This website uses cookies. Read more about our cookie/privacy policy.

Accept and Close

The Sheffield culture guide written by in-the-know locals

Migration Matters Festival

Migration Matters 2024, photo by Smart Banda

In 2007 Sheffield became the UK’s first City of Sanctuary – a place that welcomes asylum-seekers and refugees, that offers a hand to people in need of safety. Held around Refugee Week each June, Migration Matters Festival is a celebration of diversity and the positive impact migration and refugees have in Sheffield.

The festival launched in 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum and Syrian refugee crisis. Each year the Migration Matters programme brings communities together over fantastic, globe-spanning variety of theatre, music, dance, workshops, exhibitions, and more.

Come back soon for dates and details of Migration Matters 2026.

You might also like...

Children's Media Conference

Tue. 7 July 2026 — Thu. 9 July 2026

Showroom

The UK’s premier event for everyone in kids TV, media and entertainment. With a free exhibition, Playground, bringing together interactive digital art and maker activities for children to play with.

Madeline Shann

Madeline Shann is a theatre maker, choreographer and writer whose work meets anxiety and absurdity with a mixture of laughter and fury. We got to know Madeline ahead of her 2019 solo show, Here's Looking at UKIP.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival

Fri. 15 May 2026 — Sat. 23 May 2026

Playhouse

Nine days of intimate and inviting classical music performances for all ages. The 2026 event includes a performance of collaborative work by Morton Feldman and Samuel Beckett, an opera for children, a day of music and walking in the Peaks, and more.

Ashley Holmes

An artist with a multitude of interests – music, film, visual arts, archiving – investigating social and political histories, and exploring the ways that stories of Black people in Britain are told.