Anticipation is building in Kyiv, both inside the bubble of the contest, and politically on the streets of the city. There is music across Kyiv, the posters for the contest have started to appear on the streets, and the press room is filling up. With only 3 days until the children perform in front of millions on TV, Ewan and Sharleen are gearing up to bring more news for readers on the Junior contest.
No rest for the wicked
Wednesday was a morning off for press and the participants to enjoy the sights and experience Ukrainian daily life. Whilst the delegations got to enjoy a day at the Planeterium and participate in cultural and language workshops, the press were driven around town and given a 4-hour guided city tour of the main tourist locations. Highlights included the Alice in Wonderland modern art gardens, the Motherland statue guarding the city of Kyiv, trekking up 3 of the 7 hills of the city, the Golden Gate (curiously not gold), a cat statue with a rather long back-story, and passing the site where the bloody mary cocktail was seemingly invented.
The famous life of a Kyiv cat now made statue
Rehearsals continue
Back at the venue, the late afternoon bought us further rehearsals for the interval act of Zlata, and host/script run-through. For those that tune in on Saturday, without giving much away, you will see some magic on screen and a return performance of the song ‘Gravity’ by Zlata from this years Eurovision.
In more serious news…
The evening brought us the joint EBU/NTU press conference, where the executive producer Roman Keryk, event manager Victoria Romanova and EBU Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev appeared to answer press queries and speak about the 2013 experience. Discussions centered around the aim to bring the production values of the adult contest to the junior show, including the stage design and entertainment. Mentions were also made of the new innovations to the contest, including the introduction of a top three rather than only one winner, the voting being read live on site in Kyiv by representatives of each participating country, and the draw of the running order on the performance week by the actual contestants. The panel are looking closely at this for possible continuation of these innovations in following years, and are welcoming feedback to hopefully continue the youth contests innovation for coming years to develop the show and grow the contest in terms of participants.
All work and no play for the NTU and EBU at press conference
In regards to next years contest, the committee are not yet ready to announce a host country for 2014 and acknowledged that they have to receive any official applications or proposals for hosting. They believe that the option will now be given to the winning delegation as a first preference, something that was not previously acknowledged, and brings this in line with the adult contest.
On the negative side, there are some concerns regarding the ticketing of the event, due to news of the costs of the tickets and process to buy them only released on Monday. Reports are that ticket sales are slow, and we have heard there have been some issues regarding the phone lines which people must call to make the purchase.
Lastly, it has been confirmed that part of the prize for the winner of this years contest will be given the opportunity to appear at next years Eurovision contest taking place in Copenhagen next May. Whilst it has not been decided if this shall involve a guest spot or an actual interval performance, it is a great opportunity to cross promote each contest and give some further acknowledgement to the winner of the Junior Eurovision.
Eurovision in Kyiv?
Whilst it seems the majority of the population of Kyiv are quite oblivious to Junior Eurovision going on in their town, they aren’t missing out on Eurovision-flavoured concerts. Ruslana, winner of the 2004 Eurovision, held an impromptu performance today on the Independence Square for 3000 protesting students.