The playwright and director Livia Anne Richard receives the Bern Communication Award 2019
Livia Anne Richard, a Bern-based playwright and director, has been awarded the ninth Bern Communication Prize. The Bern Public Relations Association (BPRG) honored her for her candid, fresh, and open communication style, which resonates with a broad audience and brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds. The award ceremony took place on Thursday evening at a gala event attended by over 150 guests at PHBern.
Don't think twice, just jump in at the deep end and move forward: with this philosophy, Livia Anne Richard has built up a small theater empire over the past almost twenty years. Her play "Dällebach Kari" made her nationally known in 2006, with the open-air theater Gurten she became a permanent fixture in Bern and with the open-air theater Zermatt ("The Matterhorn Story") she even gained international recognition in 2015.
"I like to improvise, follow my gut feeling and love to create new worlds again and again," says Richard, whose fund of ideas seems to be inexhaustible. She is supported by a team that shares not only her philosophy, but also courage, joy of playing and the desire to work together. Her next world premiere is this summer's "Matterhorn: No Ladies Please!". The play, which is again set on the Riffelberg in Zermatt, is about the Englishwoman Lucy Walker, who against all odds and prohibitions became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn.
Cla Martin Caflisch, President of the BPRG, particularly emphasizes the unifying element in Richard's work. "Livia Anne Richard touches a wide variety of people with her work. She addresses her audience with humor and depth in equal measure, communicating clearly and in a down-to-earth manner even when dealing with complex play themes. For this, we are honoring her with the Berne Communication Award." Over 150 members and invited guests attended the festive award ceremony at the PHBern.
Every year, the BPRG awards the Communication Prize to a person who has achieved exceptional communicative achievements without the need for specialist training. The prize winner demonstrates his or her communication skills in a talk with Sonja Hasler and receives a specially created work, this year designed by Bernese illustrator Boris Pilleri.
Previous award winners
- 2011 Steff la Cheffe, beatboxer and rapper
- 2012 Bernd Schildger, Zoo Director
- 2013 Francis Foss Pauchard, Olmo founder
- 2014 Hans Zurbrügg, Founder and President International Jazz Festival Bern
- 2015 Mujinga Kambundji, track and field athlete
- 2016 Prof. Dr. Thomas Stocker, Climate Researcher University of Bern
- 2017 André Lüthi, CEO Globetrotter Group
- 2018 Andrea Staudacher, Event Designer Future Food Lab
The Berne Public Relations Society BPRG is one of the seven regional societies of the national professional association PR Suisse with over 1500 members.
