Past Tuesday, the Austrian national broadcaster ORF started a call for volunteers for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. Currently, the interest to be actively involved in the largest television entertainment show in the world is enormous! In the first three days, the website songcontest.ORF.at recorded more than 20,000 hits! Around 300 people aged 18 to 71 from all nine federal states and 24 nations have already sent in a full application.
International applications were received from Belarusian, British, Croatian, Cypriot, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepalese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Swiss nationals. So far, the only applicants who haven’t applied yet are those who, besides German and English, also speak Georgian, Icelandic, Danish and Armenian.
Building Bridges is the slogan of the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest – which is to be a celebration of music, international understanding and tolerance. ORF is on the search for bridge builders between nations, languages and cultures, who are motivated, reliable, ecoconscious, enthusiastic, friendly and tolerant. To be able to engage yourself as a volunteer at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, you have to be at least 18 years of age, fluently speak both German and English, be able to attend the mandatory casting in Vienna on 14th and 15th March, and, of course, be available in the period between 4th and 24th May in Vienna.
You can apply online by sending your curriculum vitae and a motivation letter to songcontest.ORF.at until the end of January. You should expect to receive a call to attend a casting appointment between 2nd and 15th February 2015. The auditions will take place in the ORF Studios, and the final casting will be in Vienna on 14th and 15th March. The positions which need to be filled vary from working in the Press Centre, servicing the Info Desk and the Accreditation Area, to ushering spectators in the Arena, providing support to the production team, serving as a delegation host or being a team leader.
The Eurovision Volunteers Programme is on a voluntary basis. Volunteers will be provided with accident insurance during their service period and will receive free board, a Eurovision Song Contest outfit, and will witness the Eurovision Song Contest experience up close and live.
