Earlier today, Vienna’s city councillor Christian Oxonitsch held a press conference about the Eurovision Song Contest in May. He presented the budget that Vienna will contribute to the contest and outlined plans regarding side events.
Budget
It was announced that the city of Vienna is planning to spend almost 12 million euros on the event. Here’s a detailed list of things they are supporting ORF with:
- Provision of Wiener Stadthalle (including adaptions for the contest & an emergency power aggregate) – 8,890,000€
- Eurovision Village – 150,000€
- Provision of the town hall (opening ceremony) – 750,000€
- International campaign of Vienna Tourism – 850,000€
- Eurovision advertisement within the city – 1,000,000€
- Tickets for public transport (for journalists etc.) – 70,000€
…which sums up to a total of 11,710,000€. As you can see, the vast majority of the budget will be used to adapt the venue to Eurovision standards and provide it to ORF for free. Vienna will pay the rent for Wiener Stadthalle from 6 April to 31 May. The various adaptions include the press centre for about 1,500 journalists as well as backstage areas and changing rooms for the artists.
Opening ceremony & Eurovision Village
The traditional opening ceremony (on Sunday before Eurovision week) will take place in Vienna’s town hall. The building regularly hosts events such as the renowned Life Ball, an annual AIDS charity event.
There will also be a “Eurovision Village” with free concerts and other events. It hasn’t been decided where exactly it will be built though. Vienna proposes a meadow right next to the famous amusement park Prater, comparable to Tivoli in Copenhagen. Alternatives that have been offered to ORF are the museum complex MuseumsQuartier and Heldenplatz.
Source: ORF
