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Join the world's premier art and design museum as a full-time Curator of Theatre and shape the narrative of performing arts history
Overview
Salary
£33764 - £39391
Location
Cromwell Road, London
Expires
Expires at anytime
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is a global leader in art and design, boasting a vast collection that encapsulates over 5,000 years of human expression. With its unparalleled resources, the V&A serves as a hub for the study of various artistic disciplines, cementing its status as the UK’s National Collection of Performing Arts. The museum is recognized for preserving and exhibiting national collections across a multitude of artistic domains including architecture, fashion, textiles, photography, and more.
- Manage and research the Theatre and Performance Collections
- Develop public interpretation and engagement strategies for nineteenth-century theatre and other performance forms
- Address and re-contextualize historical material within the collection
- Represent the museum at national and international levels
- Collaborate across the museum and contribute to policy and department management
- Interest in nineteenth-century theatre and its evolution to modern day
- Capability to address and strategize the presentation of sensitive historical materials
- Commitment to representation and active participation in the theatre and performance field
- Willingness to engage in fundraising and income generation for the department
The Role We are seeking to appoint a full-time, permanent Curator of Theatre. The post-holder will form part of the team responsible for the care, research, display, and interpretation of the Theatre and Performance Collections and form part of the wider curatorial team in the Department of Performance, Furniture, Textiles and Fashion.
The successful candidate will have an interest in nineteenth-century theatre and the evolution of drama, circus, comic opera, melodrama and puppetry, amongst other popular performance forms, to the present day. A significant aspect of their role will be confronting problematic material from the period in the collection and devising a strategy of how to contextualise this through a range of public interpretation and engagement initiatives.
The Theatre and Performance Collections are dedicated to the history, craft and practice of the performing arts both live and recorded. Their emphasis is on drama, dance, music, popular entertainment and film. Founded in 1924 by Gabrielle Enthoven, the collection constitutes one of the oldest and most significant in the world. It is widely acknowledged as the UK’s National Collection of Performing Arts.
The postholder will be expected to represent the museum at the highest level and play an active role in the field of theatre and performance both nationally and internationally. As a member of PFTF Department, the postholder will also play a role in the wider work of the V&A, contributing to policy, supporting fundraising /income generation, and assisting senior colleagues in the running of the Department, including creating a positive environment, encouraging collaboration across the museum, contributing to change, and sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice.
The V&A The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects, books and archives that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.
Benefits Generous pension scheme 29 days plus bank holidays Flexible working Tickets to V&A exhibitions Subsidised staff canteen 25% discount in V&A shops Give as you earn scheme Bicycle loan Interest-free season ticket Interest-free rental deposit loan Free safety checks and small repairs to your bike with Doctor Bike Wide range of training and professional development opportunities Employee Assistance Programme Staff diversity networks
