Main Purpose
The Senior Curator will be responsible for leading the delivery of all curatorial aspects of an innovative Public Network experience, taking visitors to the heart of the Storehouse and revolutionising access to the V&A’s stored collections. As an innovator and critical thinker, they will lead in developing new curatorial approaches for interpreting the collection, testing new methodologies, and developing the narratives that will underpin V&A East Storehouse visitor experience and gallery displays. Working with curators and other specialists across the organisation, they will develop a new approach for displaying and interpreting the collection through the Public Network experience.
The Senior Curator is also responsible for curatorial planning for circulation areas, including the annual Welcome Entrance Commission, entrance bridge, pop-up interventions in the Collections Hall, conservation overlook, object viewing rooms and creative studios. They will also work closely to deliver curatorial elements of various key East workstreams and on the planning and delivery of higher education academic partnerships, jointly taught MAs and research collaborations with V&A Research Institute.
The postholder will also support the delivery and complex planning for the realisation of the visitor and operational experience and will support the strategic development of the overarching vision and content of V&A East public programme, interim projects, research initiatives and acquisitions strategy.
Key Work:
- Lead on the development and delivery of the Public Network experience across all four levels of the V&A East Storehouse, overseeing all research and content management as required, and co-devising design briefs, interpretation strategy and user experience plans.
- Lead curatorial practice innovation and devise new approaches to interpreting and experiencing V&A collections, delivering on V&A Strategic Objectives and V&A East vision, audience targets and KPIs.
- Oversee collaboration with Collections Care and Access divisions, developing new methodologies to ensure that the vision of Storehouse as a rapidly-changing, authentic museum store is realized.
- Working in collaboration with V&A East Interpretation, Learning and Outreach leads, to co-deliver audience research and co-production projects, deliver pilot projects such as displays and public programs to test and evaluate different collaborative methods and narrative approaches, ensuring these are responsive to the needs and interests of target audiences in East London.
- Lead in developing new approaches to interpreting V&A collections, taking a broad thematic lens, test new narrative approaches in audience consultation and pilot projects, and disseminate research in the field via conferences, teaching, interim events, publications, digital platforms.
- Lead the development and delivery of a rolling program of collection displays in the three V&A East Storehouse Galleries, working in collaboration with the Project Team and wider collection colleagues.
- Lead the curatorial development and delivery of the six Large Object installations, devising innovative displays and interpretative approaches. Assist the project team in the delivery of the Large Object installations, providing key project and research support as and when required in line with project deadlines.
- Lead on building and coordinating cross-departmental working groups / advisor networks to inform collection research and identify opportunities for collaboration across the V&A family of sites.
- Provide strong, creative, and inspirational leadership for the V&A East Storehouse curatorial team, mentoring junior colleagues, researchers and encouraging new ways of working and an agile approach, to be able to respond quickly and effectively to new opportunities, promoting scholarship while running the new operation effectively as part of the multisite V&A family.
- Work with our digital and marketing teams to think creatively about how content from V&A East and the Storehouse can be delivered through various digital and social media channels.
- Contribute to and lead on content planning where appropriate to future V&A East publications.
Management
- Manage Assistant Curators, the Curatorial Coordinators, and other staff as recruited, allocating work based on knowledge, skills, available time and resources, providing clear instructions and specifications, recognising achievement and performance, providing team members with regular feedback and coaching and celebrating success.
- Manage and direct the work of project researchers, visiting fellows and OPA assistants (researchers, producers) during required phases of project delivery.
Capital Project Development
- Act as Curatorial Lead for V&A East Storehouse Public Network design development and delivery, working in close collaboration with the V&A East Project Director and wider Project team, external architects, consultants and internal designers.
- Lead the strategic planning of curatorial timelines for the research and development of the Public Network and coordinate with the wider Public Network Working Group. Take responsibility for curatorial milestones and deadlines, collaborating with the V&A East Project Team to ensure plans for the Public Network are delivered on time and on budget.
- Collaborate with the Order an Object experience, service and bespoke designers to ensure that their work is integrated and enriching the curatorial vision of the Public Network
- Develop curatorial and research funding bids with the Development Team, as required, and contribute to delivering tours, presentations, special events for patrons, prospects, as required.
- Lead on curatorial input for CCA operational modelling for V&A East Museum displays, informing robust planning for multi-site operations.
- Support the Chief Curator, V&A East Director and Deputy Director with forward planning for the V&A East public programme and associated budgets, contributing to planning for V&A East public programme delivery and ensuring strategic objectives, audience targets and KPIs are met.
