Eurovision 2021: New set design relocates the Green Room to the audience standing area

Eurovision 2021: New set design relocates the Green Room to the audience standing area
Friday, 12 February 2021

  • The Eurovision 2021 organisers are introducing changes on the set design in Rotterdam Ahoy along with the adjustments on plans regarding the presence of the delegates and the audience.

     

    Countdown Clock for Eurovision 2021

    With a 100 days to go for the Grand final of Eurovision 2021, Rooterdam's Mayor Aboutaleb therefore unveiled a large clock at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, together with the four Eurovision presenters, which is counting down to the final day on Saturday 22 May.

    The kick-off was kept in the open air and because of the corona measures from the public with the ESC 2021 Executive producer, Sietse Bakker, saying: 

    "Yet it was a special moment . The Eurovision season has now officially started. From today we are looking forward to what is to come."

    Last year the Host Insignia Handover Ceremony had taken place in Rotterdam City Hall under totally different circumstances.  "Then we were all still shoulder to shoulder. The key has been in a safe for a while now. To mark the moment of the hundred days, the municipality of Rotterdam came up with the countdown clock." says organizer Sietse Bakker.

     

    New Set Design in Rotterdam Ahoy

    With all plans being tinkered with last period circumstances the organisers are adjusting the set design within the venue that will host the next competition. As Bakker explains the Green Rooms will replace the audience standing area. Specifically he says: 

    "Normally there would be 2000 fans on the floor around the stage, waving all kinds of flags. That is of course not possible in Corona time. So the set designer had to go back to the drawing board."

     The organization has therefore decided to fill the entire floor of Ahoy with the green room, where all participating artists and delegations are seated. 

     

    The plans for the Delegations and Audience

    S. Bakker sound optimistic about the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. His statement reflects the plan for welcoming the delegations next May :

    "As it looks now, all artists can come to Rotterdam. We do create bubbles around the participants and we will do a lot of testing."

     Should there be an outbreak in one of those bubbles, the participating country will participate with a pre-recorded video clip featuring live singing.

    Regarding the amount of audience which will be able to attend the event Bakker considers it as the most uncertain factor at the moment with final decisions being pushed in a later date. The Ducth ESC producers says on that matter: 

    "The amount of audience in Ahoy is the greatest uncertainty. The government roadmap shows that for locations larger than 2000 square meters, an exception can be made in terms of the amount of public. However, the government only makes that exception at a lower risk level. Then the infections have to be reduced first."

    Therefore the organization will take the plunge in mid-April, based on the measures then in force and having in mind the whole picture of the circumstances at a time closer to the Eurovision dates without of course ruling out even a contest without any audience at all. 

    The 65th Eurovision Song contest is set to take place on May 18, 20 and 22 at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 

     

     News Source: nos.nl

    Image: Open Up to Rotterdam YouTube