The Estonian Cultural Foundation in Australia Ltd (ECFA) has announced its funding allocations for the coming year.
Applications were received from groups in Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne.
Funds allocated this year are:
- Sõrve Children’s Camp $6,000
- Eesti Päevad (Melbourne, Easter 2022) $5,000
- Virmalised folk dancing group $ 550
As well as this, the Cultural Foundation continues its support via the Hans Ots Award, which provides an extra $4,000 to the Sõrve camp to assist children from interstate to attend the camp.
Sõrve Children’s Camp
This camp brings together children and their families for a week of activities which enhance their experiences with Estonian culture. This year will see the 60th year of this camp being held at Point Wolstoncroft, about 2 hours north of Sydney. Children are taught Estonian language, songs, dancing, and other aspects of Estonian culture. The camp helps form lifetime friendships, and helps people with Estonian heritage to connect with others of similar backgrounds. In recent years we have seen this lead to greater participation in Estonian folk-dancing and the choirs. Hence the ECFA continues to fund the camp generally.
As well as general funding to the activity, Hans Ots left a substantial amount in his will to the Cultural Foundation (ECFA). ECFA Chairman Dr Juho Looveer said:
“While Sõrve has been predominantly a camp for people from NSW, we want to see more people from interstate joining in with this activity. So this money is specifically targeting children from other states”.
President of the Friends of Sõrve, Sulev Kalamäe said: “ in 2020, this funding supported 8 children from other states to attend, as well as two children from New Zealand”.
We are hoping the ECFA sponsorship will again provide children with Estonian heritage from across Australia the opportunity to come and join in at the special 60th Sõrve in 2022.
For more information on the camp, please see their web page at http://www.sorve.org.au/
Awarded $6,000.
Eesti Päevad – Melbourne, Easter 2022
Eesti Päevad is a festival held every 2-3 years in a different location in Australia. This festival brings together many hundreds of Estonians, to enjoy Estonian culture. Activities include handicraft displays, folk-dancing and choir concerts, sports activities, and many other events over the four days of the festival. Of course, there are parties and functions most evenings, which have local drinks as well as Estonian liquors, traditional meals and multicultural goods. It is a great way for many Estonians to come together to celebrate their culture, to meet other Estonians. We also have had groups from Eesti to perform at previous Eesti Päevad Festivals (e.g. in Sydney at the end of 2018, we had Tanel Padar and his group; Noep; and La La Ladies), and hope to have one Eesti music group for 2022, depending on the covid situation.
For this Festival, one full day will be spent at Kilmore, about an hour north of Melbourne. This will have a traditional bonfire, traditional fun and games and music, and even sauna. Eesti Päevad Festival 2022 will be official opened at Kilmore forest.
The Foundation has decided to sponsor the Festival with $2,000 towards the Festival program, which will be a collector’s item; and $3,000 to be the sponsor of the Kilmore event.
Despite covid, we hope to see many Estonians and their friends and families in Melbourne at next Easter and be part of this festival.
Awarded $5,000.
Virmalised
Virmalised folk dancers are based in Sydney and regularly showcase Estonian culture at various events through both dance and the wearing of national costumes.
After years of wearing their national costumes with pride, the time has come for the group to take on the project of restoration or replacement of well-worn pieces, specifically national costume blouses/shirts. They require ~27 m of cotton linen fabric to replace 12 blouses/shirts, which will be made at workshops together with the Sydney Estonian Society’s Handicraft Association. This will be a great collaboration between Estonian groups, and will help to teach the dancers more about Estonian national costumes and how they are made.
Awarded $550
As well as the above allocations, there is a separate special funding that has been agreed to – see separate announcement.
The Estonian Cultural Foundation in Australia (ECFA) uses its funds every year to support various groups or projects which aim to further Estonian culture and language across Australia, and bring together people with Estonian heritage or interests. This includes any activities held anywhere in Australia, and we look at these as partnerships where we support these activities.
To date, we have only been able to allocate funding according to the profits from our investments, so any donations or bequests which will be used to enhance Estonian heritage in Australia will be welcomed.
