The Vagina Museum, in Bethnal Green, launched an emergency appeal on March 12 to raise £60,000 – and avoid shutting for good.
When the GoFundMe appeal was set up, the museum said it was “one month away from closing – forever”.
The museum – dedicated to educating and breaking taboos around vaginas, vulvas, and gynaecological anatomy – was set to close its doors due to an “insurmountable rent payment”.
Its director Zoe Williams claimed the museum’s landlord, the Arch Company, “refused to negotiate” on the rent “despite knowing our circumstances”.
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Ms Williams said: “The situation is dire.
“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 shop (Image: Vagina Museum 2024)
The museum’s GoFundMe appeal has raised £73,634 from more than 2,000 donations at the time of writing.
An update on the GoFundMe page on March 17 said it had “raised enough to save the Vagina Museum in the immediate future” – but that it was extending its goal to £100,000.
The update said: “The real work starts now.
“We’ve been doing this for years on a shoestring budget with just about enough staff to keep functioning.
“There’s no room to grow. No room to thrive.
“So we’ve extended our target to our stretch goal.
“This is no longer about surviving, but about being able to thrive in a world with so many forces still against us.”
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The museum added that it is “battered from all sides” by threats to reproductive rights, women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, and the arts and culture sector.
It opened its permanent location in Poyser Street, Bethnal Green, in November 2023, after running pop-up exhibitions and locations for six years.
It welcomes thousands of visitors each month, according to the director, and has reached many more through its digital education.
The Arch Company did not respond to this paper’s request for comment.
