About

Happy Birthday RVT is a creative research project that celebrates the Royal Vauxhall Taverns’ historic importance as a site for LGBT culture, innovation in entertainment and influence on wider British popular culture. Framed around the venue’s 151st birthday, it will enable participants to have the opportunity to share, reflect on and learn about the last 60 years of social change for LGBT people, and how this has affected attitudes and changed lives in the UK.

Through the project, we will be collecting oral histories from a wide range of people with connections to the RVT, making a short film, collaborating with Duckie’s Youth Group on a performance based on the research, and creating a pop-up exhibition mapping key events at the RVT, the Vauxhall community and LGBT history.

Happy Birthday RVT has been developed by Artist Collective Re-Dock, in partnership with the RVT, Duckie, BAC and Lambeth Archives. It has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), through their Sharing Heritage Programme.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

Sharing Heritage is for any not-for-profit group wanting to explore their community’s heritage. With a commitment from HLF of £3m each year, Sharing Heritage grants between £3,000 and £10,000 are now available to groups who want to discover their local heritage.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places or archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported almost 35,000 projects with more than £5.3bn across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk