Look what you made us do: create a Taylor Swift ‘Fanposium’

Look what you made us do: create a Taylor Swift ‘Fanposium’

RMIT University's Taylor Swift ‘Fanposium’ on Sunday 11 February 2024 has sold out within 24 hours.

The free Fanposium at Melbourne’s majestic Capitol Theatre will give the community the chance to hear from leading music and culture experts on the Taylor Swift phenomenon, and to watch the first Australian public screening of the 2020 Miss Americana documentary.

The event has been created by RMIT University as a kick-off to the Swiftposium – a three-day academic conference at the University of Melbourne on Sunday 11-Tuesday 13 February – which attracted more than 400 submissions. The Fanposium, presented by Swiftposium in collaboration with University of Melbourne, will be hosted by RMIT University at The Capitol in Melbourne’s CBD.

Panel experts include fan studies and music industry researchers, Dr Catherine Strong (RMIT) and Dr Liz Giuffre (UTS), and one of Australia's most renowned music writers, Cameron Adams, who recently produced the ‘Taylor Swift – Eras’ special on his Behind The Hits podcast.

But with Taylor Swift analysis not just confined to academia, Fanposium will also feature presentations from fans, selected from the Swiftposium conference submissions.

Professor Lisa Given, one of the organisers and Director of RMIT’s Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, is thrilled to announce the Fanposium.

“Fanposium will kick off a week-long carnival of Taylor Swift events in the lead up to Taylor Swift herself at the Eras tour concerts in Melbourne,” said Given.

“We have some of the world’s leading experts in music and pop culture in Melbourne.

“Fanposium will give fans and anyone interested an opportunity to engage in analysis from academics and people in the music industry who can offer a behind-the-scenes look at Swift’s legacy.”

Taylor Swift Fanposium - Kate Pattison in the Capitol Theatre Fan studies expert Kate Pattison will be hosting the Fanposium expert panel discussion at The Capitol.

RMIT fan studies expert, Kate Pattison, who is one of the only people globally doing a PhD on Taylor Swift, will host the Fanposium panel.

Pattison’s research looks at how participation in pop music fandoms – like Taylor Swift’s – can be beneficial in other areas of life, such as the workplace.

“A few decades ago, fans were often seen as hysterical. Our understanding of fandom and the productivity and impacts of fans is now better understood and respected,” said Pattison.

“Taylor Swift is absolutely dominating the cultural conversation right now, and people are interested to know why. From the Eras tour to her re-recordings, she’s more popular than ever. She’s already broken a number of records and is showing no signs of slowing down.

“This offers a fantastic opportunity for researchers, who often study pop cultural phenomena retrospectively. Right now, there are people studying her from many angles, including the economic impacts of her tour, fan engagement and marketing, advocacy, gender, song writing and more.

“She is such an interesting subject for discussion, and I can’t wait to share those conversations with the Swifties and anyone else who wants to come along to Fanposium.”

Free tickets became available on Monday 8 January and sold out within 24 hours. Join the waitlist here.

09 January 2024

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09 January 2024

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