of the Thessaloniki Festival, resulting in both their further sensitivity to issues of inclusion, as well as their satisfaction. The Bank, of which they are an organic part, supports and empowers our fellow citizens who belong to sensitive social groups.
Alpha Bank's history is intertwined with arts and culture and for the Bank, unhindered access to the country's cultural life is a non-negotiable right of all. For a number of years, it has actively participated in cultural events through its Collections, the implementation of corporate social responsibility programs, but also through collaborations and support of related actions.
Alpha Bank's collaboration with the Thessaloniki Film Festival has a common vision but also a double benefit. On the one hand, equal access to arts and culture for all, but at the same time, and the transformation of perceptions about accessibility, respect for diversity, the cultivation of inclusion and ultimately the reduction of inequalities.
And finally, the benefit for the Bank itself is that it practically demonstrates to the general public, to its customers, but also to the disabled themselves, its commitment to supporting culture, but above all to equal access to it, thus creating a positive social footprint.
