Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Plain sailing for Malta venue

The shipyard set to be transformed for the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest

A former working shipyard will be transformed into a glittering stage for this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta's grand harbour area of Marsa on 15 November.

The three connected hangars are located within 10 minutes of the Maltese capital Valletta.

The central hangar will be house a specially designed stage with raised seating for up to 3,300 and room for an additional 800 spectators in the standing area directly in front of the stage and catwalks.

The two side hangars will provide audience access, restrooms, food stalls, dressing rooms and production facilities.

JESC Steering Group members expressed enthusiasm for the plans, which mirror this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, where a former shipyard at Refshale en was also made over for the state-of-the-art TV production.

The venue represents an exciting challenge, and we look forward to seeing the site transformed in the same way, said Anja Zegwaard, of AVROTROS Netherlands.

PBS also revealed its creative ideas for involving local schools in a concert; creating a mentoring programme for each participant; generating contemporary postcard visuals; and taking steps to involve viewers outside participating countries and beyond Europe in the voting process.

The Steering Group also challenged PBS to raise the competition's target group to teenagers aged up to 15 years.

The show is now something for the teenagers of Europe to look forward to with everyone else, said Anja Zegwaard. November can't come quickly enough.

It's going to be fantastic, added Tine Matulessy of Swedish broadcaster SVT. PBS is operating well ahead of time, and the concept for the show is exactly what we would aspire to.

Interest is high from countries that participated in last's year event in Kiev with enquiries from new Members who are also keen to join.

Word has spread through the EBU community about this ambitious and imaginative revamp of Junior Eurovision 2014, said Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev. If ever there was a year to take part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, this is it!

More info about the venue is available at www.junioreurovision.tv.

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