Walter Heun (*1962)

Kulturmanager, Tanz- und Theaterproduzent

After graduating from high school in Pullach in 1981 and completing his military service, Heun studied theatre studies, modern German literature and philosophy at the University of Munich from 1982 to 1988. He began his career in 1984 as co-founder of the choreographers’ collective Dance Energy and as director of the Tanztage München in 1986 and 1989. Since then, he has been involved as initiator, member and artistic director in various national and international institutions, especially for contemporary dance and performance art.

In 1990 he founded the dance and theatre production company Joint Adventures. In 1987 Heun co-founded Tanztendenz München e.V. and continued to manage this central rehearsal and production facility for the Munich dance scene until 1993. In 1990, he initiated and coordinated the festival BRDance, which presented contemporary dance from Germany for the first time in fifteen cities and about 120 performances nationwide, as well as a symposium on the training situation in contemporary dance in Germany. In 1994, BRDance gave rise to Tanzplattform Deutschland, of which Heun was a co-founder and co-organiser.

In 1991, Heun organised the Tanzwerkstatt Europa in Munich for the first time. Also in 1991, he founded the National Performance Network (NPN), a model for promoting cooperation between artists and organisers and for distributing contemporary dance and later theatre productions. Heun was artistic director of the choreoraphic centre luzerntanz at the Lucerne Theatre from 1999 to 2004 and director of Tanzquartier Wien from 2009 to 2017. He has been First Chairman of the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance since 1997 and is a member of numerous European networks.