The Vagina Museum launches crowdfunder to move into new home in Bethnal Green

In order to reopen in Bethnal Green, the museum needs to raise an additional £43,000 by early June

The Vagina Museum, the world’s first museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy, has announced it needs to raise a total of £85,000 to move into a new home in Bethnal Green. 

In five weeks the museum has raised just over £42,000 but the remaining £43,000 must be raised by early June for it to move into the new premises. 

The Vagina Museum says that it has found the perfect new home in a twin pair of railway arches with room for three galleries, an events space and the possibility of expanding to provide a cafe. 

The exact location of the new premises has not been disclosed but it is within a five-minute walk of the museum’s old location on Victoria Park Square in Bethnal Green. 

If the museum raises enough money to obtain the new premises, it will be there on a secure six-year lease. It is also in the process of applying for grant funding for future exhibitions. 

Florence Schechter, Director of the Vagina Museum said: ‘Our financial modelling for our new home indicates that we will be in a secure, self-sustaining position, but in order to get to that point we urgently need a substantial cash injection.

‘Things have been touch-and-go for an emerging museum in a pandemic and a cost of living crisis and we have so far risen to every challenge we have faced … we have every reason to be optimistic that we will meet this target.’

The Vagina Museum moved into a property guardianship in Bethnal Green in March 2022 after being forced to close its original Camden Market site in 2021 due to the pandemic. 

In February 2023, the Vagina Museum was suddenly and unexpectedly asked to vacate its premises at Victoria Park Square under the terms of property guardianship. 

The museum, which has welcomed over 175,000 visitors since its opening, described the appeal as a ‘now-or-never’ situation. If the target is not reached by June it will have to permanently close.

You can find Go Fund Me campaign at Gofundme.com/f/9um7y.