Pussy Riot to Receive the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize – Billboard
The Woody Guthrie Center announced on Thursday (March 23) that Pussy Riot will be honored with the 2023 Woody Guthrie Award this spring.
The ceremony will take place on May 6 as part of the center’s 10th anniversary celebrations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pussy Riot members Masha Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova will accept an award from folk music legend Nora Guthrie’s daughter at the Cain Ballroom in Tulsa before they and their bandmates present their latest multimedia show, titled Days of rebellionfirst time in the USA
“It seems appropriate to receive an award in the spirit of Woody, I think he would have liked the anti-fascist message of Pussy Riot,” said Tolokonnikova. Billboard after the announcement of the news.
“For artists who, like Woody Guthrie, hold firm to their beliefs,
contemporary artists are more deserving of this recognition than Pussy Riot,” added Cady Shaw, director of the Woody Guthrie Center, in a separate statement. “They paid a very personal price for expressing their
minds on the most serious issues of our time, but they continue to fight for justice and freedom.”
According to a press release, the Woody Guthrie Award is “given annually to the artist who best embodies the spirit and creativity of Woody Guthrie, speaking on behalf of the less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance or other art forms and serving as a positive force for society.” change.” In the past decade, the honor has also been given to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, Norman Lear, and many others.
Earlier this month, Tolokonnikova also helped raise nearly $7 million for aid in Ukraine by partnering with UkraineDAO on the besieged country’s flag NFT at the height of the ongoing war with Russia.
