New York, NY—School of Visual Arts (SVA) is pleased to announce acclaimed photographer, MacArthur Genius Grant and Pulitzer Prize recipient Lynsey Addario as the keynote speaker for the 48^th annual commencement exercises. The ceremony will be held at Radio City Music Hall at 1:00pm on Sunday, May 21, 2023, with streaming available on sva.edu/commencement, and on Facebook Live: facebook.com/SchoolOfVisualArts. SVA President David Rhodes will recognize some 1,250 degree candidates from the College’s 31 academic degree programs, including BFA, MA, MAT, MFA and MPS. Addario was previously the recipient of SVA’s Masters Series Award and Exhibition, a comprehensive look at her fearless documentation of humanitarian issues around the globe that brought more than 2,700 visitors to the SVA Chelsea Gallery between September and December of 2022.

Lynsey Addario is an American photojournalist who has been covering conflict, humanitarian crises and women’s issues around the Middle East and Africa on assignment for The New York Times and National Geographic for more than two decades. Since September 11, 2001, Addario has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen and Syria, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. In 2015, American Photo Magazine named Lynsey as one of five most influential photographers of the past 25 years, saying she changed the way we saw the world's conflicts.

Addario is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur fellowship, an Overseas Press Club's Olivier Rebbot Award, two Emmy nominations and her recent honor of a Polk award for her Ukraine coverage in 2022. She was part of The New York Times team awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for reporting out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. She holds three honorary doctorate degrees for her professional accomplishments from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bates College in Maine and the University of York in England.

Addario is the author of The New York Times best-selling memoir, It's What I Do (Penguin Random House), which chronicles her personal and professional life as a photojournalist coming of age in the post-9/11 world. A limited series is currently being written and produced by Paramount and Studio 101 on Addario’s life, based on the book. In 2018, she released her first solo collection of photography Of Love and War, published by Penguin Press.

“It was an honor to share my work with so many people who came to the Masters Series exhibition last fall, to bring awareness to issues I’ve been covering for decades, like humanitarian crises, refugees and violence against women. I am looking forward to returning to SVA, this time to address a generation of young artists who will embark on their post-college careers,” Addario said.

As the keynote speaker for SVA’s commencement exercises, Addario 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, Comics, 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 41,000 alumni from 128 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. For information about the College’s 31 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, visit sva.edu.