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

Migration Matters Festival

Migration Matters 2024, photo by Smart Banda

In 2007 Sheffield became the UK’s first City of Sanctuary – a place that welcomes asylum-seekers and refugees, that offers a hand to people in need of safety. Held around Refugee Week each June, Migration Matters Festival is a celebration of diversity and the positive impact migration and refugees have in Sheffield.

The festival launched in 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum and Syrian refugee crisis. Each year the Migration Matters programme brings communities together over fantastic, globe-spanning variety of theatre, music, dance, workshops, exhibitions, and more.

Come back soon for dates and details of Migration Matters 2026.

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Float Along Festival

Sat. 26 September 2026

Float Along music festival returns to Sheffield city centre to do it all again for the fifth year running. Come back soon for lineup and venue details for 2026.

Tommi Bryson

A theatremaker whose work centres on community, representation and comedy. Tommi co-hosts monthly variety performance night Sounds Queer, and is currently developing a one-woman musical about a trans Disney princess.

The Sheffield Darkroom

Photographer and self-professed “DSLR-girlie” Wemmy meets Sam and Chris, founders of Sheffield's new darkroom. A calm, inviting space to slow down, reconnect with process and celebrate analogue craft in a digital age.

David Fennell-Roberts

A painter and printmaker capturing the essence of the area around Long Island, an overlooked part of Sheffield at the core of this city's rich history.