New V&A Museum aimed at Gen Z is coming to London

(Image credit: Peter Kelleher, V&A Museum)

published 5 November 2025

The opening date for a major new London museum has been announced. V&A East will be open to visitors from April 18th, 2026.

It will join the V&A East Storehouse, home to an epic collection of David Bowie memorabilia, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The key question: What is V&A East all about? Like the other full-blown V&A museums, its remit won’t be narrow, but the aim it to appeal to a Gen Z audience, and to host exhibitions with a focus on multiculturalism.

V&A East’s first exhibition will be The Music is Black: A British Story. It will look at how black music “shaped British culture from 1900 to the present day” and feature items from Joan Armatrading and Little Simz. And loads more, no doubt, given how much cultural content there is to work with here.

The exhibition is part of a collaboration with BBC Music that will also see the The Music is Black Festival take place on the site. Date and details are TBC on that one.

Three items from the V&amp;A East collection.

These temporary exhibitions will have paid-for tickets attached, set to go on sale in early 2026, but entry to the V&A East’s permanent collection will be free.

There are two such galleries, home to “over 500 objects” from the wider V&A Collection.

Among these picks are a Molly Goddard Daria dress, worn by Beyonce as part of her Black is King project, Althea McNish’s African Caribbean-inspired fabric designs and outfits by Vivienne Westwood.

Some of the items on show will be making such an appearance for the first time too, including pieces by Yinka Ilori, Bisila Noha and Yasmeen Lari.

V&A East itself is large. It’s a five-storey building designed by architect duo O'Donnell + Tuomey, and it sits a handful of minutes’ walk from the V&A East Storehouse, which opened at the end of May 2025.

Its headline-grabbing David Bowie Centre is currently sold out, but you can sign up for ticket updates over at the V&A East Storehouse website.

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Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.

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