Migration Matters Festival 2023
The UK's largest Refugee Week festival, Migration Matters returns to Sheffield 16–24 June with another extensive programme of music, comedy, conversation, art, theatre, film and more.
Now in their 8th year, this vibrant arts festival celebrates the positive impact migration and refugees have in Sheffield, the country’s first City of Sanctuary, and gives unrepresented communities a voice.
For 2023 edition there are more than 60 events set to be held at various Sheffield venues, ranging from The Crucible and Yellow Arch Studios to the festival’s new home, Soft Ground on The Moor.
Headliners confirmed for 2023 include Kenyan afro pop band Sauti Sol performing at The Leadmill, who will visit Sheffield as their only tour date in the north of England.
Trailblazing Honey Thalijeh, who was captain of the first all-female Palestinian football team and now works at FIFA, will share her inspirational journey through prejudice to promoting equality through sport.
Other highlights include a show by emerging theatre maker Rinkoo Barpaga, who is deaf and will sign Made in India/Britain before it is translated into speech and award-winning Maya Youssef, a Syrian musician known as the ‘Queen of the quanan’ for her mastery of the 78-stringed Middle Eastern instrument.
For the full festival programme visit: www.migrationmattersfestival.co.uk
Additional Information
Sheffield has a proud record of welcoming new people from the far reaches of the world.
It’s a city which has opened its doors, and most importantly become a place of sanctuary for those people most in need and it’s this spirit that saw Sheffield become established as the first City of Sanctuary.
Migration Matters Festival was launched in 2016 (the year of the Brexit referendum and Syrian refugee crisis) and champions the voices of people who are so often muted, pigeon-holed into labels and rarely genuinely offered a chance to shape in the cultural and artistic landscape of the cities they live in.
From Sheffield to the rest of the world, the festival strives to bring communities together through, music, art, performance, food and celebration.
It is funded by Arts Council England, the University of Sheffield and the Evan Cornish Foundation as well as Sheffield City Council.