Estonians in Australia organised a communications workshop

On Saturday 11 November, people from all over Australia gathered at Sydney Estonian House to take part in the Australian Estonian Media Communications Workshop. The workshop was inspired by last year’s MEEDIARUUM 2022 in Tallinn, and was made possible by a grant from KÜSK and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A critical component of maintaining and building any culture is a unified form of communication.

Whether it’s communicating news, events, historical information or commentary, media channels are typically foundational to cultural connection. The workshop was the first step to formulate the new direction of Estonian-Australian media.

Participants came from all over Australia, including Perth and Darwin, over 3000 km from Sydney. To put this into perspective, this is about the same distance from Tallinn to Seville, Spain or Tallinn to Jordan!

“I was happy to lend my skills and knowledge as a digital journalist to this meeting of great minds.“ Silvi Vann-Wall

The outcomes of the workshop defined our purpose: “To provide community information relevant to individuals or organisations in Australia that are interested in, or connected to, Estonia.” In 2024, our focus is to bring this project to life!

“The Australian Estonian Media Communications Workshop today was a great start to get the various States motivated in improving communication. We can’t wait to get the ball rolling, lots of great ideas and talented people… let’s hope we can harness this energy.” Esmee Okamoto.

Special thanks goes to Esmee Okamoto and Imbi Semmelweis for their help in organising and Mark Narustrang for facilitating the workshop.

Kristi Barrow