“An exceptional award for exceptional people”: Joan Baez to receive Václav Havel Centre Lifetime Achievement Award
Joan Baez, the legendary singer and activist, will receive the Václav Havel Centre’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday night at its annual Gala in New York. A close friend of the late dissident-turned-president, Baez has long been connected to Havel’s legacy, which makes the honour especially significant. Ahead of the event, I spoke with Bill Shipsey, Chair of the Gala Committee.
First of all, why did the Václav Havel Centre choose to present this year's Lifetime Achievement Award to Joan Baez?
“Well, Joan Baez is one of the few direct connections between major international artists and Václav Havel. She was on our radar to receive this award from the very beginning, when we first conceived of it. The first recipient was Salman Rushdie two years ago. Another friend of Joan's, Peter Gabriel, received it last year. We worked very hard to persuade Joan to accept the award this year, and we’re very grateful that she did.
“She knew Václav Havel even before the Velvet Revolution. I believe their first meeting was in Bratislava in May or June 1989, when she smuggled him into her concert by letting him carry her guitar case, so the secret police who were following him would not realize where he was.
“That was a significant moment, several months before the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. From the stage in Bratislava, she publicly called for support of Charter 77 and mentioned Václav Havel by name. As a result, the concert, which was being broadcast live on Czechoslovak Television, was cut off. They pulled the plug, and Joan continued to sing a cappella that night.
“She then came back to Prague on a number of occasion. Most notably, she came back for the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in 2009, shortly before Václav Havel’s passing in 2011, when she appeared with him on stage in Wenceslas Square, carrying her guitar again.”
So in what way does Joan Baez's life and work reflect the values and mission of the Václav Havel Centre?
“Well, the Václav Havel Centre is all about democracy, human rights, and the use of the arts as a vehicle for freedom. That has also been Joan Baez’s life since she first burst onto the scene as a teenager in the coffee shops of Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1958, and throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and beyond.
“It's remarkable. Hers is a 65-year career of activism in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom.
“According to President Havel’s wife, Dáša, Joan was an important influence on him as a performer. He had other musician friends of course—Frank Zappa, Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones—but Joan Baez was very special to him because of her activism and her commitment to the causes he believed in.”
The award will be presented on Thursday night as part of the Václav Havel Centre and the Bohemian Benevolent Literary Association Annual Gala, and it will carry the theme Truth Prevails. Why have you chosen this particular theme?
“Well, we chose it this year because unfortunately we are living in a time where truth seems expendable, where we’re in an almost post-truth world. Autocracies are on the rise not only in Russia, China, and North Korea, but autocratic tendencies are appearing even in established democracies, including the United States.
“What we want is to promote the values Václav Havel wrote and spoke about during the 60s, 70s, and 80s in then-Czechoslovakia, and to show how important they remain in today’s world. That is why we chose the theme Truth Prevails.”
What else will be on the programme of the evening? Who else will be recognised with awards?
“One of the other awards that the Václav Havel Centre presents every year is called the Disturbing the Peace Award for a writer at risk. This will be the 10th time it has been awarded. Just yesterday we received very good news that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an Egyptian blogger who won the award two years ago, has been released from prison. And one of last year’s recipients, the Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, has also been released.
“This year, the Disturbing the Peace Award will go to a very brave Belarusian lawyer and writer, Maksim Znak, who is still imprisoned. The award will be accepted on his behalf by the person we consider the true president of Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. She will be joined by her husband, who was released from prison earlier this year. We are deeply honoured to have her accept the award on his behalf.
“The third award, for a distinguished Czech or Slovak, will go to a prominent Slovak hotelier, Henry Callan. This award was given last year to Martina Navratilova, and in previous years to Petr Sís.”
And Joan Baez will be there in person to receive the award…
“Yes. She lives in Woodside, California. I had the great pleasure of spending four days with her in Milan this past May, but she is flying in from California this evening. She will accept the award in person and also speak at the ceremony.
“This Lifetime Achievement Award is the highlight of the evening. It is not presented every year—it is an exceptional award reserved for exceptional people. And there is no one we could think of more exceptional, in terms of Václav Havel and the values he stood for, and also as a personal friend of his, than Joan Baez.”
Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven't asked?
“Obviously, we are very proud to have a Václav Havel Centre active in New York and in the United States. The legacy of Václav Havel is, if anything, even more important today than it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago.
“His example—the adherence to truth, the commitment to nonviolence, the importance he placed on human rights—resonates as strongly now in 2025 as it did in 1989. We are proud to continue and to help perpetuate his life, his example, and his legacy.”
