Vagina Musuem launches crowdfunder to secure its future following ‘insurmountable’ rent increase
The world’s first museum dedicated to gynecological anatomy successfully crowdfunded its Bethnal Green location in 2023, but is again under threat due to rent prices.
The world’s first bricks-and-mortar museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy has launched an emergency crowdfunding appeal.
The museum says that it is one month away from permanent closure without urgent financial support to raise £60,000.
The museum was previously forced to shut its doors at a former east London location in February 2023 when its property guardianship came to an end.
After exceeding an £85,000 fundraising target donated by over 2500 people, the museum moved to a new, bigger location in Bethnal Green on 4 November 2023. But its current home in a two-storey brick building under railway arches on Poyser Street is under threat again due to rent prices.
Zoe Williams, Director of the Vagina Museum said: ‘The situation is dire. At the end of March, we face an insurmountable rent payment, which our landlords have refused to negotiate, despite knowing our circumstances. Unlike most organisations, we are required to pay rent quarterly rather than monthly pushing us below our minimum reserves limit and leaving us no choice but to close if we cannot secure funding.’
The Vagina Museum opened a new exhibition on 1 March, Menopause: What’s Changed?. Since that date, more than 1700 people have visited a celebration of this common life event which will affect half of the population but which they say is ‘shrouded in taboos and misconceptions’.
The Vagina Museum say they are crowdfunding this exhibition due to a lack of interest from arts and heritage funders.
WIlliams said: ‘Since its founding, the Vagina Museum has been a bold, unapologetic space for education, activism and community. We welcome thousands of visitors every month and reach even more through digital outreach, breaking stigmas and fostering conversations that are often overlooked or silenced. We are a space for learning, community, and celebration. We are not afraid to tackle unpopular, unfundable, taboo, or uncomfortable topics. We stand defiant in a world that needs us, even when it does not always want us.
This is a critical moment. If we do not meet our fundraising target, we will determine how best to use the funds raised—whether to sustain operations for a few more months while seeking longer-term funding or to explore alternative ways to continue our work.’
The museum is taking donations via www.gofundme.com/f/btscc2.
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