Friday, September 17 at 6:00 pm on the Library’s Second Level
The Provincetown Board of Library Trustees is please to announce that distinguished artist, performer, provocateur, and author Karen Finley will be presented with the sixth annual Rose Dorothea Award. The award reception, which will include a reading performance by Finley, is Friday, September 17th at 6:00 pm at the Provincetown Public Library, 356 Commercial Street, Provincetown. The event is free of charge and open to the public as part of the 2021 Provincetown Book Festival.
Karen Finley is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, painting, text, sound, music, poetics, film and video, installation, public and social practice art. Born in Chicago she received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her raw and transgressive performances have brought debate, censorship and controversy. Finley was the named plaintiff for the Supreme Court case Finley v. NEA that challenged the decency provision in government grants to artists through the National Endowment for the Arts. The other three artists were John Fleck, Holly Hughes and Tim Miller. Her performances and visual art have been presented internationally such as the Barbican in London, Lincoln Center, New York City, the Bobino in Paris, Town Hall in Provincetown amongst others. Finley is interested in freedom of expression concerns, social justice, gender and sexuality, visual culture, art education, metaphysics and lectures, and gives workshops widely. She is the author of nine books, including her latest, Grabbing Pussy ( OR Books 2018) and the 25th anniversary edition of Shock Treatment by City Lights. Reality Shows Feminist Press 2010) A recipient of many awards and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is an arts professor in Art and Public Policy at New York University. Follow her on Instagram @the_yam_mam
Finley began coming to Provincetown in the late eighties. During her multiple times in Provincetown, she has worked on many of her books, illustrations, and performances. She has performed, exhibited and given readings throughout the years.
The Rose Dorothea Award ceremony is free, but please register through eventbrite.com
Masks and proof of vaccination status are required for this event and all other Book Festival events.
Go to provincetownbookfestival.org for more information or follow on Facebook and Instagram.
About the Rose Dorothea Award: Created by Chair Emeritus James Johnson, The Rose Dorothea Award is presented by the Board of Library Trustees of the Provincetown Public Library to a person with a strong connection to the Outer Cape who has made a significant contribution through the written word. The Board of Library Trustees nominates and selects the award recipient.
About the Provincetown Board of Library Trustees: Board Members are Chair Stephen Desroches, Stephen Borkowski, Joan Prugh, Paul Richardson, and Laurel Guadazno.
