Australia confident of staying in Eurovision
2023 marks our last guaranteed year in Eurovision -but with lavish entries by SBS and Blink TV the future looks bright.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Eurovision, News, Top Stories
EXCLUSIVE:
Next year marks the final year that Australia is guaranteed a place in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Australia was first invited to compete in 2015 with SBS being an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union, and in 2019 was extended to 2023.
But Paul Clarke, Creative Director of Eurovision: Australia Decides and Director of Blink TV is convinced Australia has proven it belongs on the stage.
Speaking from Turin last week, Clarke said he and SBS Head of Entertainment Emily Griggs had been working in the background for future appearances.
“Another part (of being here) is doing a little bit of lobbying. Working around the soft political power. The embers are always burning at Eurovision. I’m really confident that will be extended. I think they like our sense of a irreverence and we’ll have a crack with some wild prop. The Kate Miller-Heidke performance is remembered as one of the absolute greatest moments of props they’ve ever seen!”
The pop contest brand is also spreading its wings.
Eurovision Canada was formally announced for 2023 announced with 10 provinces & 3 territories competing head to head while NBC finally unveiled the state v state American Song Contest.
New Zealand has been rumoured to be interested in competing at Eurovision.
“It’ll be interesting to see if anybody else has a go. With the Canadians coming online, and America, I sort of wonder if any of them will ever end up in the competition? Let’s see,” Clarke continues.
“The liturgy of Eurovision is really important, the structure and the format of it. It’s what the fans want. You can feel it with (the American Song Contest) every now and again, and then it sort of rolls away again. I think NBC were the showrunners and you had all these great Eurovision producers and directors like Christer Björkman, and Anders Lenhoff in the background. It was tantalizing.
“But what a huge achievement to get that on screen prime time. I was amazed that happened.”
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- Tagged with American Song Contest, Eurovision Canada, Eurovision Song Contest
One Response
I think it’s good for the arts in this country for us to remain in Eurovision. If it wasn’t for Australia Decides where would you see artists perform like this on TV?