Vault Festival closes after funding for new venue falls through

London’s Vault Festival has announced its closure after failing to secure principal funding to open a new central London venue.

The festival's new home was due to open later this year, but without funding the organisation said it is unable to continue operating with staff facing redundancy. Andy George, Vault CEO, Director and co-founder, said the organisation was “devastated” and “grieving” that the festival was closing after 12 years.

He added: “We had an exceptional team, we had a fantastic new home, and we had the vision of how to get there. To come so close but ultimately fall short is agonising.”

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The theatre and performance festival began life in 2012 as a one-off project and went on to host 3,000 shows from more than 12,000 artists, reaching nearly half a million audience members.

Working with new writers, actors, directors, comedians and other performers, festival alumni include playwright Ella Hickson, actor George Mackay, comedian and actress Desiree Burch, and the comic and presenter Joe Lycett.

In February 2023 the festival lost its original site at The Vaults, a theatre and creative space underneath Waterloo Station. In November  it announced plans to move into a new central London venue and was set to return as two five-week annual events taking place in the Spring and Autumn.

The new venue, which was due to be fully accessible, was being designed by production and stage designer Rebecca Bower, whose previous work includes the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

Sustainable future

Vault Creative Arts, the charity behind the festival, said that staff affected by redundacy had been notified.

The charity’s Chair, Nathan Woodhead, said: “Vault Creative Arts was created to give the best possible chance for a sustainable future of Vault Festival; a mission which has been tirelessly pursued over the past few years by our team.

“The actions taken to streamline our operations are a devastating and unavoidable step.”

The charity plans to continue operating its Waterloo venue, The Glitch.

Woodhead added: “Today isn’t a time to look too far ahead, our immediate focus will be to support the team and continue to deliver on our charitable objectives at our arts and community hub, The Glitch.”