Less than five months until Baltic Sea Day!
Baltic Sea Day partner newsletter 1/2021
Dear Baltic Sea Day partner
We are already well into spring, and there are only less than five months until Baltic Sea Day! In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, we have moved ahead with the Day’s preparations, since – in the same way as last year – Baltic Sea Day experiences and adventures can also be shared online. In this way, we can celebrate the day also virtually, though we do of course hope that in August it will also be possible to organise live events.
After the January info session, we have successfully organised three international workshops. In February, the Russia workshop had more than 10 stakeholders participating, including the Lithuanian Sea Museum. Plans include a regatta, a restaurant day, cleaning up beaches, and many wonderful exhibitions. Plans are well on their way also in Estonia, where the Finnish Institute in Estonia and its staff members Anu Heinonen and Liina Ergma are doing a great job coordinating the planning effort. At the end of March, together with the organisation Race For the Baltic, we organised a workshop for Swedish organizations. Siri Maassen, Head of Communications for Race for the Baltic, coordinates the Swedish activities of the Baltic Sea Day. We have also been actively involved in the planning of the Turku Baltic Sea Day. In Finland, activities in the Turku area are coordinated by Tove Holm, coordinator for the Turku Baltic Sea Challenge.
The renewed Baltic Sea Day website is also just getting its finishing touches. If you have not yet signed up as a Baltic Sea Day partner, and the name and logo of your organisation are not featured on the website, you can go and sign up here. Once you have decided on the Baltic Sea Day activity or event for your organisation, you can announce it on the Baltic Sea Day website.
On the web pages, you can now find tips and ready-made templates for planning the activities of your organisation. The three spearheading campaigns of the Baltic Sea Day will continue to be promoting a Baltic Sea friendly diet, getting to know one’s nearest waterways and taking a plunge, and sharing Baltic Sea themed cultural moments. You can find tangible proposals of how e.g. restaurants, cultural institutions, and companies can participate and be inspired in the planning of their own Baltic Sea Day. You can also look to the amazing events of last year, available here, for inspiration.
The basic philosophy of the Day stays the same: on Baltic Sea Day we celebrate the sea, the home we love, both in Finland and internationally. Everyone is welcome to join, and participating in the day is free. Partners can complete Baltic Sea Day activities in the manner that suits their operations.
I will use this opportunity to share some wistful news: after 11 amazing and eventful years at the Foundation, I will move on to the communications department of the Office of the Church Council. The rest of our team will continue as before, so please, in the future, stay in touch with Kirsi and Oona!
We wish you all a lovely springtime as we await the sun and the sound of softly rolling waves
Tuula Putkinen – and the Foundation’s Baltic Sea Day team Kirsi Kurki-Miettinen and Oona Piiroinen
www.balticseaday.fi
#itämeripäivä #östersjödagen #balticseaday
