This is no rhetorical question. There are problems, but they are being resolved, except that there is no time for a slow start, with the international song contest only two and a half months away.
“The Sports Palace, which is hosting the contest, and the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTCU), the main sponsor of the 2005 Eurovision contest, have yet to sign a contract. In the last three and a half months NTCU representatives visited the Sports Palace only once. The main problem is that a single operator or general director of the event has not been selected yet,” Sports Palace director Viktor Tkachenko told Interfax Ukraine.
The premises are now undergoing renovations financed by the Sports Palace, while not a single penny has come from the state budget. Mr. Tkachenko met with Prime Minister Tymoshenko on February 8. “It turns out that the Cabinet of Ministers was in the dark about the status of the contest preparations. It was news to the prime minister that the NTCU had applied for UAH 108 million in budget funding for Eurovision 2005, while the state budget provides for a mere UAH 31 million,” Tkachenko said.
According to the director of the Sports Palace, his venue can get the premises ready in time for the contest. Close to 40 tons of television, lighting, and sound equipment has to be installed onto the building’s framework that experts say is strong enough to support such a weight. The organizers have yet to decide how many seats the building can accommodate and how much the tickets will cost.
At a recent working meeting, the contest organizing committee announced plans to set up international youth towns called Kyiv Forever, near the Sports Palace and inside the Bessarabsky Quarter.
According to Oleksandr Bystrushkin, chief of the Head Department of Culture, Arts, and Protection of Cultural Heritage at Kyiv City Hall, guests will receive a wide range of information about Ukraine and its capital, landmarks, both historical and contemporary. These towns will serve as meeting places for contestants, guests of honor, mass media, tourists, and Kyivans, and will feature information, entertainment, and catering sectors. Each town will have a Euroclub that will accommodate between 2,500 and 3,000 seats for viewers who will be watching the contest on large television screens.
The organizers plan to hold opening and closing concerts for the Eurovision contest between May 19 and 20 on Independence Square, and a folklore fest in Kyiv’s Spivoche Pole [Singing field]. City Hall is planning to make Khreshchatyk, Kyiv’s main thoroughfare, a pedestrian zone for the duration of the contest. Vendors throughout the city will be selling souvenirs, and Kyiv streets will be decorated with posters and lights. Hotel renovations are now underway.
Coverage of the contest will be provided by over 2,000 international journalists. Between 5,000 and 10,000 viewers will attend the show in the Sports Palace, while television audiences are expected to exceed 100 million. Ruslana Lyzhychko will open the contest with her song “Wild Dances,” the winning song of the Grand Prix of Eurovision 2004.
Ruslana is staging concerts all over Europe, actively promoting Ukraine as the host of the upcoming contest. She recently premiered her new video featuring clips of the Orange Revolution rallies. Ruslana even held briefings at the European Parliament. A Korrespondent magazine poll recently named Ruslana Promoter of the Year. She believes that the 50th Eurovision contest will be much more interesting and spectacular than the previous one held in Istanbul. The Ukrainian organizers have studied Turkey’s experience and developed contest know-how that has never been used before.
In a live broadcast on UT-1 television on February 27 viewers will select the performer who will represent Ukraine at the contest. The decision will be made based on the number of telephone votes cast by viewers. A total of 75 contestants, both famous and little-known singers, are competing for the right to represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2005. It is still too early to make any predictions, but insiders believe that Ani Lorak and Viktor Pavlyk, the two frontrunners in the selection round, stand the best chance of winning.
