"The Eurovision Song Contest Has Always Been A Big Platform For The Queer Community" - with Rob Holley
So, this week we're going to do something a little different...
It's our first ever episode celebrating the Eurovision Song Contest.
And, before you say it - yes, technically Eurovision isn't a queer event.
But, I mean... have you ever watched it? it's pretty bloody queer...
And, to celebrate the 2023 competition I sat down to chat to Rob Holley, the Head of Content for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Only we didn't talk about the contest itself - we chatted about #EurovisionAgain, an online watch-party of past competitions that Rob set up during those grim early days of the Covid-19 pandemic after discovering that 2020's competition was cancelled.
I know that's a little bit different to our usual show, cause it's focussing on an online space rather than a physical space, but what struck me most during this conversation is how many similarities there are between #EurovisionAgain and queer bars - in particular this sense of community and belonging... which I think is pretty damn special, and certainly worth celebrating...
We talk all about those early days of lockdown (which, honestly, I seem to have wilfully forgotten), what it was like for Rob to watch the meteoric success of his baby project, and, how #EurovisionAgain led him to snag his dream job with the EBU - the European Broadcasting Union.
Do you have any memories of #EurovisionAgain, or any other online events that brought you joy during the pandemic? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos!
You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod)
Find out more about Rob by following him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/robholley). Or, if you want to know more about #EurovisionAgain go and look at that fancy wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EurovisionAgain