Migration Matters Festival 2023 Brochure

Festival Highlights

Welcome to Migmat 2023

It thrills me to say Migration Matters Festival returns for an 8th consecutive year and what a year it will be!

With countless incredible events happening across the city, there will be something for everyone whether that’s globally recognised Afro-pop superstars Sauti Sol (p34), the empowering first captain of the Palestinian football team, Honey Thaljieh (p18), award-winning dance troupe Amina Khayyam Dance Company (p30), ‘Queen of the Qanun’ Maya Youssef (p28) or a special evening of film and music commemorating 50 years since the military coup in Chile (p31).

This year launches the first ‘Mini MigMat’ (p19) a festival curated by the ‘Youth Theatre of Sanctuary’ run by Stand and Be Counted Theatre and The Montgomery Theatre who have co-programmed a strand of shows and workshops focussed on young people and families.

The festival also welcomes three brilliant guest curators in Nur Khairiyah Ramli, Marta Marsicka and the returning Howl Yuan who each have programmed their own strands of the festival and it’s has been a joy to see their hard work pay off (see p4 for more details).

This years Refugee Week theme is ‘compassion’, which could not be more important in these increasingly troubling times where natural disasters, war and climate are displacing so many of our global family so we hope everyone will offer that compassion to community members who have been

I want to send a big shout out to our incredible team and trustees who work tirelessly every year to put the festival together as well as our wonderful volunteers who make the week so special.

We are also so grateful to our funders Arts Council England, the Evan Cornish Foundation, University of Sheffield, The National Lottery Community Fund and Sheffield City Council who have shown belief in the impact the festival has on the city.

Director Migration

Sam Holland

Matters Festival & Arts on the Run

P18 Honey Thaljieh

P16 . Munya Chiwawa

P34 Sauti Sol

P25 Rinkoo Barpaga

P28 Maya Yousseff

Guest Curators

Cultural Pot by Nur Khairiyah Ramli

Breaking bread has taught me how to care for others and be grateful for what I have. Cultural Pot aims to celebrate the diverse voices of the migrants and refugees in The UK, hosting a Vietnamese Pho communal lunch, a Persian tea party, a poetry reading by a British-Yemeni poet, and a play about privileges and migration statuses. From 21st-23rd June, we’re building a new table together to share food, listen, have conversations and experience culture and friendship.

On Resilience by Marta Marsicka

ON RESILIENCE is a programme celebrating the resilience and resistance of East-Central European migrants in post Brexit Britain. It aims to address and overcome hostility, stereotypes, and prejudice by exploring topics of community support, familiarity, food preservation and celebration of traditions. The strand brings migrant resilience, humour, pride, joy and creativity to the forefront of the festival.

The Collective Space by Howl Yuan

This year I draw focus on the notion that the festival is a collective space. By inviting many familiar faces and new groups such as Eastern Margin, Sam Reynolds, Little Bean Theatre, Ghost and John, Hidden Keileon and Queer East, I hope to aggregate people and their life stories, forming a vivid, collective space. The space for migrants’ voices to be heard, for stories to be shared, for issues to be raised, or just to be together.

Tickets and Festival passes

Tickets

This year we are working with We Got Tickets for all ticket sales. You can find all our events online where we have suggested ticket prices for our events. We have a tiered ticketing system which can be broken down as follows:

+ Free ticket

For audience members who are unable to pay for a ticket.

+ Discounted

For audience members who are able to pay but unable to pay for a full price ticket.

+ Full Price

For audience members who are able to pay full price

Events are often oversubscribed so we advise that you book ahead and reserve so that you don’t miss out on your favourite events and artists.

Festival passes

Got lots you want to go to? We’ve got you covered! You can nab one of our festival passes online.

£45

Discounted Festival Pass

For audience members who are able to pay but unable to pay full price

£60

Full Festival Pass

For audience members able to pay full price

Festival Pass

£100

Pay it Forward Festival Pass

Pays for a pass for yourself and helps us provide free passes to those who are unable to pay for one.

Once you have purchased a Festival Pass, make sure to book a Free Ticket for every event you want to attend in order to save your seat.

Please contact info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk if you are not in a position to pay for a festival pass.

Donate

to the festival

For 8 years the festival has proudly run on a pay what you decide/suggested ticket model as well as offering those who are financially vulnerable the opportunity to take a free ticket. We want as many people as possible to access events without being concerned about cost/price and enjoy the festival free of worries.

We have only been able to run this system each year because of the generosity of people who have donated to the organisation. If you want to support the long term sustainability of the festival, you can donate here. We’re grateful for anything you can give.

The festival is delighted to welcome three guest curators to this year’s festival. Learn more about their programmes and curatorial decisions

Migration Matters Festival Guest Curators

PROGRAMME

We know that navigating our bumper programme can be overwhelming! Use this handy schedule to plan your 2023 festival. Please check the website for the most up to date times, dates and venues.

16-24 JUNE

Please Note

Timings are subject to change. Always consult the timings on the website as they will be the most updated.

Please note the age guidance before booking any events.

with Sadaf Hussain Professor Siobhan

18:30-19:30 The Montgomery Theatre Performance p19

In Conversation with Honey Thaljieh Honey Thaljieh 16:00-17:00 Cadman Room at The Millenium Gallery Talk p18

Sunday 18 June

Event Artist/Company Time Venue Type Page

Long Distance Swimmer - Sara Mardini + Conversation Charly Wai Feldman and Sara Mardini in association with Sheffield DocFest 10:30-12:00 Crucible Theatre Film + Talk p16

Right 2 Healing: Embodying Liberatory Freedoms Peaks of Colour & Right to Roam 11:00-15:00 Rivelin Cafe (meeting point) Walkshop p21

HomeScreen PSYCHEdelight Theatre Company of Sanctuary 11:00-16:00 Makerspace at Portland Works Film Workshop p17

The Tree of Objects The Orang Collectif 14:00-14:40 The Montgomery Theatre Theatre p19

Eastern European & Slavic singing workshop Karolina Węgrzyn & Band 14:00-15:00 Yellow Arch Studios Workshop p20

Birmingham Passage Birmingham Passage 17:00-18:00 Yellow Arch Studios Music/ Performance p20

Eastern European & Slavic Folk Night Karolina Węgrzyn & Band + MUHA 19:00-21:30 Yellow Arch Studios Music p20

Monday 19 June

Event

Artist/Company Time Venue Type Page

HomeScreen PSYCHEdelight Theatre Company of Sanctuary 11:00-16:00 Makerspace at Portland Works Film Workshop p17

Living in Sheffield: Writing our Journeys Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli & Livia Barreira 18:00-20:00 Council Room at Firth Court Workshop p21

Exhibition Launch Exhibitions Launch 18:00-20:00 Soft Ground Exhibition/ Talks p21

Yus Kyun (Three Suns), Leave to Remain UDAGAN + Supermarket Saint 19:30-22:00 Yellow Arch Studios Music p22

Tuesday 20 June Event

Routes to Roots: A South Asian

Displaced Narratives: Salir Adelante / Moving Forward, The Long Goodbye, Peaks of Colour

I Was not Born a Sad poet, interview

conversation) with Loraine Masiya Mponela Loraine Masiya Mponela

Imagining a Child-centred Migration Law Dr Jonathan Collinson

Queer East presents: Lotus Sports Club + Panel discussion

of Sanctuary Sheffield Spoken Word & Talk p26

Room at Firth Court Talk p26

Thursday 22 June

Spatialising CompassionDesigning for the Soul

Film

Chileans of the North + Grupo

Tauro

Migration Matters Global Drag & Cabaret Bonanza Pepa Duarte, Rita Suszek, Sam Reynolds and Duane Nasis

Saturday 24 June

Event

Welcoming Cultures Care For Young Peoples Future

Secret Summer SBC Theatre

Radio Neighbourhood + Boh Boh Finds Home

People’s Park Story Walk p36

Little Bean Theatre & Ghost and John with Sandra Lam @Hidden Keileon 13:00-14:30 South Street Park Amphitheatre Children’s Theatre p37

East African culture, traditional dance performance and workshop STAND AS ONE 13:00-15:00 SADACCA Community/ Dance p36

Rooms Left Behind Amy Sze & Anya Ostrovskaia 14:00-14:50 16:00-16:50 18:00-18:50 2-3 Matilda Street Installation/ Performance p32

Hear Me Voz Theatre 15:00-16:00 SHU Performance Lab Theatre p37

A snake in the house means the family will never want Monica Tolia, in collaboration with Ting-ning Wen 17:30-18:15 SHU Performance Lab Theatre/Dance p38

From The Daughter Of A Dictator Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi 19:00-20:00 Makerspace at Portland Works Theatre p38

Closing Party

Ando Glaso Collective Music 4Samba Music TootArd Music Emilio and Jerome DJ Kom Kom DJ

19:00-02:00 SADACCA p39

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 Millenium Gallery 48 Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2PP

The Montgomery Theatre 27 Surrey St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2LG

Soft Ground 37-40 The Moor, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4PF South Street Park Amphitheatre 21 South St, Sheffield S2 5PN Yellow Arch Studios 30-36 Burton Rd, Neepsend, Sheffield S3 8BX

The Sanctuary 37 - 39 Chapel Walk, Sheffield, S1 2PD

SADACCA 48 Wicker, Sheffield S3 8JB

Showroom Cinema Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield

SHU Performance Lab Arundel Gate Court off Froggat Lane, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2LQ

Sidney and Matilda Rivelin Works, Sidney St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4RH

The Art House 8 Backfields, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4HJ

Drama Studio Shearwood Rd, Broomhall, Sheffield S10 2TD

Bloc Projects Meanwhile space at 2-3 Matilda Street 2-4 Matilda St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 4QY

Heeley People’s Park View Rd, Heeley, Sheffield S2 3DJ

John Street Kitchen 68 John St, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4QU

The Leadmill 6 Leadmill Road, Sheffield S1 4SE

The Makerspace at Portland Works Portland Works, Randall St, Highfield, Sheffield S2 4SJ

The Council Room at Firth Court University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN

Crucible Theatre 55 Norfolk St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 1DA

DINA 12 Fitzalan Sq, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2AZ

MIGRATION MATTERS FESTIVAL OPENING PARTY

Millicent Chapanda

Join Millicent Chapanda in an incisive participatory and inclusive gathering. Mbira musings is a celebration of Shona culture that calls on the ancestral spirits rising through the trance of cascading sound of the mbira and the pull of the voice to the outer worlds.

Sidney and Matilda

One of the most soulful and vibrant nights of the year. That’s right! It’s the Migration Matters Festival opening party!

With delicious food from Open Kitchen Social Club, Milli Chapanda’s mesmerising Mbira and feverishly fun jams from Colectiva that will make your soul dance before DJ Disorientalist sees the night out with beats from a borderless world.

Colectiva

Crafting thoughtful arrangements rooted in the sonorities of Africa, Latin America and the diaspora, they have birthed a sound affectionately dubbed jazz tropicaliente (hottropical-jazz), rich in bold horn lines, jazz harmony and Afro-Latin groove.

Anti-hierarchical in arrangement and structure, COLECTIVA exist as a vessel and a platform in which women instrumentalists come together through their love of and appreciation for Afro-Latin and Jazz genres, to compose collaboratively, in the spirit of sisterhood.

Sheffield One World Choir Songs from Around the World

With members from all over the world, this community choir of refugees, asylum seekers and other local people is a diverse family of singers. Bringing songs from different cultures, including original compositions, they express our shared humanity through vibrant and spirited performances.

June 17-19

in conversation with Munya Chawawa

HOMESCREEN

PSYCHEdelight Theatre Company of Sanctuary

Dates 17-19 June

Event Venue

Makerspace at Portland Works

Time 11:00-16:00

Tickets Free

Time 8:30 PM Tickets £12 £10

Event Venue

The Crucible

Satirist Munya Chawawa will talk about his recent move into documentary filmmaking.

BAFTA nominated for his Channel 4 documentary

How to Survive a Dictator, Munya Chawawa continues to be one of the biggest and brightest talents in UK television. Munya will be joining us at Sheffield DocFest to discuss his unique approach to integrating satire in documentary, keeping viewers engaged and cleverly informed

Supported by Channel 4

In association with Sheffield DocFest.

Talk 18+

June 18

Long Distance Swimmer - Sara Mardini + Conversation

PSYCHEdelight Theatre Company of Sanctuary

Event Venue Crucible Theatre Time 10:30 AM Tickets £12 |£10

Screening of Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini followed by a conversation with director Charly Wai Feldman and activist Sara Mardini.

After their act of heroism at sea, Sara and her sister Yusra were transformed into international celebrities. Sara became an activist and Yusra an Olympic swimmer. After their passage to Europe was guaranteed, Sara kept helping her fellow migrants and refugees, volunteering as a lifeguard with Emergency Response Center International. Because of this she was arrested by Greek authorities on various counts, including people trafficking. Long Distance Swimmer details Sara’s daily life in Berlin, as she awaits the outcome of charges that could send her to jail for years. A hero to many, she is also the victim of a system – which has come to represent so many across the continent – increasingly influenced by xenophobia.

In association with Sheffield DocFest.

FORGOTTEN FOODS WITH SADAF HUSSAIN

Professor Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, University of Sheffield

Time 14:00 16:00 18:00

Tickets £7 £5 | Free

Event Venue John Street Kitchen

Join Professor Siobhan LambertHurley and chef Sadaf Hussain at this cooking demonstration and tasting event exploring the forgotten foods and culinary heritage of India.

Workshop Talk All Ages

HomeScreen provides refugees and asylum seekers the chance to make a short film about their homeland, creating messages, love letters, or video tours of their countries. Using a green screen studio, props and music, they will virtually travel to places they cherish but can not physically return to.

Approx 50 mins per participant

Should you have accessibility requirements please email info@migrationmattersfestival.co.uk

Tickets Free – Available only to refugees and sanctuary seekers

Workshop All Ages

June 17

Honey Thaljieh in conversation

SBC Theatre & Montgomery Theatre Presents

June 17

Event Venue Millenium Gallery Time 16:00

Tickets

£10 £8 Free

Talk 12+

Mini MigMat at the Monty

Join us for the first ever Mini Migration Matters Festival at The Monty, a programme co-curated with the Youth Theatre of Sanctuary co-led by Stand and Be Counted Theatre and The Montgomery Theatre.

Please note: Children need to be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times.

THE BULL AND THE MOON

Denada Dance Theatre

Lolo is a little bull that doesn’t like playing rough like all other bulls do. Lolo has a secret: inspired by the dancing Moon, he dreams of becoming Lola: a famous flamenco dancing cow. Will you dance with Lolo to help make their dreams come true?

BABA’S MUSICAL KITCHEN

Crane Creatives

This is a fun, free session where you’ll share stories, make music and play games together. Participants will be invited to share stories about their ‘BaBas’, whether it’s your granny, aunty or Mum.

Date 17 June Time 13:45, 15:00

SUPER CHEFS

Maya Productions

Six-year-old Manny is preparing a special dinner. He dreams of becoming a pro-chef like his mum, or a superhero – or both! But Abuela has other ideas about boys being in the kitchen.

Join us for an inspiring and empowering inconversation about the intersections of sports, resilience and migration as Honey Thaljieh talks us through her incredible journey.

Honey Thaljieh is the co-founder of women’s football in Palestine, the first captain of the Palestinian national team, and the first Arab woman to obtain a FIFA Master and work at FIFA.

Thaljieh defied all social restrictions and political

barriers and became a role model to women and girls throughout the Arab world. Today, Honey continues her efforts as ambassador and member of influential international organisations around the world to empower women and children through sports, and to promote equality and non-violence through football.

As Corporate Communications Manager for FIFA, Honey designs and implements pro-social football programs around the world.

CREATIVE TALENT SHOW

Mums4Inspiration

All ages, best suited for children aged 5-12

Workshop Tickets Free

A Latin American family tackles food and gender roles in this interactive musical.

Date 17 June Time 16:00

THE TREE OF OBJECTS

The Orang Collectif

Mums4Inspiration are leading a showcase of artistic talent celebrating young people who turned the boredom of being stuck indoors during the pandemic into something creative.

This show symbolises both resilience and a love of Sheffield.

Date 17 June Time 11:00 Date 17

Two strangers discover a tree of objects and settle. The new neighbours’ inability to communicate triggers a series of misunderstandings. The Tree of Objects is a music and theatrical adventure celebrating diversity, overcoming adversity and preserving Earth by prolonging the shelf-life of objects

Date 18 June Time 14:00

From Tales of Windrush to Slavic Folk

Sunday at Yellow Arch

June 18

June 18

WHITE VOICE SINGING WITH KAROLINA WEGRZYN AND BAND

White Voice signing is one of the oldest singing techniques that has been preserved in Eastern European rural regions. During the workshop, you will learn folk songs from Poland, Ukraine, and the Balkans. Everyone is welcome, regardless of age, experience or skills.

Event Venue Yellow Arch Studios Time 14:00

Music, Workshop Tickets £7/£5/Free 12+

BIRMINGHAM PASSAGE

Germa Adan & Xhosa Cole

Birmingham Passage is an interdisciplinary arts production inspired by layered stories of migration linked to the Windrush generation and the stories, musical passage and origins of the artists who will be presenting this unique work.

Event Venue Yellow Arch Studios Time 17:00

Interdisciplinary Performance Tickets £10/£8/Free 16+

June

EASTERN EUROPEAN & SLAVIC FOLK NIGHT FEATURING MUHA

KAROLINA WEGRZYN

Event Venue Yellow Arch Studios Time 19:30

&

Tickets £12/£10/Free

MUHA offers a new tradition in contemporary Eastern European music, influenced by the multicultural society in the UK.

Combining the melodic beauty of Eastern European folklore, North Indian Kathak rhythms, Cuban beats and original lyrics they mesmerise with a musical feast rooted in the Slavonic tradition but cultured from the world.

Karolina Wegrzyn is an award-winning folk singer, multiinstrumentalist and song-collector from South Poland and UK.

As a folk singer, accordion and hammered dulcimer musician from Poland, Karolina’s music is rooted in the rich tradition of her native villages. She is deeply influenced by the songs of the older generations, which Karolina has had the privilege of collecting and recording through her interactions with elderly village citizens.

June 18

RIGHT 2 HEALING: EMBODYING LIBERATORY FREEDOMS

Peaks of Colour & Right to Roam

Time 11:00 Tickets Free

Meeting Point

Rivelin Park Café

Peaks of Colour & Right 2 Roam invite you to a walkshop exploring the intersections of racial and land justice through the themes of migration, movement, embodiment and belonging. Join them for an introduction to bird watching along the Rivelin Valley Trail, followed by a movement workshop exploring embodied liberation, led by Sym Stelliunm.

Please note: This walkshop is for people of colour only. The event is sold out but you can sign up for the waiting list | 18+ (children must be accompanied by parents)

Walkshop 18+

LIVING IN SHEFFIELD: WRITING OUR JOURNEYS

Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli & Livia Barreira

Author Livia Barreira and researcher Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli invite you to reflect on, and write about, the journey that brought you to Sheffield. In the workshop, Livia and Patricia will guide you through a writing exercise and art activity to explore your own Sheffield story.

EXHIBITIONS LAUNCH

To mark the beginning of Refugee Week we hear from the artists and organisations behind a selection of this year’s exhibits and installations including Humanising, In a Thousand Silences, Sent North: Afghan Photo Project, Femaledividuality Displacement, Digital Art Exhibition, Family Portrait and Reimagining Home for Refugees and Homeless People.

RAPID RESPONSE

Ark Sheffield

What would you take with you? What should we leave behind?

Ark Sheffield has challenged three emerging Sheffield based artists to develop ‘rapid responses’ to these urgent questions. We invite you to join us at a special sharing event on Wednesday 21 June at the Performance Lab, Sheffield Hallam University, where Salome Martha Hakunandaba, Jeff Denya, and Freya Maclean, will share the outcome of intensive two-week research and development projects.

Rapid Response will be hosted by Tommi Bryson (Talent Development, Sheffield Theatres), and will feature a conversation about the work, and a wider conversation around the interconnected themes of migration and the climate-crisis.

June

YUS KYUN (THREE SUNS) + LEAVE TO REMAIN

UDAGAN + Supermarket Saint

June 20

June 20

June

DROP IN DAY

City of Sanctuary Sheffield

Join City of Sanctuary Sheffield for an Open Day at The Sanctuary and discover how you can make a difference! Connect with their community, enjoy food and drinks, and learn about their work to make Sheffield a place of safety and welcome for all refugees and people seeking asylum.

MIGRATION MOVEMENTS

Shobana Jeyasingh Dance

Responding to the theme of “Migration Movements”, and working with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, young creatives from across Sheffield will premier their new dance performances.

The Sanctuary Time 10:00

Event Venue

Event Venue

Barkers Pool Time 13:00

June 20

Yellow Arch Studios Time 19:30

Event Venue

Tickets

£10/£8/Free

Immerse yourself in the musical journeys of two artists in this exciting double bill

UDAGAN is a musical project created by Saydyy-Kuo Fedorova and Oscar South, based in Sheffield, UK, and inspired by the traditional music, culture, folklore, and shamanic heritage of the Republic of Sakha in North Siberia.

Supermarket Saint consists of the keyboardist Babak Mirsalari and Kevin Clark on drums, followed by the visual artist Nikta Mohammadi’s captivating techniques. The founder, Babak Mirsalari, fuses Southern Iranian rhythm and melodies with electronic music with an unconventional approach to the piano, in which he mixes an upright piano with an analogue synthesiser and drum machines.

Supported by Opera North and Help Musicians.

16+ (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)

music 16+

ROUTES TO ROOTS: A SOUTH ASIAN HERITAGE PROJECT

Maya Productions

Routes to Roots: A South Asian Heritage Project is a vibrant multi arts performance piece, sharing reflections on migration, heritage and cultural identity from young people and community groups in Bradford, Croydon and Sheffield.

Event Venue Drama Studio Time 17:00

FROM UKRAINE TO THE UK: WOMEN, WAR AND MIGRATION

Dr Miriam Dobson, University of Sheffield

Join historians Dr Tetyana Zabolotna and Dr Miriam Dobson at this film screening and talk exploring the experiences of Ukrainian refugee women who made Sheffield their home in 2022. The discussion will also examine how earlier generations of Ukrainian women experienced war and migration.

Content Warning: The event concerns the war in Ukraine

Event Venue Soft Ground Time 17:45

Talk Tickets Free 12+

Displaced Narratives

Migration Matters Festival presents an evening of short Docs/Films at the Showroom

June 20

Salir Adelante/ Moving Forward

(2022)

Natalia Cintra

The University of Southampton

Salir Adelante is a documentary based on the stories of Venezuelan migrant women and girls who fled a humanitarian crisis to rebuild their lives and hopes while experiencing the everyday struggles of unfamiliar and sometimes adverse places in Brazil.

Run Time 26 mins + Q&A

18:00

Tickets £5/Free Film 15+

THE LONG GOODBYE (2020)

Riz Ahmed Academy Award-winning Best Live Action Short Film

Riz and his family are in the middle of a typical family day in their house, whilst a far right march plays out on the telly in the background, which eventually arrives at their front door.

Content Warning – Scenes of extreme violence and death, explicit language

Run Time 13 mins

PEAKS OF COLOUR (2023)

Yellowpocket Films

Follow local community group, Peaks of Colour, as they explore alternative routes to healing and justice in the Peak District.

Run Time 5 mins

June 20

Event Venue Crucible Theatre Time 19:30

Tickets £12 £10 | Free Theatre 15+

Made in Britain (India)

Rinkoo Barpaga, Deaf Explorer

June 20

FEELING FABULOUS

Andro & Eve with Ghetto Fabulous Event Venue The Montgomery Time 18:30 Tickets Free

Learn to werk a runway, strut, dance and pose! Andro and Eve and Ghetto Fabulous team up again to bring Sheffield a fabulous queer dance workshop. This session is designed to build the confidence and skills of those new to dance, and is open to anyone identifying as LGBTQ+.

LGBTQ+ only

Dance, Workshop 18+

Roo is a deaf Punjabi boy from Birmingham, living in a world that wasn’t made for him.

Through pain and laughter, Roo narrates the impact of ableism and racism throughout his childhood and adult life, leading him to confront one key question: “Where do I belong?” A coming of age story about discovering your community and the journey that follows.

Come and be immersed in Roo’s world as he navigates across borders and grapples with his sense of identity.

All performances will be in BSL Spoken English and Closed Captions Director Tyrone Huggins, Dramaturge Daniel Bailey

Content Warning

Verbal descriptions of racial discrimination and racial abuse

★★★★

‘Barpaga is a remarkable storyteller’ FestMagazine

★★★★★

‘Powerful Physicality’ Liam O’Dell

‘Confident and Charismatic’ The Stage

Winner of Mervyn Stutter’s Spirit of the Fringe Awards 2022 | Winner of The Deaf Excellence Award, The Neurodiverse Review Awards

20

LIFEPATH: A JOURNEY FROM MYANMAR TO SHEFFIELD

Dr Chris Blackmore, University of Sheffield

MEET YOUR NEIGHBOUR – A PERSIAN TEA PARTY + THE THIRD HOUSE

Maison Foo, Maison Foo’s Creative Sanctuary Group, Babak Aria, Amina Atiq

June

21

This talk follows the migration story of student Winko Oo, including his journey from Myanmar to study at the University of Sheffield. Using a narrative, lifestory approach, and with graphics from artists Eleven Design, follow Winko’s lifepath as he tells his story.

I WAS NOT BORN A SAD POET + IN CONVERSATION

Loraine Masiya Mponela

The Sanctuary Time 17:30 Tickets £7/£5/Free

Event Venue

Content Warnings: mental health and death in asylum system

IMAGINING A CHILD-CENTRED MIGRATION LAW

Dr Jonathan Collinson, University of Sheffield

Time 17:45 Tickets Free

Event Venue

Council Room at Firth Court

Children of migrants are deeply affected by Government decisions to deport adult family-members, yet when children’s rights are considered, it’s only to intervene in a decision on whether the adult ‘deserves’ to be deported. This talk imagines alternative migration law which centres children.

Event Venue

Soft Ground Tickets Free Time 16:00

Schedule

16:00: Meet Your Neighbour – A Persian Tea Party

18:00: The Third House, Amina Atiq

Join Maison Foo’s Creative Sanctuary Group for an evening of Persian delights, music, poetry and the multi language Meet Your Neighbour installation as they transform Soft Ground into a traditional Middle Eastern household.

Meet and connect with Neighbours from around the world, taste delicious Persian tea and sweet treats, listen to songs from Iranian Musician Babak Aria and watch Yemeni Artist Amina Atiq’s Broken Biscuits: A filmed interview with Granma Hayla, finding out about her early life in Liverpool before listening to a live poetry set of Atiq’s The Third House.

QUEER EAST PRESENTS: LOTUS SPORTS CLUB + PANEL DISCUSSION

Queer East

Showroom Time 18:00 Tickets £5/Free

Event Venue

Filmed in Cambodia over the course of five years, Lotus Sports Club is an inspiring coming-of-age documentary about Leak, a teenage trans man who plays football in the under-21s women’s team of Kampong Chhnang, and Pa Vann, the coach and father-figure to Leak and other LGBTQ+ players on the team.

The screening will be followed by an in person panel discussion around topics of queer people in sports, trans visibility and independent queer filmmaking.

Film 12+

Maya Youssef

June 21

A COUPLE OF STRANGERS

June 21 June 22

Hector Manchego, Faizal Abdullah

Event Venue WhatsApp + SHU Performance Lab

Tickets £5/£3/Free

A Couple of Strangers explores the meaning of belonging and the differences in class, privileges, and opportunities among immigrants in the UK.

ACT 1 will start on WhatsApp on Wed 21st June at 12:30 (please do not attend SHU Performance Lab on this day)

ACT 2 will be in-person at SHU Performance Lab on Thu 22nd June at 19:00

ACT 3 is back on WhatsApp right after ACT 2.

Theatre All ages

June 22

SPATIALISING COMPASSION

Beena Nouri

Event Venue Crucible Theatre Time 15:00 Tickets £7/5/Free

Spatialising Compassion is a collaborative design workshop that questions and works through how spaces can reflect compassion, considering what compassion means for individuals and how their thoughts translate into designed spaces.

Workshop 15+

Hailed as ‘The Queen of the Qanun’, Maya Youssef is a globally renowned and award-winning qanun player and composer from Syria.

Born in Damascus, as a result of the war in her home country Maya arrived in the UK in 2012 under the UK Government’s Tier 1 visa scheme, endorsed by Arts Council England as an exceptional talent.

Since then, Maya has pushed the boundaries of the qanun (a 78 stringed plucked zither traditionally played by men) and has performed at the South Bank, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican, Shakespeare’s Globe and WOMAD Festival, and around the world.

Event Venue Drama Studio Time 19:30

All Ages Tickets £13 | £10 | Free Music

June 22

TOGETHER FOR CHANGE

Stand & Be Counted Theatre + University of Sheffield

Event Venue Workstation Time 16:00 Tickets Free

The Creative Revolution is coming! Join us for an afternoon of live performance, relaxed round table, a documentary screening and Q&A exploring how young people seeking sanctuary can lead change, and the role of allies to support them.

Together we can build a platform for the voices we need more of.

Theatre, Film, Talk All Ages

June

HOSTILE Galeforce Films

Event Venue Showroom Cinema Time 18:00

Tickets £5/Free

Hostile is an award-winning feature-length documentary written, produced and directed by BAFTA-longlisted filmmaker Sonita Gale. Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, Hostile reveals the impact of the evolving ‘hostile environment’, a series of immigration policies designed to make life so unbearable for migrant communities that they choose to leave the country.

Content Warning: Racism, images of real dead bodies, moderate violence, strong language

Film 12+

June 22

CENTRE ARCHIVE SHOWCASE

Centre for Equity & Inclusion

Event Venue Soft Ground Time 19:00

Tickets Free

The Centre for Equity & Inclusion has created its own anti racist archive. This is to help enable people of colour to document experiences of identity, culture and heritage, and racial justice. The archive is an opportunity for self-reflection and forming new narratives. For finding solidarity in common experiences, and hopefully some optimism in seeing some things change for the better.

Our first public showcase will feature performances and presentations that document Global Majority experiences of identity, culture, heritage, and racial justice.

Talk, Exhibition 15+

ONE

June 22

June 22

Event Venue Sidney & Matilda Time 18:00 Tickets £10/£8/Free Film, Music 12+

Chileans of the North + Grupo Luma

A commemoration of 50 years since the military coup that changed Chile. This event brings together the documentary Chileans of the North by Chris Paul and the political songs of Chile performed by Grupo Luma in one memorable evening.

CHILEANS OF THE NORTH + POST-SCREENING Q&A

Chileans of the North explores the story of the Chilean refugees who arrived after the 1973 coup and made a new home in South Yorkshire. The Chileans who settled in Yorkshire share what happened at the time of the coup, what it was like to start a new life in the UK, and how activism and solidarity brought a community together.

Content Warnings: Distressing Themes, Mentions of torture in film

GRUPO LUMA

Grupo Luma, led by Chilean brothers Francisco and Oscar Carrasco, presents a journey through Chilean & South American political song with a feast of melodies, rhythms and powerful, thought-provoking lyrics that pay tribute to Chile and South America’s political song and the spirit of progressive change of which they form part, including original compositions that explore the experience of exile.

The concert is accompanied by a commissioned video piece by Aldorado Films

The concert is accompanied by a commissioned video piece by Alborada founder Pablo Navarrete together.

Amina Khayyam Dance Company

June 22

Event Venue

Drama Studio Time 19:30

Tickets £12/10/Free

Critically acclaimed Kathak artist Amina Khayyam uses the cyclic phenomenon of South Asian classical dance, where there is no beginning or end, to tell contemporary stories of migrants and refugees tarnished by media and politicians for cheap exploitation, spreading fear for those risking their lives to make a better future.

Amina’s Kathak incorporates Nritta (pure dance) and Nritya (expression of narrative), using costume, movement, space and music to capture the first beat of that cyclic time and nest it until it becomes the one again – to suggest both the refugees and name callers are of the same cycle.

Dance All Ages

Eastern Margins

Event Venue Sidney & Matilda Time 22:30 Tickets £5/£3/Free

Eastern Margins returns to Migration Matters for another high-octane club night, fresh out of shows from London to Jakarta, and Manchester to Bangkok.

We’re the home to alternative Asian identities – we were never given a voice, so we make ourselves heard. Live in the Margins.

Music 18+

ROOMS LEFT BEHIND

Amy Sze & Anya Ostrovskaia

Event Venue

Bloc Projects Meanwhile

Space at 2-3 Matilda Street

Times

June 23-24

A LIFE AROUND THE WORLD

Side by Side

Event Venue

SHU Performance Lab

14:00, 16:00, 18:00

(Both Days) Tickets £7 | £5 | Free

Presented at LIFT Festival 2022 and Vault Festival

2023, Rooms Left Behind brings you on an immersive journey into the intimate world of complex identities and a glimpse of political immigration.

Working with a Ukrainian artist who had to flee Russia, and Hong Kong artists who left their city, the theatrical installation explores the idea of what it means to leave your home and life behind. Step into the abandoned room to see, touch and feel where someone lived, loved and grieved. Wonder around the tables and chairs to unveil one’s traces of existence.

Let the bookshelves and beds whisper to you stories of the displaced shadows.

(content warning: violence, protest and war)

Theatre, Installation 12+

June 23

SONIC PHO - THE AUDIO DINING EXPERIENCE

New Earth Theatre, In association with Museum Of the Home & Mong Ta

A Life Around The World is a devised show that explores rituals and customs from around the world, spanning a human life. From birth rituals in Africa, to protests in Iran, this performance is the result of a group exploration looking at how we celebrate, how we create change, and how we mark important events in different cultures and countries.

content warning

Scenes of childbirth and protest.

Theatre All ages

June 23

DIG WHERE YOU STAND EXHIBITION

&

SOUNDSCAPE

Event Venue

DINA Time 15:00 Tickets £7 | £5 | Free

Mong Ta, a Vietnamese street food pop up will be serving vegetarian/vegan Phở on the day, and will share what goes into making this beloved staple of Vietnamese cuisine. Whilst eating, guests will be listening to an accompanying audio story with poetry created by Anna Nguyen and award-winning sound designer Nicola T Chang.

A story of redemption, restoration and generational healing that will ripple out across cultures and time. Connect to the food of the chefs’ motherland and understand more about the person behind the bowl who cooked it.

Please Note: Ph0 is included in the ticket price and limited to 20 portions.

content warning

References to war and intergenerational trauma, which may be triggering. Listener discretion is advised.

All Ages

Audio Dining Experience

Dig Where You Stand with Desiree Reynolds & Otis Mensah

Event Venue Soft Ground Time 19:00 Tickets Free

Dig Where You Stand is an archival justice movement made up of artists, archivists, educators and local community members. It unearths the stories of working class people of colour who lived and worked in South Yorkshire before 1945. This is done by exploring archival records and using creative practice to reimagine the lives contained within them.

This event will showcase the organiser’s latest findings, including a multimedia soundscape created by Désirée Reynolds and Otis Mensah. It will also feature an informal discussion between Reynolds and Mensah, and a Q&A session.

Exhibition & Showcase 15+ Talk

MIGRATION MATTERS FESTIVAL x PRESENTS

Sauti Sol

With support from Rumbi Tauro

Migration Matters Global Drag &

Cabaret Bonanza

Pepa Duarte, Sam Reynolds, Duane Nasis, Rita Suszek

Sauti Sol is an award-winning Afro-pop group from Kenya, crowned Best Group (Africa) at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2016, along with the 2016 Soundcity MTV Awards and African Muzik Magazine Awards. Comprising Bien-Aime Baraza, Willis Austin Chimano, Polycarp Otieno and Savara Mudigi, the group mixes their soulful voices with vocal harmonies, guitar riffs and drum rhythm. In 2016 Sauti Sol made history by being the first Kenyan artists to run a successful and professional nationwide tour. After the Kenyan completion of Sauti Sol’s Live and Die in Afrika tour, it took to the world stage with a focus on African countries and a detailed American tour.

Sheffield is Sauti Sol’s only performance in the North of England as part of their world tour so do not miss this rare chance to see them!

Rumbi Tauro

Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Doncaster, Rumbi Tauro is the evening’s sensational support. Bringing her own flavour of soulful R&B which is light and breezy on the ears, Rumbi has music in her DNA. Having performed across the UK at the likes of: Headrow House, Band on the Wall, The Leadmill, Tramlines Festival, Boxpark Croydon and the Deaf Institute.

SEÑORITA RITA’S DRAG SHOW

Pepa Duarte

Straight from the highlands of Peru to Tory England comes International Latina sensation, Señorita Rita. This is a female drag queen show defying stereotypical notions about migrant women through comedy, dance and shamanic rituals. This vivacious drag show from acclaimed theatre maker Pepa Duarte (Eating Myself/ Migran-te) explores the complexities of Latin American identity and challenges gender norms while making you laugh out loud.

JOKING MACHO-NISMS

Rita Suszek

Janusz is going through a midlife crisis and he’s experiencing Feelings. Unfortunately, Feelings aren’t masculine. Can he repress them all? Or can he redefine his masculinity instead? A drag show about emotions, combining stand-up and clown. Expect humour, Polish references and hair gel!

Sam Reynolds and Duane Nasis!

Secret Summer

Stand & Be Counted Theatre

June 24

RADIO NEIGHBOURHOOD + BOH BOH FINDS HOME

Little Bean Theatre & Ghost and John with Sandra Lam @Hidden Keileon Event Venue

South Street Park Amphitheatre

June 24

Heeley People’s Park Tickets Free

Event Venue

12:00 | 13:00 | 14:00

Step into a secret world in this immersive audio adventure for the whole family. Join the elves as they picnic, the butterflies as they fight to save the world, help the ants stand up to a bully and a rat dance her way to self-acceptance. As you make your way through the park, binaural audio chapters will spring to life in your ears.

Take your time, explore your surroundings; your new friends are excited to meet you! Straight from the imaginations of Stand & Be Counted’s Youth Theatre of Sanctuary, Secret Summer is available in English and Arabic.

June 24

June 24

EAST AFRICAN CULTURE AND TRADITIONAL DANCE PERFORMANCE

Stand As One

A celebration of Congolese, Burundian, Rwandese and Tanzanian cultures through dance and song.

Join Stand As One for a traditional dance and song performance and a workshop (with audience participation) to showcase and share elements that best exemplify East African culture.

The performers are members of the East African community who have made Sheffield their home.

WELCOMING CULTURES

Care for Young People’s Future

A celebration of our multicultural city marking Refugee Week and Gypsy Roma Traveller Month

Welcoming Cultures aims to bring closer our communities, institutions and businesses through heritage and culture. It will showcase the city’s cultural heritage through public events, and demosntrate how Sheffield can be a city of culture where communities put art at the heart of everything.

Time 13:00

Tickets Free

Radio Neighbourhood

It’s 2047, a time when aliens and humans live as neighbours and a big change may happen in the world - Through an outdoor dance with radio drama, Radio Neighbourhood transports you to the future while contemplating our lives here and now. Suitable for aged 7+.

Boh Boh Finds Home

Join us in an interactive adventure that travels through the galaxy together, stopping at different planets to help our friend Boh Boh the alien find home. We sing and dance through space, expanding vocabulary, working on motor skills! Suitable for children aged 2-7 and accompanying adults.

All ages

Outdoor Dance Drama

June 24

Hear Me

Voz Theatre

SHU Performance Lab Time 15:00

Event Venue

Tickets Free

Event Venue

SADACCA Time 13:00 Tickets Free

All ages

Dance, Workshop

Event Venue Millenium Galleries Times June 24, 13:00 June 25, 10:00

Celebration All ages

Tickets Free

Hear Me is a community performance by a group of South Asian women that combines theatre, song and film. Performing their own words in English, Urdu, Tamil and Nepali, they share their experiences of moving to Sheffield, the people and places they’ve left behind and the ties that bind past, present and future generations of women, despite the distances between them.

Theatre All ages

A SNAKE IN THE HOUSE MEANS THE FAMILY WILL NEVER WANT 屋內怕有蛇

Monica Tolia & Ting-Ning Wen

Event Venue

Time 17:30 Tickets £5/£3/Free

SHU Performance Lab

Opening with a voice note of the artist’s mother reflecting on overwork, xenophobia & cultural invisibility through the semiotics of the snake and ingrained tendency of Hek Fu 吃苦 (transl.: eating bitterness)… the song of the declining dialect of Toisanese forms the background to which the duo onstage perform a repetitious choreography suspended between work and ritual.

Movement eventually departs into sensuous animalism, exploring what liberatory potential is there when we learn from & embody more than being human. Wearing sculptural costuming illuminated by light, and shifting form with the dancer’s movements, the performance projects transformational imaginings of cultural & futuristic hybridity.

Content Warning: this work contains flashing lights, smoke & some swearing)

Dance 12+

4Samba

4Samba brings all the fun and authenticity of Brazil’s musical legacy to the Migration Matters festival. With powerful and versatile percussion, we make people of all ages dance to the warm rhythm of the tropics.

From the Daughter of a Dictator

Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi

Time 19:00

Event Venue Makerspace at Portland Works

/‘jes.mɪən/ /’aʊdiʃəʊ/ /’ʁrɑː.wiː/ lived and cautiously thrived in a dictatorship for almost two decades.

‘From The Daughter Of A Dictator’ is a one-person show exploring the personal journey of migration from Baghdad to Beirut to Berlin to Britain.

There still lives the belief, a false one perhaps, that the UK, Europe, “the West” are the final bastions of human rights. But what if these illusory safe shores of democracy are in danger of disappearing. What if living in a democracy is becoming no different than living in a dictatorship. Where do we go then?

Content Warnings: Mention of Violence, war, trauma.

12+ Theatre

Migration Matters Festival Closing TootArd

Ando Glaso Collective

Bringing together some of the best musicians from Scotland’s Romanian, Polish, Slovak, Czech and Hungarian Roma communities, they truly represent the vibrant and often invisible cultural heritage of Scotland’s Roma people.

Providing the inspiration for ‘Migrant Birds’, the recent album from TootArd, the band’s new sound is a captivating and nostalgiainspired homage to the era of synthedout Arabic disco pop. While inspired by the pioneering musicians that electrified contemporary Arabic music with synthesiszers and electric guitars, the 80s, with glittering, carefree vibe may be the catalyst, but the real roots of the music run deeper.

Goodbyes are hard, but they’re not so hard when it’s the Migration Matters Festival