Bern Culture Prize goes to Helvetiarockt
The canton of Bern has awarded the 2020 Culture Prize to the Helvetiarockt association, which campaigns for a higher proportion of women in the Swiss music industry. Johannes and Katrin Günther, directors of the Bern Minster Children's and Youth Choir, receive the cantonal cultural mediation award.
The Swiss coordination office and networking platform for female musicians Helvetiarockt has been campaigning for a significant increase in the proportion of women in the Swiss music industry since 2009 and is committed to greater diversity in the music business, particularly in jazz, pop and rock. Women are barely represented in the professional music industry at all levels. According to surveys, the proportion of women on Swiss festival stages is around 15 percent and in music production around 2 percent.
The Berner Münster Children's and Youth Choir was initially founded in 2003 as a project choir; it has been organized as an association since 2012. Today it has around 100 singers aged between 5 and 21. Together with them, Johannes and Katrin Günther have built up a repertoire that ranges from Gregorian chant and works by well-known masters (Bach, Mendelssohn) to world premieres and spirituals.
The Canton of Bern Culture Prize is endowed with CHF 30,000 and the Cultural Mediation Prize with CHF 10,000.
