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The making of 'Open Up'

25 October 2019 at 12:40 CEST
Sietse Bakker Photo: EBU
'Celebrate Diversity', 'All Aboard', 'Dare To Dream' and now 'Open Up'. This slogan and underlying theme are a critical part of the show's development as they set the basis for all the creative choices to come for the 65th Contest. How, then, does such a critical decision come to be made? We talk to Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer Event of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, to understand the process of the slogan's development.

Critical to the 2020 slogan is its ability to represent the Eurovision Song Contest, the fans of the show, the Dutch people and the Netherlands as a country. The organizers behind Rotterdam 2020 talked to more than 100 Dutch people about how to best represent them during the world's largest live music event. When asked what it's really about, the notion of openness came back again and again.

"Open Up is, first of all, a positive invitation to open up to each other, open up to music, open up to different cultures. We also wanted to convey a message that fits with the spirit of our time. We live in times of increasing polarization. We live in times where freedom isn't as self-evident as it used to be. People are concerned about their freedom to be who they want to be, to speak their mind. We feel it is important to invite people to open up. Let's open up to each other's views, to each other's opinions, continue the dialogue with each other," says Sietse.

The organizers are now hard at work on the next steps: finalizing branding and stage concepts, selecting opening acts for all 3 shows and shortlisting potential hosts. The matching artwork for the theme is also currently being developed and is expected to be revealed later this year.

Ticket sales are expected to begin before the holidays, so stay tuned for more information soon!