The Victoria and Albert Museum has posted a job listing for a “Superfan Advisor” on all things Taylor Swift.
The London museum is hoping that the advisor will help it to “learn more about our collection at the V&A as well as the current cultural trends that will inform the future of museum collecting.” The job description document for the role describes how the V&A is “always looking to learn more about our collection, whilst acting as cultural trendspotters on what to collect next.” They institution wants to hear “about your hyper niche interest and why it is important to the history of Art and Design, and the future of creativity.”
Swifties are just one group the V&A are interested in onboarding as part of the mission to expand its understanding of its current collection. Other superfans being sought out include “an encyclopaedia of Emojis,” “a connoisseur of Crocs,” “a tufting trailblazer,” and a “Drag devotee.” Five Superfan Advisors will be recruited in total during this window.
The job listing on the V&A website explains that the zero-hour contract has “competitive incentives” as part of its salary including a Membership to the museum, and that the successful candidate will have “reasonable travel costs to the museum” covered. The superfans will meet with curatorial experts at the V&A to discuss their interests, and will “have the chance to go behind the scenes at the V&A to view relevant items from the collection.” The application form asks applicants about their own collections and what makes them the “ultimate superfan.”
The V&A’s director, Tristram Hunt, said that the new roles will help the museum to “celebrate and discover more about the enormous, and often surprising, creative diversity on offer at the V&A, as well as helping us to learn more about the design stories that are relevant to our audiences today.” Four similar positions were already filled when the museum sought out superfans of Pokemon cards, Lego, Gorpcore clothing, and Toby jugs.
Taylor Swift released her debut album in 2006 when she was just 16-years-old and is now a billionaire estimated to be worth $1.1 billion by Forbes. The Pennsylvanian singer-songwriter is currently traveling around world on her Eras Tour. Consisting of 151 shows across five continents, the Eras Tour became the first concert tour to ever surpass $1 billion in revenue. She has won 14 Grammys, 40 Billboard Music Awards, and a Primetime Emmy, and was Time Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year.
This January, Harvard University launched their Taylor Swift and Her World course, which was immediately filled by 300 students and a long waitlist grew for places. Matthew Jordan, a musician from Toronto, became one of professor Stephanie Burt’s teaching assistants and told Artnet News of the cultural impact of Taylor Swift: “Taylor is an enormous cultural figure because she is at once a generational songwriter, a charismatic celebrity, a barrier-breaking businesswoman, and a methodical brand curator. She is both relatable and inaccessible; authentic and crafted. In these contradictions, she becomes a figure worthy of scholarly study.”
The V&A’s job posting is set to close on March 7, but the institution maintains the right to end its search early, considering its popularity.