Karibu, karibu to our 11th edition of celebrating cultures, uniting our differences, and partying hard at Migration Matters Festival.
For those of you who have been on the journey with us since our first year, welcome again. For those who have discovered us in the last few years, and those who are picking up our brochure for the first time, welcome to this incredibly dynamic nine-day ride of a festival.
Let me take this moment to say how honoured I am to be holding the baton for directing this astonishingly unique festival, especially on the eve of Sheffield celebrating 20 years as the world’s first City of Sanctuary. I moved to Sheffield from Entebbe, Uganda over twenty years ago. Over that time, through the trials of childhood, teenage hood, and now a fully grown adult (apparently) I have grown to call the Steel City home.
Whilst still honouring this year’s Refugee Week theme of Courage, for the first time ever, we also have a theme specifically dedicated to Sheffield, Forged By Migration. Yes, as you might have guessed, it gives a wink to the forges of the steel industry which has hugely contributed to this city’s identity. We also remember that over thousands of years, the city’s identity has been hugely forged by national and international migration.
For our headliners this year, we start in Ghana with the groundbreaking Afrobeats artist Fuse ODG, to the USA with Desiree Burch headlining our Comedy Night with support from London-via-Barbados Sikisa and hosted by Spanish/Welsh MC Ignacio Lopez. Theatre takes us to the streets of Palestine through Alaa Shehada’s The Horse of Jenin, while Khalida Popal talks us through her incredible story as former captain of the Afghan women’s football team to now inspiring generations of women with her work with Girl Power.
The amazing Nate Coltrane is our guest programmer this year. He brings a Windrush celebration focused programme headlined by the legendary sound system genius Aba Shanti-I.
To Sam Holland, for lighting and carrying the director torch with such ease and kindness for ten years. For gracefully handing it over to me. I hope to keep it brightly lit. Thank you!
To the team, for your undeniable skills, time and patience. Xièxiè!
To the volunteers, you are the backbone that holds us together. Obrigado!
Artists, your voice, talent and audacity to create is how we’re able to curate a meaningful festival. Terima kasih!
Our funders, your generosity and belief in who we are is the fuel that keeps our light burning. شكرًالك
Most of all to you, the people of Sheffield, who embrace us with your presence, you are the reason we do this. Asante sana!
Let me end with the words of Mahmoud Darwish, “We have on this earth what makes life worth living.”
ALL ARE WELCOME!
John Rwothomack Director
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Please Note Event details are subject to change. Always consult our website / social media for relevant updates.
Age Ratings Please take note of the age guidance of an event before booking your tickets.
Ticketing
As a festival we’re proud to offer free tickets to anybody who needs them. We use a sliding scale ticketing system to ensure our events are fairly priced.
We’d like to thank our friends at Andro & Eve for their consultation and help to adapt our model.
For further information please see our ticket breakdown table and 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
Offered to refugees, asylum seekers, and/or those who are financially vulnerable. Get in touch via info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk.
Festival passes
Coming to the festival multiple days?
Grab a Migration Matters Festival Pass to see as many of the amazing events as you would like for one price! When you’ve bought your pass you will be sent a code to book a free ticket to any event you want to attend.
Guest Programmer
The festival is delighted to welcome a new guest programmer.
Nate Coltrane is a Manchester/Midlands-based artist, curator and founder of Our Yard, a platform exploring the positive impact of immigration on UK culture through the lens of Caribbean sound system heritage. His work centres on oral histories, community storytelling and immersive experiences, amplifying voices from the Windrush generation and beyond.
His recent exhibition Foundations at New Art Exchange brings together archive, sound and visual installation to examine sound system culture as a form of social infrastructure. Through interviews, audio and moving image, the work traces the cultural, social and political impact of Caribbean communities in Britain. His projects have been supported by Arts Council England and presented in collaboration with partners including Mixcloud, Rinse FM and Greensleeves Records.
Alongside his artistic practice, Coltrane plays an active role at Mimm Studios, a Midlands creative space exploring heritage, history and music through Caribbean culture while supporting creatives from the Caribbean diaspora. Through this work, he has spent over 15 years developing communityled initiatives, mentoring emerging talent and creating platforms for underrepresented voices.
Working across exhibition, broadcast and live programming, his practice is rooted in collaboration, access and cultural preservation. As a guest programmer for Migration Matters Festival, he continues to create spaces that connect music, migration and collective memory.
JUNE 17
AROUND THE WORLD
Stand & Be Counted Theatre
Around the World is a brand new digital art-meets-football project made with people from all over the world who now call Sheffield home, to celebrate the World Cup. Join Stand & Be Counted Theatre for a dazzling celebration event at the Peace Gardens on Wednesday 17 June.
JUNE 22
Flavours of Belonging
Ammi’s Kitchen - Cooking Workshop
Join the chefs from Ammi’s Kitchen for a hands-on cooking workshop, guided directly by the women behind the dish - their stories, their techniques, their kitchen. Cook collaboratively, then sit down together to share the meal you’ve made and the joy that comes with it. Leave with a full stomach, recipe card, and new connections.
MIGRATION MATTERS COMMUNITY LUNCH Ammi’s Kitchen Takeaway
Pre-order: June 23 (by 17:00)
Collect: June 26, Common Ground (15:00–18:00)
JUNE 19
Sun Stories
Liam Skillen x RivelinCo
Join artist Liam Skillen for a gentle and welcoming workshop at RivelinCo exploring writing and cyanotype printing, taking inspiration from Liam’s grandfather’s poetry and Hungarian indigo dyeing processes. You don’t need any experience and all materials are included, as well as snacks and drinks.
Please Note: Booking for this event is through RivelinCo
Throughout the Week
exhibitions are OPEN 11:00-16:00 ON WEEKENDS & 12:00-16:00 Mon-Fri
Interior Landscapes
Interior Landscapes is a photography exhibition documenting everyday interior spaces of asylum accommodation in Sheffield, created with City of Sanctuary Sheffield. By focusing on traces of presence rather than people, it reflects on shared domestic rituals and invites ethical reflection on forced migration, highlighting humanity, intimacy, and resilience within the UK asylum system.
Our Yard Foundations
Foundations is a pop-up exhibition by Nate Coltrane exploring Caribbean sound system culture and its impact on the UK. Featuring a listening station, oral history interviews, and behind-the-scenes gallery, the work connects sound, archive and storytelling to highlight community, identity and cultural legacy.
The Matter of Migration
The Matter of Migration is a 6-episode podcast presented in a multi-sensory installation. The episodes examine the intersections of cultural expression, community and migration - featuring multiple hosts and guests to broaden dialogue in a format that enables unmediated opportunity for reflection.
Jack Owen and City of Sanctuary Sheffield
Our Yard and Nate Coltrane
Frontier Media with Liz Von Graevenitz
Event
Komarine Romdenh-Romluc and Ian Nesbitt
Inspired by the Union Jill flag created during the 1990s road protests to symbolise an alternative, multicultural Britain, people seeking sanctuary join Komarine Romdenh-Romluc and Ian Nesbitt to sew and exhibit three Union Jila* flags using colours important to their own personal and cultural heritage, accompanied by recorded conversations.
Event
See
The Union Jila Project (un)borderings
This exhibition brings together four film and moving image works by Aria Danaparamita, Mariana Duarte, Alex Nevill and Ahmad Al Shehabi. Through landscapes, archives and lived experience, the films reflect on the material and emotional terrains of borders, migration and the lives shaped by them.
Migration Menus
Migration Menus is a guide to a perfect day of eating on Sheffield’s London Road. Moving between cafés and restaurants, each instalment layers the street with stories of cooking, memory and belonging, inviting audiences to listen, visit and share a meal.
Nadia Mehdi
Aria Danaparamita, Mariana Duarte, Alex Nevill, Ahmad Al Shehabi
TW: The films contain mention of war, displacement, border violence, immigration detention, racism, mentions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
JUNE 19
OPENING PARTY Kefaya & Elaha Soroor
One of the biggest nights of the week YEAR! It has to be the opening party!
In a festival first, our opening party will be hosted at the legendary Yellow Arch Studios, which has nurtured the talents of many Sheffield musicians and artists!
Afghan singer Elaha Soroor and eclectic London-based ensemble Kefaya have joined forces for a mighty and mesmerising new album, Songs Of Our Mothers; a fresh, vibrant and beautiful take on Afghan folk music filtered through myriad forms, from spiritual jazz and dub to Indian classical music and electronica.
Gnawa Manchester
Gnawa Manchester brings the hypnotic trance rhythms of Morocco’s Gnawa tradition to UK audiences. Led by Zakaryae on the guembri (bass guitar), the band delivers a modern fusion sound, weaving Sub-Saharan sacred influences with touches of jazz and blues through an energetic mix of instruments.
Catch Savanna Boys live for a hard-hitting blend of Amapiano, Afro house and Afro beats. Zimbabwean roots, UK edge, and nothing but unstoppable party energy
Drifting Sound: Echoes Across Tides
by
Savanna Boys Dungi Sapor
DJ Dungi blends Taiwanese Amis Indigenous vocals with experimental electronic sound, transforming voice into rhythm and atmosphere. Joined by dancers, her performance creates an immersive dialogue between sound and movement, where Indigenous traditions meet contemporary club culture.
BRAZIL IN MOTION
JUNE 20
Move, dance, and celebrate Brazilian culture in these participatory dance workshops led by Rio-based artist Bellas da Silveira. Discover Afro-Brazilian dance traditions and the vibrant rhythms of Rio’s carnival through joyful movement, collective energy, and accessible choreography. No dance experience needed - just come ready to move!
JUNE 20
JUNE 20
IN BETWEEN: DAUGHTER OF TWO WORLDS
Lindley Educational trust Pitsmoor Youth Club
In Between: Daughters of Two Worlds is a youth-led play inspired by conversations with women in the community. Through these stories, girls explore life in Somaliland and the similarities to growing up in the UK, using drama, dance, and storytelling to celebrate identity, culture, and belonging.
Vinyl Workshop
ziroziro, programmed by Nate Coltrane
Enter the world of wax and vibration in this hands-on vinyl workshop. Learn mixing, cueing, and beatmatching while exploring analogue sound and storytelling across genres. Open to all levels, it’s a space for creative play, upskilling, and discoveryjust bring your curiosity, passion, and love of music.
MIGRATION MATTERS FESTIVAL
JUNE 20
Get ready for an electrifying night of comedy featuring three of the most exciting voices on the circuit.
Straight-talking New York-to-London transplant Desiree Burch brings her awardwinning, larger-than-life style, seen on Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, and Netflix to the stage. Joining her is the multi-talented Sikisa, a critically acclaimed stand-up, producer, burlesque performer, and immigration lawyer, whose vibrant presence and wit is in high demand. Completing the lineup is Ignacio Lopez, whose ‘crazy’ blend of Welsh and Spanish humour, rapid-fire punchlines, and unique perspective are loved by fans globally. Three standout comedians, one unforgettable night.
Sikisa
Desiree Burch
Ignacio Lopez
JUNE 21
MINI MIGMAT
Sisters360
A Polka Theatre, Turtle Key Arts and AIK production, as part of Mini MigMat at the Monty
Hopes, hurdles and halfpipes.
JUNE 21
Mapping Belonging
Fatima and Salima are the closest, coolest, hijab wearing step-sisters in all of Bradford and they will win the Tiny is Mighty skateboarding competition, there is no doubt about it. Except their parents have started whispering in the kitchen about living apart… and only the greatest super plan ever concocted will help them achieve their dreams.
Don’t miss this brand-new production inspired by real-life skateboarding sisters Layna, Maysa and Amaya, and their hero Sky Brown.
Event Venue
The Montgomery
Tickets
£8 | £6 | £2
Time
Performance 1: 13:00 - 14:00
Performance 2: 15:30 - 16:30
Mapping Belonging is a 90-minute participatory workshop that deepens engagement with the (un)borderings exhibition.
Through conversation, collage and collective filmmaking, participants explore emotional responses to borders, migration and belonging.
Inspired by the idea of bricolage, the session invites participants to work with writing, drawing, film stills and found images, combining materials in unexpected ways. You can also choose to take part in reflective filmmaking that expands on the themes of the exhibition.
Emphasising intuitive and collaborative participation, the workshop culminates in a collective visual artwork that reflects the perspectives and experiences of those present.
Aria Danaparamita, Mariana Duarte, Alexander Nevill, Ahmad Al Shehabi
Exhibition Launch Party
Join us for an evening of exploration across art, photography and more as we meet the artists behind a wide array of inspiring pieces exhibiting at this year's festival.
There will be drinks, nibbles, music and more, so make sure you book yourself a free ticket and get involved!
TW: please be aware that some of the exhibitions touch upon sensitive subject matter.
(un)borderings - the films contain mention of war, displacement, border violence, immigration detention, racism, mentions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Ultimate Breath
Ultimate Breath is a multidisciplinary music, movement and light performance that explores air, breath and migration - both environmental and human. Rooted in South Indian classical vocal practice and contemporary sound art, the work centres on the chant OM as a universal expression of breath, survival and continuity. The performance takes place within an immersive environment inspired by the human lungs, using sound, movement and projection to trace how breath connects body, environment and identity.
Drawing on research into air pollution and respiratory health, Ultimate Breath reflects on how migration is shaped not only by borders and conflict, but by climate change, environmental degradation and unequal access to clean air.
Supriya Nagarajan/Manasamitra
Aba Shanti-I on Sinai Sound system
Curated by Nate Coltrane, this special event brings together sound system culture, performance and movement to explore the enduring impact of Caribbean heritage in the UK.
Headlined by legendary sound system operator Aba Shanti-I, playing on Sheffield’s own Sinai Sound System, the session centres on sound as a force for connection, resistance and collective experience. Rooted in decades of cultural practice, Aba Shanti-I’s sets are both deeply spiritual and politically resonant, embodying the foundations of UK sound system culture.
The programme also features Volume, by Ashley Holmes and Jamal Sterrett. Volume is a collaborative live performance linking Britain and Jamaica through sound and movement. Drawing on Bruk Up, a Jamaican Dancehall style, it stages an improvised exchange between DJ soundscapes and embodied choreography, foregrounding diasporic memory, hybridity, and evolving Black sonic and dance practices.
Together, the evening creates a space where music, movement and community intersect, honouring the past while continuing to shape the future of sound system culture.
ft. Ashley Holmes & Jamal Sterrett
JUNE 22
The Migration Pub Quiz
Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli Migration Research Group - The University of Sheffield
Bring your pub team or join us solo to challenge your knowledge on migration and asylum. Everyone is welcome in this friendly and inclusive environment, where the aim is to learn more about migration and asylum in the UK and around the world, while also debunking common misconceptions about these topics.
The Root: Sounds born from Windrush
Bantu Archive Programme Programmed by Nate Coltrane
A concept originally curated for Worldwide FM, The Root explores community archiving in Sheffield through sound, memory and identity. For Windrush Day 2026, it brings people together to share records, tracing sonic lineages across the Caribbean and Africa, honouring Windrush. Curated by community archivist Ella Barrett.
JUNE 22
JUNE 22
Hunter 77: film screening & live performance
Join us for an immersive screening of the awardwinning shadow puppet film - Hunter 77. Based on the life of Joe Philips, a Jamaican immigrant steelworker living in Sheffield during the 60s, who spent eight years building a boat to sail home. Featuring a live music performance, installation and Q&A.
Football Shirt Customisation Workshop
JUNE 23
Join Brown Girl Sport and community focused streetwear brand Among Good People for a Football Shirt Customisation Workshop.
Bring a (football) shirt with you to customise on the day. Swap with a friend, or save it for kick-off!
JUNE 23 JUNE 23
Migration Matters Festival Short Film Night Rooted
Discover new stories and experience boundary-pushing films. Our short film night explores what it means to keep our connections to culture alive, uncovers the resilience and sacrifice behind a family’s corner shop, and paints a vibrant portrait of dub poet activist Linton Kwesi Johnson.
Claire has been told to ‘go back home’ countless times, but where is home for them? An African island they’ve only visited once? Their parents’ unrecognisable house, falling apart in an increasingly gentrified borough? Between memories of their childhood home, shaded by parental mental health difficulties; and memories of Liverpool, laced with dead friends and racial abuse, Claire doesn’t know if they’ll ever feel truly rooted.
Films by Franco Rosso, Darshan Gajjar, and Rendah Haj
Claire Beerjeraz
Brown Girl Sport x Among Good PeoplE
Khalida Popal
In conversation
Khalida Popal, the co-founder of the Afghanistan women’s national football team, empowers refugee and migrant girls and women through her movement for equality.
Despite being forced into exile because of her activism, she leads a global movement for equality through sport, the Girl Power Organisation.
Khalida will share her incredible story in conversation with Miriam Walker-Khan, just before the FIFA World Cup England vs Ghana kickoff.
There will also be an opportunity to buy Khalida’s award-winning book, My Beautiful Sisters, sharing the moving stories of Afghan women who dared to play and resist.
In Conversation with Miriam Walker-Khan
SOFT SANCTUARIES
Find radical rest at Soft Sanctuaries, an intimate "Soft Cinema" installation and workshop exploring the courage of motherhood. Through films, textiles, and writing, we celebrate the migrant and neurodivergent parents forging lives in Sheffield. Whether you’re a new parent with a baby or simply seeking solidarity, join us for a moment of collective care.
JUNE 24 JUNE 24
QUO VADIS, AIDA?
Written and Directed by
Jasmila Žbanić
The award-winning director of ‘Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams’ returns with a powerful, Oscar-nominated drama focused on one of the most shameful moments of recent European history.
Film
Nam Huh
25’s Cijin White Roses Chronicle
Neo-Classical Chamber Ensemble
25’s Cijin White Roses Chronicle is a soundscape documentary music theatre inspired by the 1973 Cijin ferry disaster in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Integrating music, Butoh, and documentary video, it honours 25 female labourers while exploring memory, loss, and identity. A 2025 MUSE Award winner, the production is presented here in its touring version.
JUNE 25
TASTE
TASTE is an interactive, multi-sensory performance celebrating food, culture, and community. Move between stations, explore spices, music, embroidery, and movement, and help co-create a shared experience highlighting the creativity and contributions of migrant communities in Sheffield.
Carlota Matos & collaborators
FUSE ODG
+ Aziza Jaye
Fuse ODG is a groundbreaking Ghanaian-English afrobeats recording artist who has achieved huge commercial crossover over the last decade becoming one of the most successful artists of his genre to hit the mainstream.
Fuse ODG will bring his signature style to Foundry for an electric and unforgettable night of music. Expect to hear everything from his top-ten debut single Antenna, which he released back in 2013 when he entered the industry, to tracks marking his recent comeback on TikTok.
This return has solidified Fuse’s ability to create timeless tracks made for dancing.
Fuse ODG has won multiple awards, including the coveted MOBO Award for Best African Act twice. He claimed African Muzik Magazine’s Best Male Diaspora prize and Afro-Pop Song of the Year for Antenna at the Ghana Music Awards.
Fuse has made recent history being the first Ghanaian to win a Grammy Award for co-writing Ed Sheeran’s Divide album, an achievement which helps re-enforce his mission to change the perception of Africa.
Aziza Jaye
Aziza Jaye is a Sheffield-born singer, lyricist, and producer with deep Jamaican roots. Raised as a true ‘sound system baby’, watching her dad warm up rigs, she’s had music in her blood from the start. Over 20 years of honing her craft across the UK and internationally, she coined the term ‘genreless’ to describe her effortless shape shifting between styles.
25 JUNE 26
Event Venue
Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse
The Guardian A A A A A A A A A A
The Scotsman Rolling Stone Top 10 Shows
Migration Matters Festival and Sheffield Theatres present
THE HORSE OF JENIN
Written
and
performed by Alaa Shehada
The Horse of Jenin is a universal story of resilience and imagination, written and performed by comedian and actor Alaa Shehada. Blending storytelling, mask and stand-up, the show follows a boy growing up in Jenin, Occupied Palestine, who just wants to play. After a 2002 invasion, local children and a German artist built a five-metre horse from debris - a symbol of freedom and resistance. Destroyed in 2023, Shehada rebuilds the Horse on stage from fragments of memory, loss and hope.
JUNE 26
Colours to the Mast
The Bare Project
In collaboration with artists Kazna Asker and Cheelo, The Bare Project presents a participatory flag-making workshop exploring identity, protest, and belonging.
Through discussion and hands-on making, participants will design flags inspired by global textile traditions, creating symbols of hope, courage, and connection. Responding to the divisive use of the St George’s flag, this project reclaims public space with inclusive narratives.
Later in 2026, the collaboratively created flags will guide audiences to the Common Threads Festival, celebrating women’s cultural heritage and community in Sheffield.
26
Poetry and Pot Luck 4
Calling all lovers of the page and the pan! Poetry and Pot Luck champions sharing and connection through eating and listening together. Instead of paying for a ticket, you are encouraged to bring a home-cooked dish to share with an intimate audience as we enjoy an evening of spoken word.
A line-up of local poets, followed by a participatory open mic, inviting audience members who have been inspired by the performers to share their own work.
Spoken Word, Poetry,
JUNE 27
27
MINI MIGMAT
Theatre All Ages
Anansi & the Lost Sun
Swallow's Wings Puppetry as part of Mini MigMat at the Monty
When darkness falls, Lion calls for a hero. Will it be Eagle, Monkey - or Anansi the Spider?
This 50-minute OFFIE-nominated puppet show blends stunning puppetry with original West African music by Mossi Kunde. A joyful tale of courage and community, inspired by Anansi stories from Africa, the Caribbean, and the UK.
Event Venue
SHU Performance Lab
Puppet Making Workshop
Join our fun puppet-making workshop for families with children aged 4+. Using recycled materials like cups, wooden cutlery, and paper, you’ll create your own lion puppet. This hands-on session sparks creativity, imagination, and sustainability. No experience needed - just come and enjoy making, playing, and taking your puppet home!
Event Venue
SHU Performance Lab
27
Variety is the Spice of life
“Variety is the Spice of Life” brings together asylum seekers and Sheffield locals for an inspiring afternoon of devised performance. This free family event features personal memories, folktales, a variety of poems, and original music. Woven into the afternoon’s entertainment will be delicious international dishes for you to savour, from Open Kitchen Social Club. Expect the unexpected in community spirit!
Event Venue
Swallow’s Wings Puppetry
Side by Side
JUNE 27
OUTDOOR STAGE
FORGED BY MIGRATION
Migration Matters Festival, for the first time in its 11 year history, is heading outdoors!
With this year’s theme paying homage to Sheffield’s industrial roots, there’s no better place than Kelham Island Museum to host the Forged By Migration Outdoor Stage in collaboration with Sheffield Museums.
Celebrating the communities and cultures that have made Sheffield what it is, expect a soulful and (hopefully) sun-filled afternoon as we welcome musicians, dancers, poets and performers to show what makes this city special.
So join us for a free, familyfriendly event featuring vibrant music, DJs, dance, exhibitions, international food, arts workshops and a special tour of the museum. The lineup includes brilliant acts from Sheffield and beyond, with more acts to be announced!
Grupo Luma
Grupo Luma are a Liverpool-based Latin American fusion band led by Chilean brothers Francisco and Oscar Carrasco. Blending original music with traditional sounds, they deliver vibrant, high-energy performances using rich instrumentation, taking audiences on a dynamic journey through Latin America’s diverse musical heritage with passion, rhythm, and cultural storytelling.
Sunrit Culture Group
Sunrit Culture, led by Charu Asthana, is a vibrant community group creating inclusive spaces to experience and share South Asian culture, rooted in Indian traditions.
With music, dance, and creative lifestyle arts at its heart, it brings people together across festivals, workshops, and community gatherings, welcoming participation from all.
Romano Jilo
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. Expect traditional, vibrant costumes reflecting Roma culture, and high energy dances.
Forged By Migration Run Social
Time Meet at 10.45am Meeting Point See Website
Join our run social for a morning of movement and community. This 5K run around central Sheffield will be at a relaxed, conversational pace, before finishing at the Forged by Migration Outdoor Stage for music and an (optional) coffee.
JUNE 27
CLOSING PARTY
We close the festival as we start, back at the stunning Yellow Arch!
With more incredible global sounds, tasty food and a return of Sheffield-based groovemasters DiaspoRIDDIM to take us dancing into the early hours.
K.O.G
Kweku Sackey aka K.O.G (Kweku of Ghana) is a multi-dimensional creative force, combining exquisite writing skills with shamanistic live performance, fierce raps, perfectly on pitch singing across a massive vocal range and some absolutely wicked dance moves. Not to mention his skills as a percussionist, arranger, bandleader and art director.
Mim Suleiman
Mim Suleiman has been described as Mama Africa of the modern era. A boundary-crossing performer who defies categorisation, she reaches deep into her East African heritage to blend traditional Taarab vibes with dub, jazz, soul and funk.
A gifted composer and songwriter in both English and Swahili, she sings in a variety of languages and her versatile and charismatic presence have led to collaborations with some of the biggest names in Africa and the diaspora.
DiaspoRIDDIM Indefinite Leave to Party
DiaspoRIDDIM puts the spotlight on some of the most exciting DJs and artists today whose music is influenced by their own personal story of migration, having grown up in multiple cultures and musical traditions.
One World Choir Forged in Sheffield!
Sheffield One World Choir are a familiar sight at Migration Matters Festival, and will kick-start our final celebrations of sanctuary with a fitting, moving performance that symbolises our Forged by Migration theme.
Event Venues
Take a look at the incredible venues in the Steel City we are proud to be working with this year. For more information about venue accessibility, please visit our website or contact us via info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk
Alder Bar Unit 111, J C Albyn Complex, Percy Street, Neepsend, S3 8BT
Broomhall Centre
Broomspring Lane, Broomhall, S10 2FD
Cambridge Street Collective 11 Backfields, Sheffield City Centre, S1 4HP
Crucible Theatre 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield City Centre, S1 1DA
Nomad Maison Unit 3, 18 Stanley Street, S3 8HJ
Performance Lab
Sheffield Hallam University, Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, S1 2LQ
RivelinCo
96-100 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough, S6 4HA
SADACCA
48 Wicker, Sheffield S3 8JB
Foundry
Foundry Studio & Fusion, Students Union, Western Bank, Broomhall, S10 2TG
20th June, Upper Chapel and Channing Hall, all day
The Sheffield Youth Folk Festival is the first of its kind, and is a daylong celebration of folk and traditional cultures from across Sheffield. Celebrating 10 years of Folk Factory, Soundpost’s youth groups have joined forces with Welcoming Cultures, to present a diverse day of song, dance, music, fashion and culture, showcasing the importance of folk and traditional heritage to Sheffield’s young people today.
LEARN MORE AT soundpost.org.uk
JUNE 21
SMALL PARK BIG RUN
Celebrating our tenth year, small park BIG RUN’s 24-hour festival for Palestine is back at Meersbrook Park. Run or walk as much or as little as you like, enjoy family activities, community meals, music, and our BIG SING and livestream with Palestine at midday Sunday 21st June.
