Medal of honor for Rick Takvorian

Rick is an Armenian-American dance critic. He started a dance installation in Aachen in 1995. At that time, he could only dream of where his initiative would lead. For, that first time contemporary dance in the museum worked well and step by step he expanded the initiative to Schrit_tmacher. In 2010, the festival took on a cross-border character through the collaboration between Rick and Bas Schoonderwoerd, then director of Parkstad Limburg Theater. They wanted to highlight contemporary dance in the border region of the Netherlands and Germany. This led to a rapid expansion of the festival, including to Belgium. Schrit_tmacher is the first (and so far the only!) festival to take place simultaneously in three countries with an audience willing to travel across national borders to see performances. Something special that we should cherish.

Rick was the driving force behind the festival and partly due to his contribution, the festival developed into a leading, international dance festival with a wide audience. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to the cultural dynamics of Heerlen. The dance festival annually attracts 40,000 visitors of all ages. There are at least 125 activities such as performances, side activities, online performances/livestreams and exhibitions.

Rick explains Schrit_tmacher's success in an interview as follows: 

"We have set a high standard by bringing the top international acts to our venues every time. The festival has a good reputation because of this; thanks to that good name, all those big names are happy to come and the audience benefits from that in turn. Schrit_tmacher is an affair of the heart. That is felt."

Municipal awards

The municipality of Heerlen has a number of municipal awards. These are the award 'Special Heerlenaar', the medal of honor in silver or honorary citizenship. We awarded the silver medal of honor for the last time in 2023 to Peter van Zutphen.