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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
William Mata

Know Taylor Swift all too well? V&A hiring super fan to advise on superstar’s fandom

If you’re a Swiftie in the top one per cent of Spotify listeners then the V&A might have a job for you - but you’ll need to know your Karma from your cardigan.

The London museum is recruiting super fans of subjects ranging from Taylor Swift herself, to indie records much cooler than hers and to niche interests such as Crocs.

Nine die-hard fans will come on board to represent their specialist subject as an advisor as the Victoria and Albert (V&A) puts together new collections.

Subjects requiring experts are Crocs, drag culture, tufting and emojis as well as Ms Swift herself. These experts will advise alongside already-appointed experts in Gorpcore, Lego, Toby jugs, and Pokémon card culture.

(Doug Peters / PA)

Dr Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: "The V&A is the home of creativity, and today we are looking to the British public to share their collections and knowledge with us. 

“These new advisory roles will help us 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.”

The positions are appointed on a zero-hour contract and will be part-time. 

The V&A is recruiting after finding that 44 per cent of Brits consider items in their own niche collections as worthy of a place in a museum. 

More than one quarter (27 per cent) of British collectors believe they know more about their chosen passion than the experts, and 19 per cent consider that knowledge to be world-class. 

One of the previous recruits is Bob Moores, who has given his advice on the back of being a Toby jug super fan.

He said: “I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to turn my love of collecting early English Toby jugs into my full-time job. 

“I acquired my first Toby jug some 25 years ago and, since then, have developed an absolute passion for these quintessentially English jugs and being allowed to work alongside the experts in this field at the V&A is a privilege and being paid to do so is an added bonus!”

For more information and to apply, visit www.vam.ac.uk/vacancies

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