Winterthur Culture Prize for Ruth and Roger Girod

Ruth Girod is a music and movement teacher and mime artist. She has appeared on stage as a music clown at children's and family concerts conducted by Willi Gohl. As co-founder of the "tanzinwinterthur" association, she supported the development of the local dance scene. Later, her focus shifted to artistic education. She taught for forty years, most recently as a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) until 2010.

Ruth Girod was also a board member for several years and finally President of the Winterthur Cultural Foundation, where she was committed to supporting the independent cultural scene. Roger Girod is a jazz pianist, but first studied law and then trained as a classical organist and pianist.

Since the 1970s, he has realized various projects, such as the hard bop formation "GNU" with Koni Weber. From 1987, he organized the "Concerts for Early Risers", bringing big names from the Swiss scene to Winterthur. Girod has been a full-time musician since the early 1990s.

He also taught as a lecturer at the ZHdK until 2010. Together, Ruth and Roger Girod conquered the Swiss cabaret scene with the "Lala-Quintett" in the 1970s and 1980s. The couple's activities in the background were particularly valuable for Winterthur's cultural scene. As founding trustees of the Sulzberg Foundation, they were both instrumental in setting up the Villa Sträuli, which has since hosted a wide range of artist-in-residence programs and cultural events.

Both are still members of the Villa Sträuli program committee. Ruth and Roger Girod live in Winterthur and have two grown-up sons.

The cultural award ceremony will take place together with the presentation of the sponsorship award on December 1, 2015, starting at 7 p.m. in the Cameo cinema.