Village Underground Competitors

The Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre and the heart of London’s cultural life. We exist to present great cultural experiences that bring people together and we achieve this by providing the space for artists to create and present their best work and by creating a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual and eye-opening work. We want to take people out of the everyday, every day. Occupying a prominent riverside location that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames, our site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as being home to the National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. It is also home to six Resident Orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra).

The Roundhouse is a hub of inspiration where artists and emerging talent create extraordinary work and where young people can grow creatively as individuals. We believe in the power of creativity to change lives. By giving young people the chance to engage with the arts through our music, media and performance projects, we inspire them to reach further, dream bigger, and achieve more. We do this because we believe creativity gives us freedom, hope and has the power to transform. So we’re here to transform. To create, agitate and excite. To shake things up. Each year, we give thousands of 11–25-year-olds the chance to develop their skills and confidence through creativity – in music, media or the performing arts. We help them find new perspectives and new directions. Whether it’s helping someone get into education, or out of a rut. Or supporting their early career in the arts. Whatever the spark, we nurture it into a flame that can change everything. Creativity drives change drives creativity drives change drives… The Roundhouse is one of the most incredible live performance spaces in the world where the biggest names in music, theatre, circus and spoken word take to the stage every day. A former railway engine repair shed, the Grade II* listed building was transformed into a groundbreaking performing arts venue 50 years ago, and we have welcomed legendary artists from all over the world to perform in our unique spaces.

Alexandra Palace is a venue like no other and has been innovating and entertaining visitors since 1873. Boasting six incredible event spaces with capacities ranging from 100 - 10,000 and set within 196 acres of parkland, with some of the best panoramic views of London, the iconic venue also has an international-sized ice rink. The venue allows plenty of room for creativity through its flexible infrastructure. As the ultimate blank canvas, it offers a remarkable space for conferences, exhibitions, experiential events, concerts, product launches, fashion shows and filming. Alexandra Palace was first opened 150 years ago having been designed as the ‘Palace of the People’, to provide entertainment and recreation for the masses. Today the Park and Palace are run by a charity – the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust – which continues this mission by hosting a programme of culture, leisure and learning, as well as continuing to care for and restore the listed Palace and award-winning park.