2024-2025 Grants
The Estonian Cultural Foundation Australia (ECFA) has announced $50,125 in funding for the 2024-2025 Financial Year. The total is the largest amount handed out to applicants to date and reflects the diverse range of quality projects and activities undertaken by the Estonian community across five states (NSW, WA, VIC, QLD and SA).
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| XXIX Eesti Päevad 2024 | Adelaide Eesti Päevad (27-31 Dec 2024) Assistance in the organisation and production of the 29th Eesti Päevad to be held in Adelaide over the 27-31 December 2024. The ECFA sees this as one of the most important events for the Estonian diaspora in Australia and shows our commitment to the event with this funding. More information can be found here: https://festival.eesti.org.au | 10,000 |
| Hans Ots Annual Grant | Support for young people to attend Sõrve To provide financial assistance to children or leaders who are resident in Australia and who, because of excessive cost of travel, financial or other hardship reasons would otherwise not be able to attend the annual children’s summer camp. In agreement, this year’s grant was reduced due to an existing fund surplus. The Hans Ots grant is provided by ECFA and administered by Sõrve Sõbrad | 2,000 |
| ‘Sõrve’ Estonian Children’s Summer Camp | General Camp Funding (5-12 Jan 2025) To support Sõrve, the annual summer camp, a key cultural and social Estonian community event, that has been running for over 60 years, and provides a rich experience for children and all adults, sharing customs, heritage, language, dancing and singing. | 8,000 |
| Combined Estonian Children’s Playgroups | General Camp Funding (5-12 Jan 2025) To bring teachers and key coordinators together from the various ‘Mudilasringid’ (Children’s Playgroups). Across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, and Perth. This workshop will develop teaching strategies, educational resources and aims to strengthen the peer network across Australia. | 5,200 |
| Estonian Cultural Association in Western Australia (EstWest) | Perth Estonian Family & Music Festival (Jan 2025) To support the Estonian Cultural Association in Western Australia (EstWest) in hosting a one-day Perth Family-and-Music Festival in January 2025. The event will be a vibrant celebration of Estonian culture, music, and community spirit, featuring a diverse lineup of artists who will also perform at Adelaide Eesti Päevad 2024. | 5,000 |
| Kooskõlas Segakoor (National Mixed Choir) | Laulupidu (Song Festival) Member Registration To support the National Mixed Choir’s efforts in applying for and auditioning for the XXVIII Laulupidu (Song Festival) to be held between 3-6 July 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia. This grant assists with the costs of registration for the Song Festival and covers expenses associated with the two required audition recordings. | 4,300 |
| Melbourne’i Eesti Ühing “Kodu (Melbourne Estonian Society) | Melbourne Estonian Language Camp Provide funds to help conduct an Estonian children’s language camp held on 13–15 September 2024, at Anglesea YMCA Discovery Camp. The camp aimed to promote connection with the Estonian heritage through language lessons, cultural activities and community building, ensuring that Estonian traditions and values are passed on and celebrated by future generations living abroad. | 4,000 |
| Eesti.org.au (Australian Estonian Media Project) | Australian Estonian Media Project Financing To support the virtual national team running https://eesti.org.au and looking to commission specific original content from professional Australian-Estonian journalists/writers in the coming year. The Australian Estonian Media Project currently runs Eesti.org.au and is looking to re-launch this year with more relevant and timely content to meet the needs of the Estonians in Australia audience. | 3,000 |
| Estonian Cultural Association in Western Australia (EstWest) | General Support To help the newly formed EstWest Association, which has a strong membership among new arrivals on the West Coast of Australia, to connect with established Estonian community organisations in Australia at the forthcoming Estonian Festival to be held in Adelaide. | up to 3,000 |
| Estonian Children’s Playgroup in Sydney (Mudilasring) | General Support To assist the work of this group in fostering and developing Estonian culture for young children in Sydney. This Mudilasring meets weekly and promotes Estonian language, music and culture among Estonian families and their young children, and strengthens the Estonian community in Sydney | 2,000 |
| Austraalia/ Sydney Virmalised | Keskpõrandale Kokku Concert (9 Nov 2024) To host a free folk dance concert celebrating 90 years since the first recorded Estonian folk dance performance in Australia and 65 years of dancing under the name of ‘Virmalised’. The concert will be held at Sydney Latvian House (32 Parnell St, Strathfield NSW 2135) starting at 1:30 pm and will invite other Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Eastern European dance groups to perform. | 1,500 |
| Eestlased Newcastle’is (Estonians in Newcastle) | General Support To provide ongoing opportunities for Newcastle and Hunter region children to get acquainted with other Estonian language and culture through songs, dances, stories, games, cultural activities and excursions. | 1,125 |
| S.E.S. Kunsti~ Käsitöö ja Etnograafiaring | Rahvariided Library To assist the Sydney Arts, Crafts and Ethnographic Group with the continued development of an accessible ‘library’ of Estonian rahvariided (folk costumes) in Australia. They aim to collect pre-loved garments, be it on loan or donation, then repair, clean, maintain and lend out to people when needed for performances. They will also look to make new items from hand-made materials purchased in Estonia, especially children’s clothes. | 1,000 |
| 50,125 |
2023-2024 Grants
The Estonian Cultural Foundation Australia (ECFA) has announced $24,428 in funding for the 2023-2024 Financial Year.
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| Adelaide Eesti Selts – Estonian Dance Group “Vikerkaar” | Dance Costumes from Estonia Purchase of dance costumes, from Estonia, for the twelve children in the dance group, aged two to eleven years. The children always perform a small dance at festivals, the most popular item at any event and they are preparing for the Eesti Päevad at the end of 2024 | 1,228 |
| Hans Ots Annual Grant | Support for young people to attend Sõrve To provide financial assistance to children or leaders who are resident in Australia and who, because of excessive cost of travel, financial or other hardship reasons would otherwise not be able to attend the annual children’s summer camp. In agreement, this year’s grant was reduced due to an existing fund surplus. The Hans Ots grant is provided by ECFA and administered by Sõrve Sõbrad | 500 |
| Sõrve | General Camp Funding To support Sõrve, the annual summer camp, a key cultural and social Estonian community event, that has been running for over 60 years, and provides a rich experience for children and all adults, sharing customs, heritage, language, dancing and singing. | 8,000 |
| Tasmanian Estonian Association | General Support To provide support for a project to interview, record and digitise personal memories and experiences, the stories of Estonian migrants and their families in Tasmania. | 1,000 |
| Estonian Archives in Australia | Gallery Track Purchase gallery track and hangers for the Archive’s art collection following the move to the new purpose-built Archive room. This will enable Estonian Art to be displayed for visitors to the Australian Archives. | 700 |
| Estonian Children’s Playgroup in Sydney (Mudilasring) | Weekly Children’s Playgroup Provide support to Mudilasring weekly playgroup, sharing Estonian language, music and culture among Estonian families and their young children, and strengthening the Estonian community in Sydney. The playgroup continues to be a place for Estonian families and children to meet, speak Estonian, sing, dance, and celebrate holidays. | 3,000 |
| Estonians in Newcastle | General Support Provide ongoing opportunities each month for Newcastle and Hunter region children to get acquainted with Estonian language and culture meetings through songs, dances, stories, games, cultural activities and excursions. | 1,000 |
| Kooskõlas Choir | Airfares To support airfares associated with bringing a conductor from Estonia, mid 2024, in order to work with the choir in camp and then to perform in a public concert in preparation for the Laulupidu 2025 audition process. | 4,000 |
| Estonian Society of Sydney | Airfares To support the airfares required for the concert tour in early in 2024. Rein Rannap, virtuoso pianist, composer, songwriter has been invited to perform in Australia. | 5,000 |
| 24,428 |
2022-2023 Grants
The Estonian Cultural Foundation Australia (ECFA) has announced $22,840 in funding for the coming year. Applications were received from groups in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne.
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| Adelaide Eesti Selts – Estonian Dance Group “Vikerkaar” | Lockable Storage Cupboards The traditional costumes were either sourced directly from Estonia or have been produced by local seamstresses. The storage is required for both security and preserving the garments in mint condition. | 1,140 |
| Hans Ots Annual Grant | Support for young people to attend Sõrve The Hans Ots Award is awarded to Sõrve for the purpose of supporting young people (and their families) from interstate to attend the camp. | 4,000 |
| Sõrve | General Camp Funding Sõrve has been running for over 60 years, and provides a rich cultural experience for many young and adult Estonians, using language, dancing, singing, etc. ECFA will help support the running costs of next year’s camp (1 – 8 January 2023) | 6,000 |
| Ceridwen Dovey & Rowena Potts, co-creators | Short Film Production These independent film-makers Ceridwen Dovey and Rowena Pitt are making a short film ‘Musca’ about the constellations of the southern hemisphere night skies, inspired by the Estonian composer Urmas Sisask’s “Southern Sky” masterpiece. | 1,500 |
| Estonian Archives in Australia | Postage of Books to Estonia A grant has been awarded for postage of books surplus to the requirements of the archive to interested record repositories in Estonia. | 2,000 |
| Estonian Children’s Playgroup in Sydney | Weekly Children’s Playgroup This Sydney Estonian Children’s group meets weekly and promotes Estonian language, music and culture among Estonian families and strengthens the Estonian community in Sydney. | 3,000 |
| Estonians in Newcastle | General Support Support for Estonian kids who live outside of Sydney to get acquainted with Estonian language and culture through songs and dances. | 1,000 |
| The Geelong Writer’s Group | Publishing Costs The Geelong Writers group is looking to publish prose & poetry from local writers, members of the Baltic & Ukrainian communities et al. Azuria #10 ‘In Peace & in War’ | 500 |
| Kino!! (Estonian Society of Sydney Inc.) | DVD Lending Library The project aims to create a substantive and accessible DVD library of Estonian contemporary and classic films with English subtitles. | 700 |
| The Oaks Historical Society Inc, Wollondilly Heritage Centre & Museum | Kungla Sign Restoration Thirlmere was a significant and large Estonian village throughout the 20th century. Kungla was the main grocery store in the village centre. ECFA will contribute towards the cost of the restoration of this sign, which (we have been told) is heritage listed. | TBC |
| Melbourne Eesti Maja Co-op | The project aims to digitise all the Melbourne Estonian House Co-op records so that we reduce the amount of paperwork stored, as well as having one location for all Estonian House Co-op Ltd records for easier access online. | 3,000 |
| 22,840 |
In addition to these grants, the ECFA has provided a loan of $10,000 to the Melbourne Estonian House Co-op to support legal work on scoping future options for Melbourne Estonian House.
2021-2022 Grants
The Estonian Cultural Foundation Australia (ECFA) has announced $17,550 in funding for the coming year. Applications were received from groups in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne.
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| Adelaide Eesti Selts – Estonian Choir “Hapu Koor” | New Traditional Choir Shirts Hapu Koor plans to make new traditional choir shirts produced by local Estonian seamstresses with traditional woven belts (produced by the weaver’s group) enhancing their uniform. | 2,000 |
| Hans Ots Annual Grant | Support for young people to attend Sõrve The Hans Ots Annual Grant enables the offer of financial assistance. This applies to helping all kids in Australia, with particular attention to children from interstate and country NSW, who have a keen interest in Estonian culture and participating in the Sõrve Summer Camp. | 4,000 |
| Sõrve | General Camp Funding This camp brings together children and their families for a week of activities which enhance their experiences with Estonian culture. 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. | 6,000 |
| EESTI PÄEVAD – MELBOURNE, EASTER 2022 | Festival Program 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. | 5,000 |
| Virmalised | 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. | 550 |
| 17,550 |
2020-2021 Grants
The ECFA Board is pleased to announce the following funding awards to promote Estonian culture in Australia. A total of $20,250 was awarded.
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| Sõrve | Sõrve has applied for funding which will directly assist their National Estonian Summer Camp. Strengthening the bonds within the Australian-Estonian community will be achieved through camp activities including: – Australian-Estonian language teachers involved in the kindergarten groups around Australia – Music including singing to show an insight to the Estonian Song Festivals – Dancing to showcase and promote participation in the Estonian Dance groups in Australia – Participation in creation of traditional Estonian Art and Craft. | 7,500 |
| Hans Ots Annual Grant | Support for young people to attend Sõrve The Hans Ots Annual Grant enables the offer of financial assistance. This applies to helping all kids in Australia, with particular attention to children from interstate and country NSW, who have a keen interest in Estonian culture and participating in the Sõrve Summer Camp. | 4,000 |
| Sydney Estonian Handicraft Association | Estonian Folk Costume Preservation Project: A Digital Archive of Estonian Folk Costumes in Australia The Sydney Estonian Handicraft Association would like to develop a digital archive to display the Estonian folk costumes that have been worn by people with Estonian heritage in Australia. | 1,750 |
| Estonian Archives in Australia | Digitisation and conversion to a text document of the manuscript of “The Mahatma of the Baltics” by Friedrich Lustig The manuscript is entitled “The Mahatma of the Baltics. The memorable life of the Most Rev. Karlis A. M. Tennisons, the Buddist Archbishop of Latvia.” By The Most Rev. Friedrich Lustig. | 1,000 |
| Sydney Estonian House Co-operative Society Ltd | Development Application for the Renovation of Sydney Estonian House The Sydney Estonian House Co-op applied for funding from the ECFA to assist in the cost of preparation and lodgement of these DA plans with SCC. | 5,000 |
| Virmalised | Pastlad for Virmalised Virmalised would like to purchase pastlad for the Virmalised dance group, which can be lent out to members for performances. | 1,000 |
| 20,250 |
2019-2020 Awards
Funding for cultural activities announced during this month. A total of $17,682 was granted to several organisations, a summary of which is tabled below:
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount ($) |
| Sõrve Camp | General purposes, with the stipulation that $4,000 be aimed towards supporting families with special needs or who are experiencing difficulties, in particular towards fostering links across states. | 10,000 |
| Lõke Musical Ensemble | To cover the costs of a portable sound system | 3,632 |
| Aksel Haagensen | Part allocation towards the production of documentary film regarding Estonian refugees in Australia. This was considered to be a worthwhile project in the light of the mass deportation ceremony held during the previous month. Whilst the final documentary film would be housed in Estonia, it could be used around the world. ECFA stipulated that a copy be deposited with the Estonian-Australian Archives | 1,500 |
| Sydney Mudilasring | Cover the costs of teaching staff | 2,550 |
| 17,682 |