Gunnar Horn - Oton Tomanić Award

24th September 2024, at 6.30 PM

Hotel Patria

Gunnar Horn holds academic degrees in French, Norwegian and Theatre. He studied theatre in Montpellier and in Paris, France, and has extensive experience as a playwright, actor and storyteller.

His artistic career includes work with Abrakadabrateatret from 1980 to 1985, a touring theatre for young audiences, and Fortellerfabrikken (The Storytelling Factory), mainly working with myths, fairytales and adaptations of classical dramas for children from 1993 to 2015.

Alongside his artistic work, he has written several books on drama, theatre and education, including Drama og bevegelseslek (Drama and movement, 1989), Teater for barn (Theatre for Young Audiences, 1993), Lek, dans og teater (Play, Dance and Theatre, 1993), Alene med publikum (Alone with the Audience, 2005) and Drama og samfunn (Drama and Society, 2010). In 2024, he was co-editor of Theatre Mediation Handbook, summing up a large-scale EU project.

At the University of Agder, Gunnar Horn has taught Drama and Theatre at both bachelor’s and master’s level for many years, in Norway as well as internationally. He has developed courses and national study programmes in various fields related to Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA).

He was Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Agder (UiA) for 9 years and Head of The Centre for Teaching and Learning at UiA for 7 years. He has been a Board member of ASSITEJ Norway for many years and a member of the organizing committee of ASSITEJ International in Tromsø, Norway in 1999.

From 2019 to 2024, he was Head of the Theatre Mediation Programme within Connect-Up, a major EU Creative Europe project involving professional partners from ten countries.

His main areas of interest are TYA, storytelling, the performing teacher, and teaching and learning in higher education.