L’EBU-UER, infatti, terrà quest’oggi venerdì 24 Aprile una Conferenza speciale, intitolata‘Eurovision Song Contest: 60^th Anniversary Conference’presso la British Academy of Film and Television Arts –BAFTA 195 Piccadilly di Londra.

Dalle ore 11:00 CET fino alle ore 18:00 CET su Eurovision.tv sarà possibile seguire in diretta streaming l”Eurovision Song Contest: 60th Anniversary Conference’.

Quasi 200 docenti universitari, giornalisti, professionisti dei media e tifosi si sono riuniti per celebrare il 60° anniversario del Concorso. Gli accademici (Karen Fricker, Dean Vuletic, Marie Curie Fellow e Paul Jordan) che hanno studiato il potere del concorso, insieme ai commentatori e ai precedenti interpreti esamineranno come il concorso sia stato usato come piattaforma di espressione per diverse comunità, per creare identità nazionali ed europee e come strumento per creare uno stile di nazione.

È possibile aderire on-line e interagire con gli oratori e gli parlanti su Twitter@EBU_HQe@Eurovisionutilizzando l’hashtag #Eurovision60.

L’evento esplorerà l’impatto che l’ESC ha avuto sulla sfera pubblica europea nel corso degli ultimi sei decenni. 

You can see thefull Conference Agenda on EBU’s website (Press Kit pdf, Eurovision Song Contest: More Than Music):

Venue: Bafta 195 Piccadilly, London

Agenda: 

09:00 Registration

10:00 Introduction

• Paddy O’Connell – Moderator – BBC Radio 2 and 4 Presenter, Journalist and Former Eurovision Song Contest Commentator for BBC
• Guillaume Klossa – Director – Public Affairs and Communications – European Broadcasting Union
• Jon Ola Sand – Executive Supervisor – Eurovision Song Contest – European Broadcasting Union

10:15 Keynote

by Dr Karen Fricker – Canada – Asst. Professor, Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, St Catharine’s Ontario and co-editor of Performing the New Europe: Identities, Feelings, and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest (Palgrave 2013).

“What Eurovision has taught us about Europe”

11:00 Panel discussion on “Ritual”

How watching Eurovision is an institution of European family life and European popular life. How has the advent of social media changed/enhanced what it means to watch Eurovision? How has Eurovision engendered a sense of cosmopolitanism?

Taking Part:

• Prof Brian Singleton – Ireland – holds the Samuel Beckett Chair of Drama and Theatre at Trinity College Dublin,
• Phil Jackson – UK – Associate Head of Media and Programme Leader for BA Media, Music and Sound, Edge Hill University, Liverpool
• Aija Medinika – Latvia – Former Head of Press for Latvian Television
• Dave Benton – Estonia – Eurovision Winner 2001
• William Lee Adams – United States – Contributor for Newsweek and TIME magazines and founder of current most popular and innovative Eurovision website WiwiBloggs

11:45 Keynote 

by Dr Dean Vuletic – Australia – Historian and Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Vienna, where he runs the research project “Eurovision: A History of Europe through Popular Music” and teaches a course with the same title

“The History of Europe through the Eurovision Song Contest”

12:30 Lunch

1330 Panel discussion on “Innovation”

This panel explores The Eurovision Song Contest as a vanguard of innovation in television, multimedia and social networking. Discussions will include how the Contest has changed in terms of staging, the changes and challenges in how the Eurovision Network comes together on one night of the year and how social media and websites have created a whole new engagement with the event.

Taking Part:

• Jon Ola Sand – Norway – Executive Supervisor – Eurovision Song Contest – European Broadcasting Union
• Sietse Bakker – The Netherlands – Event Supervisor of Eurovision Song Contest and formally founder of ESCToday – the first global popular website dedicated to the event.
• Guy Freeman – United Kingdom – Executive Producer of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest and “Eurovision’s Greatest Hits” Anniversary Show. Head of UK Delegation to 2015 Contest.
• Pernille Gaardbo – Denmark – Executive Producer of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest
• Frank Saalens – The Netherlands – Manager of EBU Network Operations Centre

14:15 Keynote

by Dr Paul Jordan – United Kingdom – an expert on the Eurovision Song Contest andin 2011 was awarded his PhD, The Eurovision Song Contest: Nation Building and Nation Branding in Estonia and Ukraine, from the University of Glasgow.

“The Eurovision Song Contest: A platform for nation branding and nation building”

15:00 Presentation on Eurovision Song Contest audiences

• Francesca Cimino – Senior Media Analyst – EBU Media Intelligence Service

15:15 Interview with Conchita Wurst – Winner of Eurovision 2014

Discussing how Eurovision embraces diversity and builds communities

16:00 Panel discussion on “Inspiration”

Panel discussion about how the Song Contest functions in different communities/nations/regions as site of national/personal/gender-sexual identity realization. How have people used Eurovision as a way to access European and National identity?

Taking Part:

• Kjell Ekholm – Finland – Former Member of Eurovision Reference Group and Head of Delegation for Finland
• Dr Peter Rehberg – Germany – Associate Professor – Department of Germanic Studies – University of Texas at Austin
• Geert Willems – The Netherlands – Journalist and Author – “Douze points, Twelve points – Facts and Myths about the Eurovision Song Contest”
• Fraser Nelson – United Kingdom – Journalist and Editor of political magazine The Spectator
• Andi Knoll – Austria – Eurovision Song Contest Commentator for ORF

16:45 Summing up

• Paddy O’Connell with Dean Vuletic, Karen Fricker and Paul Jordan

17:00 Conference ends

Inoltre la vincitrice in carica dell’Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Conchita Wurst discuterà il suo anno sotto i riflettori e risponderà alle vostre domande via Twitter da 16:15 CET.