It’s the morning after the morning after the night before, and RAI’s Eurovision team has a tricky problem that needs addressing right now. Will they host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015?
Thanks to Vincenzo Cantiello drenching himself in the jury cat-nip of ‘Tu Primo Grande Amore‘, Italy has won the Song Contest on their debut. Thanks to the new streamlined rule-book RAI has first refusal on hosting JESC 2015. This isn’t a quiet call from Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev asking what the team thinks of the idea. This is in public, in full view of the fans. The Italian broadcaster will have to stand-up and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ loudly and clearly.
Let’s skip over the negotiations and discovery process going on between RAI, the EBU, PBS in Malta (and more than likely previous hosts NTU and AVRO ) so that RAI can have all the information to hand to make an informed decision. Let’s assume that RAI has said yes, and will be hosting Junior Eurovision next year.
Where would you put it?
Vincenzo Cantiello’s next performance to RAI will be a rendition of ‘Why Me’ (JESC / EBU)
Comparing Junior Eurovision’s presence across Malta in 2014 to Kyiv 2013 and Amsterdam 2012, one thing is clear. Malta as a host country embraced the Contest one hundred percent. Junior Eurovision was more than ‘event television’, it was ‘the event of the year’. The same could not be said of previous Contests. Kyiv had other matters on its mind last year, so the Contest was tucked away in the Palace Ukraina and left to get on with it, while you could barely find any interest in Junior Eurovision once you stepped twenty yards outside of the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.
Junior Eurovision thrives when the host city is behind the Contest.
This is the challenge that the EBU faces with Italy. I’m sure that RAI could easily find a music venue, and run a competent Song Contest in the hall. That’s not enough to maintain the growth of the Contest. It needs to inspire, enthuse, and engage.
Which leads me back to the question of a potential host city and venue for RAI.
I would expect RAI to be making a number of enquiries to music venues across the country, and potentially put the hosting of Junior Eurovision out through a quick tender to see what offers of support, facilities, and activities, will be offered by venues and cities around the country. I would hope to see bids from the capital, as well as Florence, Verona, and Turin.
After a bit of open discussion over a coffee in Malta with myself, Samantha Ross, Garrett Mulhall, and a few others, one location has shone through as feeling like a great fit for next year’s Contest.
Dear RAI,
Can we have the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sanremo?
Thanks!
Marco Mengoni’s Sanremo performance before ESC 2013 (RAI)
Putting Junior Eurovision in Italy’s ‘Home of music’ would make a significant statement. If you know your Eurovision history, father of the Contest Marcel Bezencon drew inspiration for his idea of a Grand Prix Chanson De La Eurovision from Sanremo. Sending Junior Eurovision to this spiritual home would create a stronger bond between the EBU’s TV family.
It would also show that RAI would be taking its responsibility towards the growth of Junior Eurovision seriously. Sanremo is a relatively small town (the population is roughly 57,000 ) and the 2000 capacity of the Teatro Ariston is a touch lower than recent Junior Eurovision venues. That gives RAI the ‘small’ scale it might want, but it also gives Junior ‘legendary’ status around the world.
There’s another advantage to using Sanremo… RAI already has the playbook for the tech team. Camera points, control vans, uplinks, local facilities, and venue knowledge, are already part of RAI’s corporate knowledge thanks to the annual Sanremo festival. The last few years have seen the Sanremo team growing closer to the Eurovision Song Contest, this would simply be another step in that process.
Sanremo is the home of Italian music. If RAI are going to bring the premier teen music contest to Italy, it feels natural to bring it to Sanremo.