Sharing experiences and tips at NAT get-togethers in Finland
Every couple of months, we at the Turku UAS PMP team invite our local NAT members to get together virtually via Zoom. We put together a program with interesting speakers on relevant themes for the artists. Zoom is a great way to connect, as the NAT group is very international: for example, in our last get-together, one of the participants joined from New Zealand in the middle of the night!
Interaction with journalists
At our NAT workshop in August 2024, we discussed how to interact with journalists. I was the speaker of the day as a member of the PMP Turku team. I´m an experienced journalist and currently working as a lecturer for journalism at Turku UAS.
Stories about different kinds of people are almost always interesting, if the person or the person’s work is compelling. Emotions and collective experiences are increasingly important.
Journalists are often interested in hearing personal stories, seeing behind the scenes, following the artist at work and hearing personal stories. However, it is important to remember that artists can and should set their own boundaries regarding how much they are willing to share with the public. We also discussed news criteria, different article types, looked at the elements of a good press release and how the journalists in general find their stories. NAT members shared their own experiences of being interviewed by journalistic media. For example, one of the artists had a good experience sending a press release when the artist was rewarded with a prize. As a result, the story got media coverage!
Anna´s tips for preparing for a media interaction:
- Identify your key messages – what do you want to tell and why is it interesting?
- Keep your artist biography or CV up-to-date.
- Prepare a press kit with your bio, photos, past press coverage, contact information and social media accounts.
More to follow
The workshop received positive feedback from participants, who also suggested some ideas for future themes. We have taken their suggestions into account when planning upcoming activities. We also want to give the NAT members the time and opportunity to actively engage in the meetings.
We look forward to our October meeting, where we will hear fresh experiences from the Trnava workshop week and discuss international networking in general.
Writer Anna Kuusela has worked as a journalist for 20 years in the regional newspaper Turun Sanomat. Since August 2023, she has been teaching journalism at Turku UAS. She is also the editor-in-chief of the student publication Tutka (Tutka.pro).
Photo: Eliska Kondelíková, @tadyelis