Twenty Summers

Twenty Summers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization in Provincetown, Massachusetts, founded to

Twenty Summers is an incubator for art and ideas, a place to experience culture in progress. We imagine a more equitable and sustainable future, twenty summers from today. Housed in Provincetown’s historic Hawthorne Barn, we honor its legacy of artistic freedom by providing resources, residencies, and a platform for original projects and innovative ideas.

06/05/2026

Natalie Adler’s debut novel, Waiting on a Friend, and Alejandro Varela’s latest, Middle Spoon, portray q***r New York in two very different eras. Adler’s protagonist is a young le***an living in the East Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic, while Varela’s is a gay husband and father in contemporary Brooklyn who leads a secure middle-class life yet longs for sexual liberation.

Both stories depict profound heartbreak, yet they are rich in humor and fearless in their depiction of how sexual politics infuses all of our relationships—even those we have with the ghosts of people we’ve lost far too soon. Their conversation will be moderated by Michelle Axelson, owner of Provincetown’s iconic Womencrafts.

Phantoms & Freedoms: Q***r Stories in Fiction | Natalie Adler, Alejandro Varela, & Michelle Axelson | Thursday, June 11 at 6pm | $20 Suggested Donation

All proceeds from this event benefit in celebration of their 50th anniversary!

RSVP at 20summers.org 💕

06/03/2026

What drives people to crime, on the page and beyond it? In this spirited conversation, two bestselling authors explore the art of and rationale for writing about murder and mayhem.

Margot Douaihy, whose Sister Holiday hardboiled series follows an unlikely nun-sleuth through the understory of New Orleans, discusses her latest novel, Divine Ruin, a mystery that confronts the fentanyl epidemic. William Mann presents his groundbreaking investigation The Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, the definitive account of America’s most famous unsolved murder.

Together, Douaihy and Mann examine what it means to write crime narratives (fiction and nonfiction) with conscience and aesthetic edge.

A Meeting of Literary Criminal Minds | William Mann & Margot Douaihy in Conversation | Sunday, June 7 at 6pm | $20 Suggested Donation

RSVP now at 20summers.org 🔎

06/02/2026

This Sunday, we are thrilled to celebrate local author Stephen Orr and his new work, The Gardener’s Mindset, in conversation with professor and architect K. Michael Hays.

Stephen Orr, garden writer and former editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens, examines the restorative power of gardening through a collection of essays and photographs while revealing his own challenges in the garden and offering advice on growing plants and vegetables at home.

Alongside gorgeous photographs and easy projects that range from cultivating a color scheme to building a wildlife habitat, Orr delves into his personal gardening journey, pulling from the various gardens he and his husband have created over the past decades.

The Gardener’s Mindset | Stephen Orr & K. Michael Hays | Sunday, June 7 at 1pm

Join the waitlist at 20summers.org 🌷

06/01/2026

We are thrilled to be welcoming the Hamilton de Holanda Trio join us at the Barn for an evening of musical celebration ✨

Hamilton de Holanda is one of Brazil’s most celebrated musicians—a global ambassador, virtuoso performer, and innovative improviser who began playing mandolin at age five and went on to redefine its 10-string form as a dynamic instrument bridging jazz, choro, and global styles. Shaped by family support, formal training in composition, and the vibrant choro street culture of Brasília, he has built a remarkable career marked by four Latin Grammy wins, 17 nominations, and international recognition, including a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Hamilton de Holanda Trio in Concert | Saturday, June 6 at 7pm | $45

Join the waitlist and check out our last few weeks of events at 20summers.org ❤️

05/28/2026

Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha — author of Forest of Noise and founder of Gaza’s first English-language library — sits down with poet and educator Tatiana Johnson-Boria for an intimate conversation about poetry, witness, and writing from within conflict. Together they’ll explore how language holds what the world too often looks away from, drawing on Abu Toha’s experience writing out of Gaza and Johnson-Boria’s own practice of using poetry to reckon with trauma and injustice.

Poetry & Conflict | Mosab Abu Toha & Tatiana Johnson-Boria in Conversation | Friday, June 5 at 6pm | $20 Suggested Donation

Register today at 20summers.org 🌻

Illustration by Matt Rota, featured in The New Yorker’s “My Family’s Daily Struggle to Find Food in Gaza” by Mosab Abu Toha, published February 24, 2024.

05/11/2026

Following the screening at Waters Edge of his work-in-progress documentary A Brief History of Silence about author Marlon James and the q***r Jamaican community, we will convene at the Barn with filmmaker Stephen Winter to discuss his work with a member of the local Jamaican community.

A Brief History of Silence | Stephen Winter Artist Talk | Thursday, June 4 at 6pm | $20 Suggested Donation

Register today at 20summers.org ✨

05/08/2026

Join us at Waters Edge Cinema for a work-in-progress preview of Stephen Winter’s documentary centered on author Marlon James and the q***r Jamaican community.

Jamaica shaped acclaimed gay novelist Marlon James but its violent homophobia also silenced him. Now, Marlon is returning to his homeland to reckon with its history and the memories he tried to leave behind.

As Marlon seeks reconciliation with a family, a church and a nation that would not accept him, his triumphant return home offers a universal story of action and introspection for evolving into a meaningful future.

Run Time: 23 Minutes

20S x Waters Edge | A Brief History of Silence Preview | Thursday, June 4 at 1pm | FREE

RSVP now at 20summers.org 🎥

05/07/2026

We are hosting three days of art-making in the Hawthorne Barn with our friends from PAAM ✨ Following a brief lecture on the legacy of Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, teacher John Clayton will give a painting demonstration and supervise three full days of painting in the Barn. Coffee and lunch will be provided.

Students can choose to enroll for either the first day as a stand-alone class, or for all three days.

The class is open to all levels of experience, but please bring your own supplies. We will provide easels and stools. If the event sells out, we will maintain a waitlist on a first-come, first-served basis.

June 1, 9am-3pm — One Day Workshop - SOLD OUT | $125 *join the waitlist!

June 1-3, 9am-3pm—Three Day Bootcamp | $350

Sign up at 20summers.org 🎨

05/04/2026

Musicians, painters, and poets often move in the same circles and, regardless of their medium, spur each other on to experiment. In this concert, we’ll explore those creative bonds in an evening of music and poetry that describe art. Given the richness of Provincetown’s artistic heritage, we’ll pay particular attention to the various painters who worked here and the music that inspired them.

Violinist Katherine Winterstein and pianist Aimee Tsuchiya will perform works by composers including J.S. Bach, Aaron Copland, John Cage, and William Grant Still, while award-winning novelists M. T. Anderson and Julia Glass will read selections from writers such as Kiran Desai, Frank O’Hara, Langston Hughes, and local painter Charles Hawthorne. Come join us and celebrate the ecstatic and the ekphrastic!

20S x PMPM | What the Eye Hears: A Concert of Music about Art | Sunday, May 31 at 6pm | $45

**please note, this concert is being held at **

Tickets on sale at 20summers.org 🎶

05/01/2026

Season 13 Resident Liz Collins creates a site-responsive installation of suspended lengths of her vividly patterned textiles that activate the Barn’s soaring volume and weathered architecture. Cascading from the rafters in rhythmic intervals, the fabrics will form a porous field of color and movement, shifting with light and air. The work draws on Collins’ long-standing exploration of pattern, repetition, and embodied making, transforming the rustic structure into a spectacular environment activated by the fabrics. Visitors will move among the hanging forms, experiencing the Barn as a dynamic spatial composition full of a particular type of element from Collins archive of art textiles.

Raw Material 2 | Liz Collins Barn Installation

Open House | FREE (no RSVP needed)
Saturday, May 30 | 1-6pm

Artist Talk | $20 Suggested Donation
Saturday, May 30 | 6pm

RSVP at 20summers.org ✨

Address

29 Miller Hill Rd
Provincetown, MA
02657

Telephone

+15088120278

Website

https://www.20summers.org/

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