Vault Festival secures future with launch of central-London venue

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Vault Festival. Photo: Vault

Vault Festival bosses have secured the future of the event with the creation of a new venue in the centre of London.

It follows a "tumultuous" four years including Covid cancellations and the closure of its previous home in the tunnels at Waterloo.

Vault will open its multi-venue space in London’s zone one in spring next year, ahead of staging its Vault Festival comeback in the autumn of 2024.

It comes after Vault earlier this year marked the end of its decade-long festival run in spaces around Waterloo, after its landlord ended the organisation’s tenancy to pursue more commercial projects.

It also had to previously cancel the 600 shows programmed for its 2022 festival, due to the continuing impact of Covid-19’s Omicron variant.

Vault Festival director and co-founder Andy George last year told The Stage it had been a "tumultuous" few years for the showcase, adding: "There have been many times when the story of Vault Festival could have ended."

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Now, organisers have announced they will transform a "vacant space" in the capital into a "thriving artistic hub", and are currently fundraising for access equipment to ensure venue inclusivity. The Vault team announced the organisation was to participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge, setting an initial goal of £9,925 to be matched by Big Give for a total of £19,850.

Donations will be used to equip the venue with access tools such as hearing loop systems, captioning software and audio description devices.

Meanwhile, Vault will also host its inaugural fundraising gala one year to the day since the doors closed on its 2023 festival, on March 19 2024 at Shoreditch Town Hall.

George said: "We are pumped to have found a new home for Vault following a challenging few years. The fact we are still alive and kicking, and with a very bright future ahead, is very much thanks to the love and support we have received from artists and audiences who are as determined as we are to keep the mission of Vault alive.

"One of our non-negotiables for our new home was ensuring we have step-free access so more people can enjoy the work of our wonderful artists. But we don’t want to stop there. We want to install access tools throughout the building so that artists and audiences who are D/deaf, deafened or living with sight loss can enjoy everything we and our artists do. We want to champion a world that is accessible by default, not by exception."

He added: "We are so excited for what the future of Vault holds and with the support of funds raised by The Big Give Christmas Challenge, we can ensure this new era of Vault is accessible for as many people as possible."

Further details about the new venue, including its exact location and creative programming, will be announced in the spring next year.