Eugene Darkwah

Village Underground is a multidisciplinary venue presenting live concerts and electronic music events alongside theatre, performing arts and visual arts. VU also plays host to commercial events, the revenue of which is put back into the artistic programme. Each year, VU has an attendance of over 150,000 people, stages more than 500 performances and works with more than 1500 artists. Atop the venue, four recycled Jubilee line trains and shipping containers make up the creative workspaces of Village Underground. These uniquely renovated spaces accommodate up to 30 artists, playwrights, filmmakers, architects, photographers, producers and start ups working side-by-side in a creative community. Village Underground started in 2006, with the aim of building affordable studios for creative people who were struggling to get a foothold in London. Four tube carriages and two shipping containers were converted into co-working spaces. A few months later, the perfect location was found: the top of an old railway viaduct in the middle of Shoreditch, East London. Great Eastern street was closed for the day and they were hoisted into position by crane. Next to the viaduct was an old Victorian warehouse which had been a coalstore for the railway but had fallen into disrepair. We put a roof on it, cleared out the rubbish, sandblasted the walls and laid down a floor to transform it into the venue that we have now. The main renovations took place over a year, just in time for opening in April 2007. Nowadays, our mission is to present the best new culture as it happens and to transform people’s perceptions through inspirational experiences.