Key details
Date
- 24 September 2025
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 1 minute
The Royal College of Art (RCA) has awarded acclaimed musician Nick Cave with an Honorary Doctorate, the highest recognition the College can bestow upon an individual to celebrate exceptional accomplishment.
Key details
Date
- 24 September 2025
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 1 minute
The Honorary Doctorate from the world’s leading art and design university was presented by Chancellor of the RCA, Sir Jony Ive, in a convocation ceremony at the iconic Royal Festival Hall on 23 September, where over a thousand students graduated from the RCA in the fields of Design and Communication.
In an address to the graduates, Nick Cave said: “Through my associations with art students I’ve learnt a lot about the nature of art. Not just about the idea of perseverance, and application, and showing up, but rather something about the concept of authenticity. I learnt that art itself and in my case songwriting has a remarkable ability to be able to reach inside us and to reveal our true nature.”
He then went on to say “I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for this great honour. And to congratulate everyone here. We are the guardians of the soul of the world. And this role is extremely acutely necessary at this time. So go forth.”
This year, the Royal College of Art has also bestowed the following Honorary Fellowships:
- Sunil Gupta
- Professor Rachel Cooper OBE (posthumously)
- Marion Deuchars
- Dr Sigrid Rausing
- Ed Williams