Pussy Riot to Receive 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize

Pussy Riot will be honored with the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize on May 6. The award presentation, set for Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, will take place as part of the Woody Guthrie Center’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, to be held May 5-7.

The Russian band will perform their Riot Days multimedia show following the ceremony, marking its U.S. debut. The group has previously performed the show in various countries around the world.

More from Rolling Stone

• Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova Laughs Off Possible Criminal Charges: 'It's All You Can Do'

• Dropkick Murphys Talk Reviving Woody Guthrie, Going Acoustic, and That Viral MAGA Rant

• Pussy Riot Tease Upcoming Mixtape With New Single 'Plastic' Featuring ILoveMakonnen

Band members Maria “Masha” Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova will accept the prize on behalf of Pussy Riot. Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s daughter, will present it to the group. Following the ceremony, the musicians will be interviewed by Robert Santelli, executive director of the Bruce Springsteen Archive and Center for American Music.

The Woody Guthrie Prize is given annually to an artist who best exemplifies Woody Guthrie’s spirit and work by speaking for the less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance, or other art forms and serving as a positive force for social change. Past recipients of the award include Joan Baez, Chuck D, Kris Kristofferson, Norman Lear, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, and Mavis Staples.

“As artists who, like Woody Guthrie, have the courage of their convictions, there are no contemporary artists more worthy of this recognition than Pussy Riot,” Cady Shaw, director of the Woody Guthrie Center, said in a statement. “They have paid a very personal price for speaking their minds on the most serious issues of our time, yet they continue to fight for justice and freedom.”

Proceeds from the event will benefit the non-profit Woody Guthrie Center, which opened in April 2013. In addition to Pussy Riot’s performance, the weekend will also include a concert by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Bobby Carradine, on May 7.

Earlier this year, Pussy Riot staged an art installation, Pussy Riot: Putin’s Ashes, in Los Angeles. Last month, sources in the Russian media reported that Tolokonnikova may face criminal charges in Russia for staging it.

“My job is to hurt Putin as much as possible, and [the threat of lawsuits] means that he and people around him are actually getting hurt by Putin’s Ashes, so that’s great news,” Tolokonnikova told Rolling Stone. “I’ll keep doing my work and keep pushing.”

Best of Rolling Stone

• All 229 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked

• The Who's 50 Greatest Songs

• Fleetwood Mac's 50 Greatest Songs

Click here to read the full article.