Stig Karlsen, the Norwegian Head of Delegation, will be stepping down from his position at NRK in order to pursue a new venture.

Stig Karlsen has worked at Melodi Grand Prix for 10 years and has earned great fame, name and recognition thanks to his diligence, great talent and hard work both at Melodi Grand Prix and the Eurovision Song Contest. Sitig has earned great respect both amid the Eurovision Song Contest franternity and fandom.

He has served as the MGP project manager and music manager for circa 10 years.

Stig will be stepping down as MGP producer and Norway’s Head of Delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest in order to pursue a new career.

In his new endevours Karlsen will exchange Melodi Grand Prix stars to work with a woman who aims for the stars. He will become a colleague of Norway’s first female astronaut, Jannicke Mikkelsen.

In his new role Stig will  be handling Jannicke’s media and communications in relation to her space travel. He will be alsor responsible to produce Jannicke’s  media content from her SpaceX trip.

Stig Karlsen says:

Now I’m going to change jobs. I love MGP and Eurovision and have enjoyed working with it for many years.  10 years is a decent length of time for a project, and now this fantastic offer came up with a Norwegian astronaut, so now the time had come.

Karlsen adds.

It is because of this job offer that I got. I believe that music and culture are a bridge-builder, and I also believe that the EBU will get the event back in order.

Stig will initially take nine months of leave from NRK and start his new job on 1 October, by then,he should have finished the job of finding next year’s MGP artists and songs.

NRK will be now looking for a replacement for Stig, hence we will be having a new Norwegian Head of Delegation and new MGP Producer. The Norwegian national broadcaster is in process for looking for the person who will replace Stig.

Charlo Halvorsen (NRK Entertainment Manager) says:

We are in the process of finding Stig’s successor as music manager for MGP. This is one of MusikNorway’s most important jobs, so we take the time to find the right person, with the right skills and heart for the country’s biggest music competition.

ESCToday would like to wish Stig Karslen the best of luck in his new job and thank him for his great contribution, hard work and dedication to MGP and the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: NRK
Photo credit: Kjetil Solhøi