School of Visual Arts (SVA) is pleased to announce that Roxane Gay, renowned writer and bestselling author, will be the keynote speaker at the 47th annual commencement exercises. The ceremony will be held in-person for the first time since 2019 at Radio City Music Hall at 1:00pm ET on May 22, 2022, with streaming available on sva.edu/commencement, and on Facebook Live: facebook.com/SchoolOfVisualArts. SVA President David Rhodes will recognize some 1,130 degree candidates from the College’s 30 academic programs, including BFA, MA, MAT, MFA and MPS. An additional in-person commencement ceremony for the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 will take place at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, June 27, 2022 at 1:00pm ET.

Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. Her has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity.

In addition to her printed work, Gay has become one of the most prolific cultural commentators of the past decade, including on her latest podcast The Roxane Gay Agenda in which she discusses topics like feminism, sexuality, race, pop culture, politics and food with an array of guests. Her previous podcast, Hear to Slay, co-hosted with Tressie McMillan Cottom, welcomed such formidable guests as Stacey Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Jeremy O’Harris and Esther Perel.

“I think it's always exciting to talk to younger people and to people who are about to embark on another exciting journey, which is entering adulthood free from the constraints of being a student,” Gay says on addressing the class of 2022. “I think that college graduation is a beginning.”

As the keynote speaker for SVA’s commencement exercises, Gay will join a distinguished group of leaders in the arts, humanities and public service, including cultural icon and filmmaker John Waters, musician and poet Patti Smith, activist and author Gloria Steinem, U.S. Congressman and civil-rights hero John Lewis, cultural critic Greil Marcus, artists Laurie Anderson and Carrie Mae Weems, playwrights Edward Albee and Tony Kushner, and historian Robert A. Caro.

School of Visual Arts is a comprehensive college of art and design offering the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising, Animation, Cartooning, Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects, Design, Film, Fine Arts, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography and Video, and Visual and Critical Studies; the degree of Master of Arts in Curatorial Practice, Art Education and Design Research, Writing and Criticism; the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching in Art Education; the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Art Practice, Computer Arts, Design, Design for Social Innovation, Fine Arts, Illustration as Visual Essay, Interaction Design, Photography, Video and Related Media, Products of Design, Social Documentary Film, and Visual Narrative; and the degree of Master of Professional Studies in Art Therapy, Branding, Digital Photography, Directing and Fashion Photography.

SVA alumni include Renée Cox, Paul Davis, Sal DeVito, Michael Giacchino, Pete Hamill, Keith Haring, Julia Hoffmann, Justine Kurland, Suzanne McClelland, Patrick McDonnell, Elizabeth Peyton, Alexis Rockman, Carlos Saldanha, Harris Savides, Kenny Scharf, Yuko Shimizu, Amy Sillman, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Rebecca Sugar and Sarah Sze.

School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, a dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprising 7,000 students at its Manhattan campus and more than 40,000 alumni in 128 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. For information about the College’s 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, visit sva.edu.