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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Art
Film

Eelyn Lee

An artist and filmmaker, exploring race, identity and ‘othering’, and challenging commonly accepted narratives of past, present and future.

Henny Penny: A Children's Opera

Sat. 23 May 2026

Playhouse

A children's opera telling the folk tale of a young chicken who believes the sky is falling when an acorn lands on its head. Composed by Julian Phillips and performed live for the very first time, with a choir of Sheffield primary children.

Workshop: Pigment & Paint Making - Colours inspired by John Ruskin

Sat. 31 January 2026

Millennium Gallery

Join artist and pigment specialist Lucy Mayes for a hands-on exploration of historical colour, inspired by John Ruskin’s 19th-century palette.

Western Bank Library

A modernist beauty that makes us envy students for all the hours they get to spend here.

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