Practical skills for media creators
Surugau runs structured workshops for people who want to produce media content that actually works - video, audio, and written formats taught through hands-on assignments rather than passive lectures. Participants across Ireland join remotely, working through real production challenges together.
Where the platform came from
Most media education focuses on tools - software walkthroughs, equipment guides, platform tutorials. Surugau was built around a different question: what stops someone from finishing a piece of content they started? The answer is almost never technical. It is structural - unclear scope, no feedback loop, no deadline that matters.
Starting in 2016, the workshops were designed around short production cycles. Each session ends with something submitted, reviewed, and iterated. That rhythm - produce, share, adjust - is what participants carry forward into their own work.
- Video scripting and shot planning for short-form and documentary formats
- Podcast structure, interview technique, and audio editing fundamentals
- Written content built for digital distribution - not just readable, but shareable
The people running the workshops
Each instructor brings a working background in their format - they teach from production experience, not from a curriculum written at a distance from the actual work.
Orla Ní Fhaoláin
Video Production Lead
Orla spent six years producing short documentary content for regional broadcasters before joining Surugau. Her sessions focus on pre-production discipline - getting the structure right before a camera is picked up.
Siobhán Treacy
Audio & Podcast Instructor
Siobhán runs the audio track of the programme, drawing on her background producing interview-driven podcast series. She focuses on the structural decisions that make a conversation worth listening to from start to finish.
Ciarán Dowd
Written Content Instructor
Ciarán teaches the written content workshops, covering platform-specific formats from newsletter structures to longform editorial. His background is in digital publishing across three different editorial teams.
How sessions are structured
Each workshop runs in cohorts of no more than 14 participants, meeting weekly over four to six weeks. Assignments are short enough to complete between sessions but specific enough to require real decisions. Feedback comes from both instructors and peers - which is where most of the actual learning happens.
