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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.

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In Conversation: On the Border of my Peaceful Home

Tue. 24 June 2025 — Wed. 23 December 2026

Graves Gallery

An exhibition curated by artist Kedisha Coakley, bringing together artworks, objects and specimens from Sheffield’s collection to explore the relationship between empire and the trade in fruit and flowers.

Sheffield Indie Book Festival

Sat. 25 April 2026 — Sun. 26 April 2026

New for 26. Celebrating stories, and the shops and publishers who keep them alive. From La Biblioteka, Juno Books, Hillsborough Bookshop, Novel, Graphic Novel Reading Room, Rhyme & Reason, Kelham Island Books & Music, Next Chapter, & Porter Bookshop.

Siân Williams

An artist based at Bloc, whose practice references the feminine and sees seeming irreverence jostle with political poignance.

Lyceum Theatre

From the front, the Lyceum is a candy-coloured palace, while inside, the gold swirls of its proscenium arch and its elaborate Edwardian fittings only add to the fairytale feel. The theatre is big on West End musicals, panto and opera.