The slogan for Eurovision 2019 was Dare to Dream, and the total budget for the contest was estimated to €28.5 million.
The official logo was revealed on 8 January 2019 under the slogan "Dare To Dream". The logo is made of three triangles, creating a golden star.
There were 4 hosts at Eurovision Song Contest 2019: Bar Refaeli, Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub.
When was Eurovision 2019?
The Eurovision week had three shows: Semi-final 1 on Tuesday, Semi-final 2 on Thursday and the Grand Final on Saturday:
Semi-final 1: 14 May 2019
Semi-final 2: 16 May 2019
Grand Final: 18 May 2019
All the shows started at 21:00 CEST.
Host City: Tel Aviv
The host city has been officially confirmed as Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv is the second largest city in Israel with a population of 445,000, and is a major center of culture and entertainment and the Gay capital of Israel.
Every year around 2.5 million international tourists visit Tel Aviv, ranked the fifth-most-visited city in the Middle East & Africa. The beaches of Tel Aviv are often ranked as some of the best beaches in the world.
Tel Aviv is called "The city that never sleeps", because of its active nightlife, with a huge variety of nightclubs and bars, many of them LGBT friendly. Tel Aviv is often ranked as one of the top LGBT destinations in the world.
Besides Tel Aviv, three other cities were in the bidding race for hosting Eurovision 2019: Jerusalem, Haifa and Eilat.
Arena: Expo Tel Aviv
Location: Rokach Blvd 101, Tel Aviv-Yafo Google Maps
Website: expotelaviv.co.il
Train station: "Tel Aviv University"
The arena for Eurovision 2019 was Expo Tel Aviv (also called Tel Aviv Convention Center or Tel Aviv Fairgrounds).
Expo Tel Aviv is located in northern Tel Aviv, close to the railway station (Tel Aviv University).
The Expo Tel Aviv includes the new Pavilion 2, which will be the arena for Eurovision 2019. The Pavilion 2 was opened in 2015 and has a capacity of up to 10,000 people at most (depending on configuration). KAN expects to have a capacity of around 7,280 spectators in the arena for Eurovision 2019, along with 46 commentator booths.
The Green Room was placed in Pavilion 1 in the complex. The Pavilion also hosted the Press Center, while the Pavilion 13 was used for the production.
The stage was designed by Florian Wieder – who also designed the stage for Eurovision 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The stage was shaped like a diamond with a standing area for fans right in front of the stage.
Participants
41 countries participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019:
Albania
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Moldova
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Changes from Eurovision 2018
2 countries from Eurovision 2018 didn't participate in Eurovision 2019:
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Who's in which Semi-final?
The semi-final allocation draw for Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place on 28 January 2019 in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The draw determined which countries are allocated to which of the two semi-finals.
Tickets
The tickets for Eurovision Song Contest 2019 went on sale on 28 February 2019. Read more: How to get tickets for Eurovision 2019
Tickets usually go on sale in November/December the year before. For Eurovision Song Contest 2019 the tickets were delayed several times.
Eurovision Village: Charles Clore Park
Location: Prof. Yehezkel Kaufmann street Google Maps
When: 12 May to 18 May, 17:00 - 23:00
Price: Free entry
Eurovision Village was the official festival area during Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
In Eurovision Village you could see live performances by artists, DJs, special events and public viewing of the shows broadcasted from the Arena.
The Eurovision Village was located in Tel Aviv's Charles Clore Park, which is a public beachfront park, that usually hosts Tel Aviv's Pride Parade main event.
Orange Carpet: Habima Square
Location: Tarsat Ave 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo Google Maps Busses: 5, 39, 63, 100, 192, 239, 502
The Red Carpet (or actually Orange Carpet) took place at the Habima Square on Sunday 12 May 2019. Habima Square is in the heart of Tel Aviv, and is also called "The Culture Square". The square is sorrounded by major cultural institutions such as the Habima National Theatre, the Charles R. Bronfman Auditorium (home of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art.
At the Red Carpet all the contestants were presented for the press, fans and guests with lots of beautiful dresses, festivities and selfies.
After the Red Carpet, the Opening Ceremony of Eurovision 2019 took place at the Habima National Theatre.
EuroClub: Hangar 11
Location: Tel Aviv Port (Crossing of Rokach Blvd and HaYarkon street), Google Maps
When: 11 May to 18 May, 22:00 to 04:00
Busses: 4, 9, 13, 39, 55, 62, 72, 104, 122, 129, 170, 172, 174, 175, 204, 211, 222, 230, 231, 239, 256, 273, 296, 299, 333, 418, 445, 463, 466, 489, 502, 555, 556 566, 599
The EuroClub was the venue for some special parties, the official after parties and performances by participants.
EuroClub in Tel Aviv was located at the venue Hangar 11 located in the Tel Aviv Port (Crossing of Rokach Blvd and HaYarkon street), around 4 km away from the arena. EuroClub was open from 11 to 18 May from 21:00 to 04:00.
Access to EuroClub was free for accredited persons in the categories fans (F), delegations (D) and press (P).
There were 1000 weekly bracelets on sale for ₪600 ≈ €148 (for OGAE members the price was ₪500 ≈ €123)
EuroCafe: HaOman 17
Location: Abarbanel Street 88 Google Maps
When: 12 May to 18 May 2018 from 23:00
Busses: 1, 25, 42, 54, 83, 125, 142, 418
EuroCafe (also known as Euro Fan Café) was the place for fans to meet for parties and special events during the Eurovision week.
EuroCafe opened its doors for Eurovision fans from 12 May to 18 May, and was located at HaOman 17 – one of the biggest night clubs in Israel. EuroCafe 2019 was organized by OGAE Israel together with VIVO Productions.
Tickets for EuroCafe went on sale from 10 April on eurocafetlv2019.com. For the first 48 hours tickets were only available for OGAE members who must fill in their membership number when ordering. Each OGAE member could purchase up to 2 tickets. The cost of a weekly wristband was 420 Shekels ≈ 105 Euros.
Some of the confirmed guest stars were: Charlotte Perrelli, Emmelie de Forest, Hera Björk, Selma, Krista Siegfrids, Slavko Kalezic, Shiri Maimon, Harel Skaat, Nadav Guedj, Mei Feingold, Imri Ziv, Moran Mazor, Riki Ben Ari and many others.