V&A East Museum

More than a decade in the planning, V&A East Museum opens on April 18, 2026 as a cornerstone of the East Bank cultural complex in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London. Designed by Irish architecture firm O'Donnell + Tuomey, the five-storey building spans global art, design, fashion, performance, and architecture, with two free permanent "Why We Make" galleries showcasing over 500 objects from the V&A's world-renowned collections. The inaugural exhibition, "The Music is Black: A British Story," explores 125 years of Black music-making in Britain, while eight new commissions by artists including Es Devlin, Tania Bruguera, and Carrie Mae Weems debut across the museum. For anyone who has ever found the original South Kensington V&A overwhelming, this east London outpost offers a sharper, more focused, and deliberately community-rooted way into one of the world's great collections.