www.migrationmattersfestival.co.uk
We turn 10!
It is with enormous pride that I welcome you to our 2025 edition. Who would have thought that a soulful little festival which started in one venue featuring 20 events in 2016 would blossom into a 25-venue, 60-event city wide programme all these years later? At a time when arts funding is precarious and there is such hostility towards the most vulnerable in society, this year we celebrate resilience.
This year’s Refugee Week theme of ‘Community as a Superpower’ could not speak more to how this festival has grown over the last 10 years. We are indebted to Sheffield’s communities who have informed and inspired each of these 10 festival programmes. Time and time again, our communities have been defiant in the face of oppressive forces that have scapegoated migrant communities, refugees, sanctuary seekers and those from the global majority.
We also want to take this moment to pay tribute to our 2024 headliner Amadou Bagayoko who sadly passed away in April. With his wife Mariam they brought their glorious Afro-beat sound to the world for five decades.
For 2025, we have cooked some truly unbelievable acts. After years of trying, we are over the moon to welcome Nadine Shah (p27), the Mercury Prize nominated singersongwriter to the Foundry this June. In a year of milestones, the festival is also overjoyed to welcome Asian Dub Foundation (p21) who are gracing the Foundry floor to celebrate 30 years of their dub-inspired electronic sound.
Over at Sheffield Theatres we welcome festival favourites Ghost and John who bring their latest show ‘Two Plant Gaysians’ (p24) and the challenges of being two queer migrants living in London. We will also feature a sensational night of comedy in the Crucible headlined by the outrageous talent that is Fatiha El-Ghorri joined by a star-studded lineup of comedians (p17).
This year the festival welcomes two fantastic guest curators in Wero Dwornik and South Yorkshire’s own Rumbi Tauro, who have brought refreshing, urgent programme strands to our audiences this year (see p4 for more details).
I’m so grateful for our incredible festival team who have given everything year in, year out to deliver an excellent programme and where would we be without our returning and new volunteers who are so much a part of our festival family and who make such a difference to making the festival experience meaningful.
A big shout out to our funders Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, the Evan Cornish Foundation, The Brelms Trust and Sheffield City Council who have shown belief in the impact the festival has on the city.
Sam Holland Director Migration Matters
Festival & Arts on the Run
P5. Exhibitions /Installations
P19. Penguin
P21. Asian Dub Foundation
P24. Two Plant Gaysians
P27. Nadine Shah
P28. Mini Migmat
P32. Closing Party
P10. Opening Party
P17. Migration Matters Festival Comedy Night
Guest Curators
The festival has been delighted to welcome some new faces to our curators team. Learn more about their programmes and curated programme strands.
Wero Dwornik Gather
Weronika Dwornik is a Polish-Belarusian theatre maker, producer & arts facilitator interested in ways of placing creativity at the heart of community building. Their work is highly collaborative, interdisciplinary and often co-created.
about gather GATHER brings together multidisciplinary works that come alive through collaboration with local people. It is a celebration of collective storytelling & art that facilitates community building.
From Lullabies Project by Vilk Collective, a piece exploring migration and mixed heritage through lullabies from around the world, to two pieces by Gustavo Dias-Vallejo; It Happened Here and Utopiarium, which transform public spaces into sites of memory and collective imagining of a better future - this strand invites communities in Sheffield to share, reflect, and imagine together.
Rumbi Tauro Roots and Routes
Rumbi Tauro is a musical artist and curator based in Manchester, UK. After moving from Zimbabwe to Doncaster when she was five years old, she has always understood that home can be more than one place.
About roots and routes
‘Roots and Routes’ explores the relationship between belonging, migration and everyday life.
Every event has been curated to be an engaging safe environment that allows space for celebration and inquiry. My hope is that this programme is an exchange of knowledge and that it gives space for communities to unite.
Find Rumbi on Instagram and X: @rumbitauro
Please see our ticket breakdown table. For further information please see our website.
GENERAL ADMISSION
Full price tickets for people who can comfortably afford them.
LOW INCOME
Reduced price tickets for people on smaller salaries.
UNWAGED
For anyone who does not have regular work or a stable income.
SOLIDARITY
For people with disposable income who would like entry and to pay a ticket forward for someone else.
Free
Ticket
Free tickets to any event, offered to organisations and individuals supporting refugees, migrants, asylum seekers or those who are financially vulnerable. Tickets are also available for individuals on request. Free tickets are given out on an honesty basis.
We continue to use an ethical ticketing system to ensure our events are well attended and fairly priced.
If you are unable to afford tickets to an event or a festival pass please contact info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk
Festival passes
Coming to multiple festival events? Grab a Migration Matters Festival Pass to see as many of the amazing events as you would like!
When you claim your pass you will be given a code which will allow you to book one free ticket to any event you want to attend.
£30 Unwaged £140 Solidarity Pass
We’d like to thank our friends at Andro & Eve for their consultation and helping adapt our model.
grab your festival pass
For 10 years the festival has proudly supported the most financially vulnerable to access our events without being concerned about cost/price and to enjoy the festival free of worries.
We have been able to keep the festival fairly priced and free for those in need, because of the generosity of people who have donated to the organisation. If you want to support the long term sustainability of the festival, please visit our website. We’re grateful for anything you can give.
Exhibitions & Installations
FRAGMENTS OF IDENTITY: PORTRAITS OF MIGRATION
Madeleina Kay
‘Fragments of Identity’ is a series of ten oil portraits, featuring the stories of migrants and refugees. The portraits celebrate the diverse identities of the participants whilst exploring the challenges and hostility migrants too often face. The colour schemes were chosen by the participants to represent and celebrate their identities.
VIBRANT VOICES - SONGS AND STORIES OF SANCTUARY
One World Choir
This photographic exhibition is created by members of Sheffield One World Choir and shines a light on their experience of migration and life in Sheffield. It is combined with a vibrant, choral performance, including original compositions presented at the Exhibitions Launch Party on Monday, 23rd June.
LAYERING MEMORIES.
Phoebe Shu-Ching Chan Event Venue
12:00-17:00
Layering Memories.层叠的记忆 is an interactive installation featuring a tree sculpture crafted from intricate red paper cuts that grows as visitors add their own creations. Beneath this evolving canopy, workshops in traditional Chinese papercutting provide a medium for sharing personal narratives.
See website for workshop details.
Migration Matters Festival
OPENING PARTY What would Migration Matters be without our usual opening party madness
Our spiritual home of three years, SADACCA welcomes us for another special start to our festival programme featuring quality DJs, the boundless energy of Afrodesia, and capping off the evening, a headline performance from the returning Summer Pearl!
Afrodesia
Leeds based Afro-Jazz fusion band Afrodesia has played across many dance floors around the UK.
Hoping to live up to the legacy of the African music giants with the likes of Fela Kuti, Ebo Taylor and Hugh Masekela, just to name a few. Bringing African grooves, burning melodies and the raw energy and beat from the motherland. Fusing the unique music of Africa with jazz, expect to hear influences from Afrobeat to Highlife, Kwela and Kwasa Kwasa. No matter the place or time, the burning groove and hot energy of Afrodesia is sure to bring fire to the dance floor and make your body move!
Summer Pearl
Summer Pearl is a music artist from London, who has been consistent in writing, recording and performing in the UK and around the world since the age of 16.
Known for her care-free live performances and to the point lyrics, Summer Pearl transcends you to a place of soul and truth.
This year has seen Summer sell out the Hackney Social in January, release ‘outmysystem; on vinyl, be in conversation with Gilles Peterson on his Brownswood Basement Worldwide fm show which included a live performance, support Gotts Street Park at their sold out show at Scala, perform at Brick Lane Jazz Festival and grace the main stage at Cross the Tracks Festival.
June 21
MIGRATION MATTERS CONNECTIONS BRUNCH
Livia Barreira
Hosted by Livia Barreira (Living in Sheffield), this brunch will be a diverse, inclusive and safe space for women and non-binary people to meet and connect in a relaxed way, while they share a cup of tea/coffee and a delicious brunch.
The event will feature an open mic for attendees to share information about their projects, businesses, poems and other messages. Delicious food will be provided (free of charge) by chef Sarah from Sheffield-based catering business, Bake Bake Bake.
Please Note: This event is for women and non-binary people only
Event Venue Hagglers Corner Time 11:00
Free 18+
June 21
Networking event
DEAR GUEST…
Side by Side with Open Kitchen Social Club
Dear Guests, Side by Side would like to invite you to join us to celebrate the wedding of... Who are the Bride and Groom again??
Well, we want to invite you anyway! Join us for a twocourse sit down meal (free of charge) with time for stories, music and dancing in between. We can’t guarantee everything will go to plan but you will certainly leave with a full belly and a big smile.
Event Venue
St Andrews United Reform Church Hall Time 13:00
June 21
SANCTUARY ARTISTS WORKSHOP
Annie Anthony Mays
Annie Anthony Mays and the Sanctuary Artists for an arts and crafts workshop at the Sanctuary.
They will be helping craft, make and create in a safe space as part of this welcoming and inclusive Refugee Week arts session.
Event Venue City of Sanctuary Sheffield Time 13:00
June 21
CONTAINER FOR NO-LAND’S SOIL
Taraneh Dana
A hands-on ceramics workshop exploring migration, displacement, and belonging.
Participants will shape small clay pieces, contributing to a collective ‘soil’ for a no-land—an imagined space for shared hopes and reflections on home. Through making and conversation, we’ll explore what it means to belong.
Event Venue The Art House Time 11:00, 13:00, 15:00
Join
IT HAPPENED HERE
Gustavo Dias-Vallejo
It Happened Here is a participatory event/walk where people recall meaningful events in their lives that happened in specific places around a particular area.
Participants guide us through a collective walk, sharing their personal connections with the neighbourhood. In parallel, an exhibition shows photographs, posters, and audio recordings of the stories.
To get involved or learn more about this event, email dwornik.weronika@gmail.com or gusballejo@gmail. com
Event Venue Heeley Insitute Time 14:00
DANCING QUEER
QTIBPOC Cinema Club X Stand & Be Counted Theatre
QTIBPOC Cinema Club and Stand & Be Counted Theatre invite you to queer and decolonise Arabic dance with Shrouk El-Attar’s ‘Dancing Queer’.
Explore the world of dance with Shrouk as she merges her experience as a drag king, belly dancer, engineer and queer refugee. Then keep the party going with a set from DJ Atrialia.
Event Venue
QUEER LENS: FILM SCREENING, COMMUNITY
MEAL & DISCUSSION
QTIBPOC Cinema Club
QTIBPOC Cinema Club invites you for a moving film screening and community meal at Gut Level, open to everyone.
‘Lingua Franca’ by Isabel Sandoval, follows the story of Olivia, a trans woman with undocumented immigration status living in Brooklyn, working as a caregiver and searching for love and security. The screening will be followed by a community meal and optional group discussion. There’s a beautiful upstairs garden balcony for socialising and reflective time.
Please Note: This film includes sex scenes, some swearing, and challenging topics especially on trans issues and immigration controls.
Event Venue Gut Level Time 14:00
DIASPORIDDIM
DJs Disorientalist & Kom Kom
DiaspoRIDDIM is an inclusive genre-defying, border-hopping celebration of the deep connections between migration, identity, and music. Launching this year, this pioneering & eclectic club night will showcase an exciting lineup featuring Chooc Ly, Lyla, Palanca Negra as well as DisOrientalist and Kom Kom whose work is shaped by their own experiences of migration, blending traditional influences with future electronic sounds.
WEAVING LAND JUSTICE
Peaks of Colour with Tatreez Revival
Join us for our June Soma Session: Weaving Land Justice, in collaboration with founder of Tatreez Revival, Muna El-Zeet.
In ‘Weaving Land Justice’ Tatreez Revival will guide us from Palestine to the Peak District, weaving local and global solidarity across our intersecting fights for land justice, through tatreez, the art of Palestinian embroidery.
This session will explore the deep connection between nature, land and the motifs and patterns within tatreez, uncovering how palestinian embroidery can tell stories of history, identity, and resistance.
Please Note: Themes of racial trauma, displacement, genocide, land injustice may be explored in this session
This session is for People of Colour only.
Event Venue
Flying Horse Lawn Time 10:30
Tickets Free 18+
Workshop
BIG SING TO PALESTINE
Small Park Big Run
BIG SING TO PALESTINE is back!
Come and feel the joy of livestreamed mass singalong event in Meersbrook Park to send a moving message of love, solidarity and hope to people in Palestine. Open to all - join with many local choirs, live backing musicians and hundreds of other participants to help bring to a close the 24-hour community event small park BIG RUN.
In a situation where Palestinians have experienced another mass trauma with forced displacement, we want to tell them that they have not and won’t be forgotten. Takes place at Meersbrook Hall.
Event Venue
Meersbrook Park Time 12:00
Tickets Free All Ages
REGISTRATION
Music
stage@leeds Young Company
Nearly one in five of NHS staff report a non-British nationality. What exactly happens to nurses and doctors who migrate to the UK? Registration by the stage@leeds Young Company tells the human stories behind the paperwork. Registration explores migration, stigma, and the complex issue of who can register to be a healthcare professional in the UK.
Event Venue
Soft Ground Time 13:30
Universal Sacred Sounds
USS or Universal Sacred Sounds is a new world
Multi-instrumentalists Mina Salama, Vijay Venkat and Avital Raz cover Arabic, Jewish and Indian music traditions, holding the belief that all genuine spiritual paths lead to the same source just as Indian 16th century poet Tansen says ‘All rivers lead to the sea’ and seek through music to deepen the ties that bond us as human beings.
UtopIarium
Gustavo Dias-Vallejo
What would your Utopia look like? What would you bring and what would you leave?
Utopiarium is a participatory event where people are invited to sit on beach chairs for around 30 minutes and have a conversation with a stranger about different (and better) versions of the future.
Midsummer Festival RivelinCo
ABOUT
RivelinCo’s Midsummer Festival in Hillsborough Park is a huge celebration of creativity and community in North Sheffield, featuring exciting collaborations with artists, performers, and over 40 community partners. Discover theatre, dance, music, heritage, art and crafts, spoken word, outdoor games, football, cycling, puppetry, circus, nature, food and drink, makers market and more!
RivelinCo and Migration Matters are delighted to be working in partnership this year to present all the exciting artists on this page, plus many more!
RivelinCo is a neighbourhood arts centre without walls, based in Hillsborough and working across North Sheffield.
YOUTH THEATRE OF SANCTUARY
Stand & Be Counted’s Youth Theatre of Sanctuary are flexing their superpowers! Grab your capes as we grab the mic. Everyone is welcome to dance along!
& Be Counted Theatre
UKRAINIAN BOUQUET OF SONGS
Mavky
Music
The Ukrainian Mavky folk band’s performance immerses the audience in vibrant traditions, blending heartfelt songs, dynamic dances, and authentic instruments. The artists engage the crowd, creating a shared celebration of Ukrainian culture. Traditional costumes enhance the visual experience, making this an unforgettable, emotionally charged showcase of national identity and heritage.
COMMON THREADS
The Bare Project and Higsad Alool Weavers
Workshop
Join us to weave a front room in the middle of Hillsborough Park using weaving techniques from all over the world! We’ll be working with international weavers and artists to question what kind of city we want to pass on to our daughters, weave and take up space together.
ROMANO JILO DANCE GROUP
Dance
Romano Jilo Dance Group performs traditional Romani dance sequences in small groups. The Romani dance routines are performed to traditional Roma music originating from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Spain. The performers wear traditional costumes reflecting Roma culture. The dances are very energetic, vibrant and colourful.
FROM HEART TO HEART
Ukrainian School Band (USB)
Music
Ukrainian School Band (USB) has emerged as a heartwarming initiative in Nottingham, UK, in response to the aftermath of war, when a wave of Ukrainian children sought refuge in the area. These young souls needed a safe space to express their emotions, share their experiences, and forge new friendships with peers facing similar circumstances.
A MORNING IN THE FLOWER GARDEN
Bloom Sheffield
Join Bloom at their community flower garden for women and non-binary people for a morning of seed sowing, gardening and enjoying the outdoors. Bloom Sheffield is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes positive mental health through therapeutic horticulture. Bloom’s gardens are safe and welcoming places to reconnect with nature, meet like-minded people, and grow.
Please note: This location is not accessible by wheelchair
Event Venue Heeley & Meersbrook Allotments Time 10:30
CHINESE PARENTS DON’T SAY I LOVE YOU
Candice Chung, Elliott & Thompson
When you come from a family that doesn’t say ‘I Love You’, where do all the feelings go? Is it possible to let a fried egg replace a hug and or show empathy through a bowl of perfectly cooked noodles?
Food journalist Candice Chung discusses the joys and challenges of learning to read her parents’ coded love language at the dinner table. In moments when words fail us, can food become a placeholder for complicated emotions?
Join Candice as she discusses the food grammar of migrant households in her memoir, CHINESE PARENTS DON’T SAY I LOVE YOU.
CULTURAL COOKING CLUB
Mr Boy Cookery School CIC
Mr Boy Cookery School CIC brings people with lived experience of displacement through forced migration together through food.
We cook together and eat together. While we do this we share our experiences and celebrate who we are. We see food as a tool for social change and use it to fight the isolation that we can experience as people separated from our home.
Everyone in the cooking sessions, including the facilitator, has experience of seeking asylum so we all understand something about each other’s situations.
Please note: For people with lived experience of seeking sanctuary, displacement and/ or who have refugee status. Please email info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk if you would like to attend
EXHIBITIONS LAUNCH PARTY
We’re proud to be presenting such diverse work across the festival week. This will be an opportunity to meet and hear from the artists and organisations behind a selection of this year’s exhibits and installations.
There will be free drinks, nibbles and a performance by One World Choir.
FILM BEYOND BORDERS
RAAH / Sheffield Hallam University
A series of films made by creatives from Film Beyond Borders in collaboration with City of Sanctuary, U-Mix, SOS for Sudan, One World Choir, Sheffield Hallam University and RAAH.
Hafiz’s Story tells the inspiring story of a young man’s journey from war torn Sudan across Western Sahara and the Mediterranean to new beginnings in Sheffield.
In Fashion without Borders a community of friends share their passion for fashion and design. In U-Mix a group of football players talk about how their Sheffield club is not just about somewhere for sport, but a place of belonging and friendship.
One World Choir features powerful spoken word poetry, song and stories of strength found through community.
In God’s Embrace tells the story of Peter Bridgen’s struggle for acceptance and healing found through faith and body art.
Please Note: The series of films contains story of displacement due to conflict in Sudan and subsequent harrowing journey.
POETRY AND POT LUCK 3: A TASTE OF HOME
PYP & Poetry on a Plate
Calling all lovers of the pen and the pan!
You are invited to bring a home cooked dish to share with an intimate audience as we enjoy an evening of spoken word.
Our celebration of food, literature and community is inspired by a taste of home, whether your home is 10 minutes or 10 hours away. There’s always something special about home; the place we were born and raised or the place we adopted.
Dish-size recommendation: enough to feed around 4 people. Event Venue
PENGUIN
Hamzeh Al Hussien & Amy Golding
The
I
Asian Dub Foundation
Legendary UK band
Asian Dub Foundation is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year!
Asian Dub Foundation are a genre unto themselves. Their unique combination of jungliest rhythms, dub bass lines and wild guitar overlaid by references to their South Asian roots via militant high-speed rap has established them as one of the best live bands in the world. The story began in the early 90s when ADF formed from a music workshop in East London at the institution which is their spiritual home, Community Music. Their unique beginnings in a music workshop in East London shaped both their sound and their educational aspirations, setting up their own organisation ADF Education (ADFED), plus
instigating campaigns on behalf of those suffering miscarriages of justice.
Building a solid live reputation in the mid-90s, they gained worldwide recognition sharing the stage with Rage Against The Machine, the Beastie Boys, Radiohead and Primal Scream. On record, they’ve collaborated with Radiohead, Sinead O’Connor, Iggy Pop, Adrian Sherwood, and Chuck D. In addition to their blistering live reputation ADF were one of the first bands to experiment with live film re-scores (“Cineconcerts”), beginning with their rapturously received re-interpretation of the French classic La Haine back in 2001.
In 30 years, Asian Dub Foundation have racked up thousands of unforgettable shows, and nine studio albums alongside a social and educational activism that both created the group and sustains them today.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The Writers Workshop, Family Voice and Ammi’s Kitchen
Food connects us to our cultures and communities, providing nourishment and rich smells and tastes that spark memories and stories from our histories.
Join Narimaan Shafi and the team at Family Voice to explore your connection to food, as we use writing prompts and shared recipes to tell our stories, connecting us in the room and beyond.
We’ll make creative booklets to keep, and we’ll share food provided by Ammi’s Kitchen. The workshop is suitable for women who have lived experience of migration, displacement, seeking sanctuary or refugee status, and you do not need to have writing experience.
Please note: If you or your organisation work with global majority women’s groups, please contact workshopwrite@gmail.com for more information about attending this workshop.
THIS JUNGO LIFE
David Fedele, Abubakr Ali
“THIS JUNGO LIFE” takes us deep inside the hidden lives of young refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan and South Sudan, living and sleeping rough on the streets of Morocco.
Produced in collaboration with the refugees themselves, this film provides a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the human spirit and innate drive for survival, as they fight for a better life for themselves and the families they left behind.
ROUTES TO ROOTS: A SOUTH ASIAN HERITAGE PROJECT
Maya Productions
Routes to Routes is a powerful multi-arts performance featuring South Asian voices from Bradford, Sheffield, and Croydon. Using creative workshops, the project explores themes of migration, heritage, and identity to make performances, film, and art.
Come and see the premiere of our short film Routes to Roots: The Story of the Madras Jazz Group.
Event Venue Common Ground Time 12:30 Event Venue
WOMEN OF COLOUR IN THE ARCHIVES
Dig Where You Stand
Women of colour have long been overlooked or marginalised in local archives. Dig Where You Stand seeks to change this. Through our creative development programme, we bring women of colour together, grant access to archives after hours, and help to creatively explore our untold and overlooked stories.
Join our latest community gathering to learn more about this exciting work. Our panel of presenters and performers – all women of colour - will share their experience of exploring local archives, the stories they discovered, and creative responses they produced. This will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Two Plant Gaysians
Meet Ghost and John, a romantic and wholesome pair of gay Asians, living a beautiful life in London while nurturing hundreds of houseplants to fill a certain “hole.”
Ghost and John Bilingual
Is this a migration story? A gay love story? An ecology story?
Ghost and John weave a captivating narrative from the ephemera of home, dancing nimbly with their green babies across the colder voids of displacement and struggle, following the urge of all life to thrive and flourish.
In a world that wants them to be more yangbright, hard and masculine, Ghost and John definitely remain Plant Gaysians. Come and take part in the Plant Gaysian experience!
June 27
HOME AWAY
Ibitayo ‘Tsaint’ Ibikunle/ The Lazy Filmmaker
Home Away is a three part docu-series that digs beneath the surface of migration. What happens when everything you were—your career, your culture, your confidence— gets left at the border?
Through intimate stories, including Ibitayo’s own story, we uncover the silent struggles of starting over, the ache of not belonging, and the hidden strength in rebuilding. From lost dreams to found family, Home Away explores how migrants fight to make a life and a home in a place that wasn’t built for them.
Event Venue
Soft Ground Time 18:00
Tickets £5 | £3 | £1
Film 15+
June 27
CREATIVE NATURE WORKSHOP
Dysbiosis Collective
Join us for a relaxed afternoon exploring nature’s connection to Sheffield.
With support from the Dysbiosis Collective, create a personal response to the theme and collaborate on a group installation, showcased at the Migration Matters Festival.
No prior experience required—just bring your creativity and curiosity!
Event Venue Samuel Worth Chapel Time 14:00
Tickets Free 18+
Workshop
LULLABIES PROJECT VILK COLLECTIVE June 27
This live music performance explores lullabies from different cultures across Sheffield. It will emerge from a collaboration with local communities, in a workshop led by the Vilk Collective.
‘’I’ve been singing Iranian songs as lullabies to my children, and it’s the one moment when I feel this invisible thread connecting me back to my motherland and passing that heritage on to them. It’s also at that moment that my kids might ask me about their grandparents or the landscapes of a country they have never been able to visit.
After speaking to others of mixed heritage who face similar challenges of keeping our mother tongues and cultures alive, I realised I could explore this subject through music, which has no borders, can touch us all and unites us rather than divides us.’’ Roxana Vilk
Event Venue see website Time 17:00
SOLO JOURNEYS:
An evening of performances and film
Event Venue Performance Lab Time 18:30 June 27 Theatre, Dance, Film
BICHU
Abel Atsede with Phosphoros Theatre
‘Bichu’ is an exploration of a lost soul trying to find peace in the storm. The storm leads him towards bottles and pills. A lost person searching for childhood joy, for connection. Abel Atsede brings his experience as a queer, refugee artist to this dance piece, created with Phosphoros Theatre.
TRANSITORY: BETWEEN THE FEMININE AND MASCULINE
Bellas Da Silveira
Transitory is a powerful solo performance by Bellas da Silveira, a trans and Black artist from Brazil. Blending AfroBrazilian and contemporary dance, the piece explores what it means to live between the feminine and the masculine.
Inspired by Bellas’ own journey of gender transition, it challenges expectations around race, gender, and identity. Told through movement and music, Transitory is intimate, emotional, and bold - offering audiences a rare chance to witness a story of transformation, resilience, and joy.
I ABIDE
Cemil Yildiz
I ABIDE immerses the audience in the midst of a Parisian summer in the Aubervilliers quarter. Through the eyes of two women working with the association Coucou Crew, director Cemil Yildiz highlights the experiences of unaccompanied minors living on the streets: forced anonymity, isolation and the daily struggles that come with slipping through the cracks.
Through art, storytelling and theatre, the women and the participants find a path to a new community.
DISORIENTAL: BEATS FROM A BORDERLESS WORLD
Beirut Groove Collective, DisOriental DJs
DisOriental brings you an inimitable mix of border-breaking bangers. Featuring the legendary Beirut Groove Collective with an all-vinyl Middle Eastern set, plus DJs Clez, DisOrientalist, Kaklinka, Mistryllaneaous & Scott Dulson spinning the most bouncing sounds from all corners of the globe. Big vibes, serious bass, and zero borders. One unforgettable night. Come dance!
Event Venue Hagglers Corner Time 21:00
Tickets
£5 on the door | Free with Friday event ticket or Festival Pass
Bichu (Dance)
Transitory (Dance)
I abide (Documentary Film)
NADINE SHAH
About Nadine Shah
Nadine Shah is a Mercury Prize nominated songwriter and musician who released her fifth critically acclaimed album, Filthy Underneath in 2024.
This album campaign also provided for Nadine’s first TV show appearances with full band - with Jools Holland - and on RTE’S Other Voices - along with live performances on 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq’s show and BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends show with Clive Anderson.
Her albums touching on such subjects as mental health and addiction, Shah has lent her voice to many other causes that she is passionate about: She provided testimony to the UK Government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee as part of an ongoing probe into the economics of music streaming in November 2020, pointing to a lack of transparency regarding musicians’ royalty payments; and she has been part of calls for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
About Zawedde
In this show, Zawedde and her band will perform songs from her project SHUDDER, a tale in two parts. A contemplation and interrogation of how the personal and political intertwine.
Photo: Zawedde June
Support by Zawedde
Mini Mig-Mat
June 28
Join us for the return of Mini Migration Matters Festival at The Monty, a programme co-curated By Stand & Be Counted’s Youth Theatre of Sanctuary.
Please note: Children need to be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times.
Event Venue The Montgomery Time 10:00 Tickets Free Workshop
All Ages
FASHION DESIGN WORKSHOP
Kazna Asker x Stand & Be Counted Theatre
London Fashion Week designer Kazna Asker is teaming up with Stand & Be Counted Theatre, the UK’s first theatre company of sanctuary, to deliver a unique Fashion Design Workshop tailored specifically for the Youth Sanctuary of Theatre.
This exciting collaboration offers young participants aged 5-11 the opportunity to explore fashion as a form of creative expression and cultural identity. Under the guidance of Kazna Asker, attendees will learn how to design and craft their own accessories and artwork - from bracelet making to canvas painting. Come along, get creative, and enjoy the experience!
Time 10:00 - 11:30
GARDEN GREMLINS
Mafwa Theatre
Garden Gremlins by Mafwa Theatre’s a stay-and-play group for children under 5 and their caregivers.
Led by artist Beatrice Knowles, Garden Gremlins will invite kids to explore creative play with everyday objects in a safe, multi-sensory outdoor environment. It’s a fantastic opportunity for little ones to get loud, have fun, make new friends, and ignite their imaginations.
Time 10:00 - 14:00
FOOTBALL SHIRT CUSTOMISATION WORKSHOP
Among Good People x Stand & Be Counted Theatre
Join community focused streetwear brand Among Good People and Stand & Be Counted Theatre for a Football Shirt Customisation Workshop, aimed at young people from 5-15. You’ll get the opportunity to create something brand new to take home with you!
The workshop will be led by Among Good People founder Amar Shah.
Time 12:00 - 13:30
Fashion Design Workshop
With Kazna Asker
Football Shirt Customisation Workshop with Among Good People
Garden Gremlins
By Mafwa Theatre
WELCOMING CULTURES
Welcoming Cultures x
We’re excited to welcome you to the 4th annual Welcoming Cultures celebration – part of this year’s Migration Matters Festival, and held at the beautiful Millennium Gallery in Sheffield.
This event is all about celebrating our city’s incredible cultural diversity through food, art, music, storytelling, and community.
We are now open for applications from:
Stall Holders: Are you a maker, a cook, a small business or community group? We’re looking for stalls to showcase their work, culture, or selling handmade crafts, cultural goods, or home-prepared cold food.
Artists & Performers: Musicians, dancers, poets, storytellers, visual artists – we’d love to feature your work! We especially welcome young people, older adults, artists with disabilities, and creatives from all backgrounds.
If you’re part of a community group or creative project, this is your chance to be part of something vibrant and joyful.
To apply please scan the QR Code and apply by 15 May.
Community Lunch
On Friday 20th June, Ammi’s Kitchen will be hosting their delicious Community Lunch from 12:00-14:00 at Common Ground Community Centre. Anyone is welcome to come and try authentic food cooked by local migrant women, strengthening our community resilience as we taste flavours from around the world.
Takeaway Available for Collection: Friday 27th (3-6pm) Ammi’s Kitchen will be cooking a tasty takeaway on Friday 27th June.
Pre-Order by 09:00 on Wednesday 26th June before they sell out!
You can choose to have the takeaway delivered to your house or collect it from Common Ground Community Centre between 3 and 6pm.
The Zawose Queens
There is spirit and fire in the music of The Zawose Queens. There’s the vibrations of the ancestors, coming through on traditional instruments — soaring chizeze fiddle, buzzing illimba thumb piano, ngoma drums that chatter and thunder — and voices that go deep, high and out there. There’s the connection to nature, to ceremony and ritual, in their dance-inspired fusion, their blend of the organic, harmonic and modern-day electronic. There are lyrics that tell, in their native kigogo, of the passion for music, the wonders of life. Of pride in environment, in tradition. In their East African roots.
Pendo and Leah Zawose showcase the fluid polyrhythms and rapturous polyphonic singing of the Gogo (aka Wagogo) people of the arid, hilly Dodoma region of central Tanzania.
The most famous exponent of this musical tradition is the late, great Dr Hukwe Zawose (Pendo’s father and Leah’s grandfather).
EVENT VENUES
Take a look at some of the incredible venues in the Steel City we are proud to be working with this year!
The Art House
45 Carver St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4HJ
City of Sanctuary Sheffield 37-39 Chapel Walk, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2PD
The Foundry Foundry Studio & Fusion, Students Union, Western Bank, S10 2TG
Hagglers Corner
586 Queens Rd, Lowfield, Sheffield S2 4DU
Leah’s Yard
22 Cambridge St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4HP
Cambridge Street Collective 11 Backfields, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4HP
Common Ground
Machon Bank, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1GR
The Crucible Theatre
55 Norfolk St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 1DA
Gut Level
32-34 Chapel Walk, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2PD
Heeley Institute 147 Gleadless Rd, Heeley, Sheffield S2 3AF
Nomad Maison Unit 3, 18 Stanley St, Sheffield S3 8HJ
Performance Lab
Sheffield Hallam University, Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2LQ
SADACCA
48 Wicker, Sheffield S3 8JB
Sheffield Museums
Millennium Gallery
48 Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2PP
Soft Ground
37-40 The Moor, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4PF
Utopia Theatre 11 Rockingham Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4JD
Plot 22
Plot 22, 20-22 Exchange St, Castlegate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S2 5TS
Samuel Worth Chapel
The Gatehouse, Cemetery Avenue, Sheffield S11 8NT
Showroom Cinema
Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2BX
The Montgomery Theatre 27 Surrey St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2LG
Yellow Arch Studios
30-36 Burton Rd, Neepsend, Sheffield S3 8BX MMF’25
Team & Trustees
Sam Holland Festival Director
Leonie Sloots Project Manager
Ellen Beardmore Marketing & Press Manager
Tom Robbins Production Manager
Livia Barreira Audience Development
Al-Hussein Abutaleb Photographer
Smart Banda Digital Director Trustees
Emilia Moniszko Graphic Designer
Jack Howe Music Production Manager
Ishah Jawaid Chair
John Rwothomach Deputy Chair
Susan Morley Volunteer Coordinator Sara Hill
Blake Sherwin Lead Videographer
“If
JOHN RWOTHOMACK
Directed By MOJISOLA ELUFOWOJU
A Roots Mbili Theatre Production Written and performed by
AND POWERFUL’
Sunday 22 June
Thursday 26 June
Routes to Roots: A South Asian Heritage Project
"This Jungo Life" (78mins/2024) - film screening and discussion
Fedele, Abubakr Ali and the Jungo of Rabat (Morocco)
Friday 27 June